Dr. Margaret Burr has been teaching at Hope since 2020. Her courses have included Introduction to Classical Archaeology, Introduction to Ancient Civilization, and two travel-themed First Year Seminars: Introduction to Travel Writing, and Home and Away: Finding Community and Creating Meaning Anywhere You Go.

She is working on her first book, which explores consumption patterns and market integration on rural sites in Roman Britain (the subject of her doctoral dissertation). She is also working on an article examining stereotypes about “peasants” and their influence on early modern and modern economic theory.

Dr. Burr loves being engaged in fieldwork, and most recently worked as the finds supervisor on a project excavating a Roman “small town” near Oxford. She has also worked on field projects in Italy, Greece, Romania and the United States.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Roman archaeology
• The ancient economy
• Roman Britain
• Roman history
• Non-élites in the ancient world

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., archaeology, University of Oxford (Christ Church College), 2022
• M.A., classical archaeology, Tufts University, 2012
• B.A., psychology, Williams College, 2002

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• Discovering Dorchester Research Project, University of Oxford, Dorchester-on-Thames (UK), 2015–2018
• Corinth Excavations, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Corinth (Greece), 2014
• Porta Stabia Project, University of Cincinnati, Pompeii (Italy), 2013
• Gabii Project, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Gabii (Italy), 2011
• ARCHEM Project, Crete (Greece), 2010
• ARCHAEOTEK Piatra Detunata Project, Racos (Romania), 2010
• Fairbanks House Project, Boston University, Dedham, MA, 2009
• Bear Pond Excavation, University of Maine at Farmington, Turner, ME, 2006–2007

SELECTED RECENT PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS   

• "Peasants to Entrepreneurs? Land Tenure, Material Living Standards and Investment in the Danebury Hinterland,” European Social Sciences and History Conference, Belfast (Northern Ireland), 2018
• “Roman Finds,” Dorchester-on-Thames (UK) Field School, 2017
• “Of Pits, Pepper and the Baby in the Wall: Teaching Rural Settlement Archeology in Roman Britain,” Michigan Classical Conference, 2016
• “How Grim Was Life in the Roman Countryside?,” University of Cologne and University of Oxford joint Ancient Economy Colloquium, 2015
• “Temple E, Southeast Excavations 2014” field report (with Dr. Dylan Rogers), American School of Classical Studies Corinth Excavations, 2014
• “Can We See Pompeii’s tabernae as Domestic Structures?” Classics Discussion Group, University of Oxford (Christ Church College), 2013

OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE

Dr. Burr has been into archaeology since she was four — but came at it as a career after six years working as a reporter and photographer for newspapers in New England. That first career, which took place primarily in rural areas in Maine, fed her interest in rural life and rural economics, and led her to specialize in the Roman rural economy when she eventually went back to school for archaeology. She loves travelling (whether for fieldwork or just for fun), hiking, photography, cooking and hanging out with friends and family.