Mirjam von Bechtolsheim

Mirjam received a BA in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History and an MPhil in Classical Archaeology from the University of Oxford, and is currently reading for her PhD in Classical Studies at the Open University. She is interested in understanding the lived experiences of the people of pre-Roman Italy, and in particular the interplay of material culture with ritual practice, identity, and ideology.

Her research project focuses on schematic bronze figurines from pre-Roman Umbria, and seeks to offer new insights into their use and development across time and space, as well as their social and cultural significance. Her project draws on a range of techniques and theories, including metallurgical and stylistic analysis, as well as theories and methods developed in the fields of phenomenological and sensory studies. She is working with a core body of figurines from the collections of the Fitzwilliam Museum. Her supervisors are Eleanor Betts and Phil Perkins at the Open University, and Anastasia Christophilopoulou at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.