Taylor Carr-Howard
Alex Casteel
Manuel Cesar Macuja Elizalde
Yunong Gu
Earl Hernandez
Ariadin Jones
Katrina Kuxhausen
Lucha Martínez de Luna
Alba Menéndez Pereda
Iman Nagy
Talia Neelis
Carly Pope
Kellie Roddy
Luis Rodríguez-Pérez
Karla Saracay
Rachel Schloss
Gabriel Silva Collins
Dominique Sparks-Stokes
Matei Tichindelean
Akphivath Vitou
Zichan Wang
Yen Chun Wang
Zichao Wang
Wenyi Zhao

Talia Neelis





Email


Education

B.A. (Honors with High Distinction) in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, Minor in Art History, University in British Columbia 2025

Areas of Interest

Cypriot archaeology of the second and third millenniums BCE, ceramic analysis, crafting traditions, communities of practice, network analysis, feminist epistemologies and philosophies of scientific knowledge. 

 

Profile

Talia Neelis is pursuing a PhD at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA with a focus in prehistoric Cypriot archaeology. Talia earned a B.A. in Eastern Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies with a minor in Art History from the University of British Columbia in 2025, where she was awarded the Governor General’s Silver Medal. She is interested in craftwork as a relational process across regions, landscapes, and social networks during the 3rd and 2nd millenniums BCE. Her excavation experience supervising and volunteering on Cyprus on the Kalavasos and Maroni Built Environments Project (UBC, Cornell) and the Kissonerga-Skalia Excavation (CAARI, HARP), and in Greece on the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project (UVic, Wellesley College), has inspired her to pursue an interdisciplinary research focus. Talia explores materiality through feminist epistemologies and archaeometric methodologies which center the ontological relationships between humans and earthly matter. Her undergraduate thesis studied the semiotic and phenomenological properties of gender representation in Late Bronze Age Cypriot figurines. Talia hopes to continue to explore how gender archaeology and posthumanist theory can be materially grounded in archaeological research. At UCLA, she will continue to study the Cypriot record while expanding her geographic focus across the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Field Experience

  • Kalavasos and Maroni Built Environments Project, Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios, Cyprus 2023, 2025- Trench
  • Supervisor Kissonerga-Skalia Archaeological Project, Cyprus 2024
  • Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project, Eleon (Arma), Greece 2024

Advisors

David Schneller, Aaron Burke