Catherine P. Foster
Senior Cultural Property Analyst
Cultural Heritage Center
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Dr. Catherine P. Foster is Senior Cultural Property Analyst for the Cultural Heritage Center in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. She administers several international agreements for the protection of cultural property against pillage and trafficking with countries in Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Prior to joining the Department as a full time employee in 2011, Dr. Foster contracted as its Associate Coordinator for Iraqi Cultural Heritage. Previously, she served for seven years as the Associate Curator of the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology and as an Archaeology Specialist for California State Parks. For ten years, Catherine conducted archaeological excavations at several historic and prehistoric sites in Jordan, Turkey, and the United States. She has published an edited volume on household archaeology and several scholarly articles.
Catherine has a Doctorate in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, with a specialty in the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East, and a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of California, San Diego.
