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Yağmur is an archaeologist of ancient Anatolia whose work explores the convergence of material culture and textual history. Her research focuses on the religious history of Anatolia in the early second millennium B.C., particularly on issues of religious identity, ritual hybridity, and textual vs. material visibility of cult practices. Yağmur's work seeks to articulate viable methodologies of integrating text, image, and archaeology. Her research interests also include the contemporary history of gender relations and labour management in archaeological fieldwork in the Middle East.
Prior to joining UCL Yağmur held an Anniversary Fellowship at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge, before which she was Assistant Director of the Neubauer Expedition to Zincirli (Türkiye) and Research Associate of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (formerly Oriental Institute), University of Chicago. Yağmur has excavated at numerous sites in Türkiye, including Tell Atchana/Alalakh, Kinet Höyük, and Kilise Tepe. Since 2015 her fieldwork has focused on central Anatolia, first as part of the Çadır Höyük Archaeological Project, and currently as Assistant Director of the Uşaklı Höyük Archaeological Project, which she joined in 2022.
Major publications
- Heffron Y and F Tütüncü Çağlar “A Partnership of Unequals: Historicising Labour Relations between Local and Foreign Archaeologists in Türkiye through Ottoman Comparanda” Bulletin of the History of Archaeology 34/1: 1-16 (2024).
- Highcock N and Y Heffron 2023 “Work Hard Play Hard: Gameboards and Merchants’ Way of Life in Middle Bronze Age Anatolia” Ash Sharq 7: 181-200
- Heffron Y 2021 "Factoids of Assyrian presence in Anatolia: towards a historiography of archaeological interpretation at Kültepe-Kaneš" Anatolian Studies 71: 185-206.
- Heffron, Y. 2020 "Paraphernalia of Funerary Display at Kaneš: A Closer Look at Gold Eye- and Mouth-pieces." Archiv für Orientforschung 47/1: 81-22.
- Ross, J.C., G. McMahon, Y. Heffron, S.E. Adcock, S.R. Steadman, B.S. Arbuckle, A. Smith, M. von Baeyer 2019 "Anatolian Empires: Local Experiences from Hittites to Phrygians at Çadır Höyük." Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies 7/3: 299-320.
- Heffron, Y. 2017 "Testing the Middle Ground in Assyro-Anatolian Marriages in the karum Period." Iraq 79: 71-83.
- Heffron, Y., A. Stone and M. Worthington (eds.) 2017, At the Dawn of History: Studies in Honour of J. Nicholas Postgate. Eisenbrauns: Winona Lake, INHeffron, Y. 2016, "Stone Stelae and Religious Space at Kültepe-Kaneš", Anatolian Studies 66:23-42
- Heffron, Y. 2014, "The Material Culture of Hittite 'God-drinking'", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 14:164-85
For a full list of publications, see Yağmur's Iris profile.
Grants/projects
Assistant Director, Uşaklı Höyük Archaeological Project.
Teaching [accurate for ay 2024-2025]
- HIST0164 Bronze Age States in the Ancient Middle East (Survey)
- HIST0029 Migrants and Expats: Old Assyrian Identity Politics (SYRS)
- HIST0834/35 Art Historical Approaches to the Ancient Middle East (elective MA module)
- HIST0836/37 Images and Image-Making in the Ancient Middle East (elective MA module)
