Dırector

Gonca Dardeniz (she/her) is an Associate Professor at Istanbul University,  Department of Archaeology, Protohistory and Near Eastern Archaeology Section. Dardeniz has formal training in Art History and Archaeology, specifically Near Eastern archaeology and chemistry. Her MA, MSc, and PhD research focused on the 2nd millennium BCE fire-related technologies including but not limited to metals, vitreous materials (faience, glass, and Egyptian blue), and ceramics. Starting from her post-doctoral research, her research interests divert toward understanding relations between technological changes and social complexity. 

Dardeniz uses complementary methods of archaeology and archaeological sciences within theoretical frames of social complexity. Recently, she has been interested in the impact of lifestyles and technological choices on times of social change in bronze age Anatolia, particularly at the end of the middle bronze age (MBA) and the beginning of the late bronze (LBA I) period, specifically 17th-16th century BCE.

Before excavating Konya Karahöyük, Gonca participated in several national and international excavations and surveys. She also conducted research on more than 10 national and international museums, as well as excavation depots. With the fundings she granted from TUBITAK and BAGEP (Science Award, 2021) she founded the DARIKAN Lab. Aside, she collaborates with (inter)national research hubs such as ITU-JAL (Istanbul), and SESAME (Jordan).

She started excavating Konya Karahöyük in 2022 with the aims of refining the site-wise chronology, contributing to the regional chronology, and understanding the socio-economic and political role of the site during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE. Dardeniz's research design values and promotes various fields of archaeological science.