Joshua Cannon

I was born and raised in south-west Pennsylvania and joined the Marine Corps after High School. I served in two combat tours in Iraq from 2003-05 as an Arabic cryptologic linguist. After this, I got my Bachelor of Philosophy degree at Pitt with majors in Anthropology and Linguistics and a minor in Classics. I then went to the University of Chicago for my Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations focusing on the archaeology of the Hittites. I started working at Pitt in 2018 in the David C. Frederick Honors College and teaching in the Classics Department in 2022. I am now the Executive Director of the Center for Governance and Markets in GSPIA.

My dissertation research examined multiple ceramic traditions during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages of Central Anatolia, focusing on how they reflected indigenous interaction with the rise of the Hittites to political power. I also incorporated a GIS led historical geography analysis of 2nd millennium B.C.E. Central Anatolia. My research has currently shifted to archaeology in the United States, where I am preparing to start an excavation in Wyoming in 2023.