Katia Cytryn is an archeologist specializing in the Islamic period. Her five main research interests are:

(1) Islamic ceramics - from the beginning of the period to the late Ottoman period;

(2) Mosque architecture, with emphasis on the early Islamic period;

(3) Tiberias as a provincial capital in the early Islamic period (she has been directing excavations there on behalf of the Hebrew University since 2009);

(4) The architecture of roads in the Islami period, particularly the road stations in Bilad al-Sham - the subject of her dissertation, a monograph, and several articles;

(5) Most recently, in light of findings from excavations in Tiberias, Khirbat al-Minya, and Magdala, Cytryn has taken an interest in the early sugarcane cultivation in Palestine and industrialization processes by the Frankish colonizers on the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th and 13th centuries. To delve more deeply into the subject, she also studies the ancient and modern sugarcane history in Brazil, her native country, in order to understand the various production processes.                

Cytryn won the Yigal Alon Prize in 2009-2013, and the Golda Meir Scholarship in 2009. Her excavations in Tiberias were financed by several organizations, including the Yizhar Hirschfeld Fund on behalf of Yad HaNadiv, the Swiss Van Brechem Foundation, and the German Tiessen Foundation. She participated in an Excellence Hub of the Israel Science Foundation on the formation of Islamic society in the Land of Israel.                  

Among Cytryn's international collaborations we may note the joint excavation sith the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology (GPIA) in Jerusalem and Tiberias; and a short excavation season in Magdala together with the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. Recently, she published a collection of articles on "discipline-transforming" projects, jointly edited with the late Donald Whitcomb of the University of Chicago and Kristoffer Damgaard of the University of Copenhagen. Cytryn teaches a variety of courses on archeology and material culture in the Islamic period and supervises advanced students in Israel and abroad. 

Courses taught: 

Objects in Context: Material Culture in the Islamic Period; Jerusalem Under Islamic Rule: Architecture and Art; Not Only Warriors: Mamluk Art and Architecture; Mosque Architecture

Recent Publications:

https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/publications/SAC/sac4; https://www.academia.edu/112295257/Cytryn_K_2024_entry_Islamic_Archaeolo... https://www.academia.edu/112337484/Katia_Cytryn_Silverman_and_Amikam_Ela... https://www.academia.edu/96594753/The_West_Door_of_the_Great_al_%CA%BFUm... https://www.academia.edu/96530385/_Twelve_Excavation_Seasons_in_Tiberias...