Curriculum Vitae
Areas of Interest
Classical Archaeology, Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Ceramics Studies, Late Antique Economy, Roman Army, Mithraism, Ancient Near East, Maritime Archaeology.
Excavations and Fieldwork
Alexandra Ratzlaff is a classical and near eastern archaeologist and ceramist specializing in the eastern Mediterranean. As a field archaeologist her projects have been primarily in Israel, focused on the Late Roman Army at Birsama and the Late Roman Fort at Yotvata; the coastal and maritime presence along the Israeli coast at Tel Achziv, Tel Dor, and Caesarea (Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman period); and the Middle Bronze Age Palace at Tel Kabri. Her current research exams the impact of maritime trade at small harbors on the Late Antique Economy of the central Levantine coast. This includes a long-term coastal and underwater survey and analysis of previously excavated ceramic assemblages from Achziv to Ashkelon (modern Israeli coast). As an extension of this research she is currently publishing the ceramic remains from the Hellenistic harbor at Akko and Hellenistic/early Roman excavations at Achziv (Israel). Ratzlaff’s research has been funded by the US Department of State – Bureau Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Program, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, and the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies.
Representative Publications
Ratzlaff, Alexandra L., Ehud Galili, Paula Waiman-Barak, and Assaf Yasur-Landau. 2017. The Plurality of Harbors at Caesarea: The Southern Anchorage in Late Antiquity, Journal of Maritime Archaeology 12 (2), Pp. 125-146.
Bull, Robert Jehu., Jane Evans, Alexandra Ratzlaff, Andrew Bobeck, and Robert Fritzius. 2017. The Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima, Excavation Reports Volume III. The American Schools of Oriental Research Archaeological Reports 25. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
Ratzlaff, Alexandra. “The Effects of Empire on Daily Life in the Provincial East (37 BCE – 313 CE)”, In The Cambridge Social Archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean: Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, eds. Eric Cline, Yorke Rowan, and Assaf Yasur-Landau. New York: Cambridge University Press. [In Press]
Ratzlaff, Alexandra. 2015. “The Militaria and Small Finds”. In The Roman Fort at Yotvata: The Final Report (2003-2007), eds. Jodi Magness and Gwyn Davies. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
Yasur-Landau, A. Cline, E. H., Koh, A. Ben Shlomo, D. Marom, N. Ratzlaff, A. and Samet, I. 2015. Rethinking Canaanite Palaces? The Palatial Economy of Tel Kabri during the Middle Bronze Age. Journal of Field Archaeology Vol. 40, no. 6. Pp. 607-625.
