KATHARINA SCHMIDT obtained MA in Near Eastern Archaeology at Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität of Munich in 2012, with a dissertation on glazed Neo-Assyrian vessels from Upper Mesopotamia. In 2013 she started her PhD as a member of the Graduate School ‘Distant Worlds’ at the same university. As a visiting researcher, she studied at University College, London, and acquired additional knowledge in the use of chemical analyses – in particular with regard to glass. In 2016 she completed her PhD at Munich with a dissertation on glass and glassmaking in the Iron Age period. As an archaeologist she worked on excavations in Syria (Tell Halaf) and Turkey (Sirkeli Höyük, Dülük Baba Tepesi). Since 2016 she has been director of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman, Jordan, where she carries out various research and excavation projects, above all the excavations at Tall Zirā´a.