Archaeology at Michigan

Research Interests

Topical/Theoretical

• Technology and production
• Community and identity
• Imperialism and empire
• Imperialism and empire
• Human/environment interaction
• Rural and industrial landscapes
• 1st millennium BCE and Roman western Mediterranean

Geographical

• Western Mediterranean (especially the Iberian Peninsula and Sardinia)
• Egypt

Research Projects

• Sinis Archaeological Project: a diachronic survey of coastal and inland landscapes of the Sinis Peninsula in west-central Sardinia
• Progetto S’Urachi

Linda is a Mediterranean archaeologist specializing in Roman archaeology. Her research centers on local responses to Roman imperialism in rural industrial landscapes of the western Mediterranean (primarily Spain, Portugal, and Sardinia). In particular, she studies the impact of empire on technology, craft production, labor practices, and everyday life in provincial communities. Linda’s current book project examines the transformation of mining communities and landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula following Roman conquest. Her work engages with broad questions about human-environment interaction, community and identity, labor history, mobility, and culture contact. Linda has conducted fieldwork—including excavation, pedestrian survey, and ceramic analysis—in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey, most recently co-leading a survey at the site of S’Urachi in Sardinia and excavating a late Roman monastic dwelling at Abydos. Currently, she co-directs a landscape survey in west-central Sardinia, the Sinis Archaeological Project. This project explores the diverse social and environmental factors impacting resource extraction, settlement patterns, and colonial interactions in the 1st millennium BCE through the Roman period. At Michigan, Linda teaches courses in Classical Art and Archaeology and is a postdoctoral fellow with the Michigan Society of Fellows.