Olivia Schmalfuss received her bachelor's in Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies from Cornell University in 2020. Her senior honors thesis synthesized the two decades of research on so-called “towers” from the Umm an-Nar period (Bronze Age) in Oman and analyzed the context and escalation of tower building activity during the third millennium.  

Olivia conducted her archaeological field school in 2019 in Dhiban, Jordan. She was selected as the Martie Young Asian Art Curatorial Intern for the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art where she investigated the provenance of Bronze Age ceramics within the museum's collections. She has also worked for cultural resource management and consulting firms in Colorado, Ohio, and Saudi Arabia.  

Olivia is pursuing research topics in cultural transmission and resistance among diverse and geographically distant populations, particularly in the Arabian Peninsula during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Her research questions are interdisciplinary and will require a collaborative approach.