Dr. Fredrik Hiebert is a field archaeologist and economic historian who has traced ancient trade routes overland and across the seas for more than 30 years, studying ancient trade sites from Morocco to Mongolia. Fred completed his doctoral dissertation at Harvard University and held the Robert H. Dyson Endowed Chair of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania before joining the National Geographic Society in 2003. He currently holds research positions with the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, George Washington University, and is the director of the Anau Archaeological Project in Turkmenistan.

Fred applies economic and geographic models to the past to provide a broad understanding of cultural development and interconnections across continents and coastal areas through time.  He shares his enthusiasm for archaeology through textbooks, lectures, presentations, and films. He has also worked on numerous museum exhibits that have traveled the world, including Treasures from Afghanistan, Peruvian Gold, The Greeks, Ancient Seafarers, and Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology. Among other honors, he holds an honorary PhD from SUNY-Binghamton and the International Sciacca award for Science Communication, awarded at the Vatican.