Introduction of Rory McInnes-Gibbons

My name is Rory McInnes-Gibbons. Since 1 June 2026, I am a postdoctoral researcher on the Lost Cities Rediscovered project funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, where I am working on a variety of topics related to the history of archaeology under the Ottoman Empire in the Near East. I work in close collaboration with the project PIs: lead PI, Professor Dr. Rubina Raja alongside Co-PIs, Dr Olympia Bobou and Dr Miriam Kühn with whom I am writing a number of articles on class, gender and archaeology. My research on the project relates to the under explored role of women in the excavation history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With this in mind, I will be writing one of the project monographs on female travellers and archaeologists active in the region alongside contributing to a number of forthcoming edited volumes with original research emanating from Lost Cities Rediscovered. I previously worked as a postdoc at Durham University where I received my PhD in 2023 for a thesis on the visual reception of Palmyra in the eighteenth century supervised by Professor Ted Kaizer.