Kim Eileen Ruf

In 2015, I graduated from Durham University with a BA (Honours) in Archaeology. I then successfully completed my MA in Archaeology at Leiden University in 2016, where I investigated reuse in Maya monumental architecture of pre-and post-colonial Yucatán in relation to heritage formation within local indigenous communities. In the subsequent years, I worked as a leading excavation director and professional archaeologist in Germany.

Beyond finalising my doctoral research at Cambridge, I am currently conducting collections research at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, as a Visiting Researcher; as part of this, I analyse the iconography and provenience of its Costa Rican jade, jadeite stone, and greenstone adze-like objects and (amuletic) pendants. I am intrigued by the role of these objects as indicators of rank and prestige as well as expressing ideology and religion through material culture – including the use of jade artefacts in social, political, and religious contexts. This will be a particularly interesting starting point for the study of social complexity in Costa Rica.