Katie Tardio

Katie Tardio joined the Bucknell faculty in 2023. She is a Mediterranean archaeologist with an emphasis on material approaches to social and economic histories in the provinces of the Roman Empire. Katie focuses on human-animal relations using zooarchaeology to gain insight into daily life and lived experience in antiquity. Her work explores urban and domestic foodways, trade, and cultural, socio-economic, and gender disparities in the Roman world. 

Katie’s current book project investigates the animal economy of Hispania Tarraconensis, focusing on Tarraco (modern Tarragona, Spain) from the 1st-4th centuries CE. By analyzing animal bone specimens from archaeological sites, she considers how urban and rural communities navigated Roman influences through dietary patterns, economic strategies, and social dynamics. Her findings challenge the idea of a uniform Roman diet and contextualize Tarraco’s data within broader regional and imperial trade networks. This work enhances our understanding of food accessibility and community agency in a multicultural Roman settlement.

Presently, Katie studies the faunal material and excavates with the following archaeological teams:

• The Athenian Agora (Athens, Greece)
• The Casa della Regina Carolina (CRC) Project (Pompeii, Italy)
• Pompeii I.14 Project (Pompeii, Italy)
• The Gardens of the Hesperides Archaeological Project (Larache, Morocco)

Education

• Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• M.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara

Faculty Research Interests

• Roman Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Ancient Diet & Foodways
• Ancient Roman Provinces
• Ancient Women and Gender Relations
• Ancient Environment

Recent Courses Taught

• Roman Archaeology
• Life in Ancient Pompeii
• Archaeology of Food
• Women in Ancient Rome
• Elementary Latin

Awards and Honors

• Solmsen Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2025-2026.
• Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant. 2019.
• Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Research Award for Spain. 2018-2019.
• John R. Coleman Traveling Fellowship, Archaeological Institute of America. 2018.