Archaeology doctoral candidate awarded international fellowship

Archaeology doctoral candidate awarded international fellowship

Kristen Flake was awarded an American Center of Research fellowship to study 500 AD church mosaic in Jordan.

By Janel Shoun-Smith | 615-966-7078 | 06/22/2026

Kristen Flake, a doctoral candidate in archaeology at Lipscomb's Lanier Center of Archaeology, recently received the Bert and Sally de Vries Fellowship from the American Center of Research, allowing her to travel to Jordan this summer to continue her dissertation research on ancient mosaics.

The month-long fellowship starting June 25 will provide the opportunity to analyze the mosaic pavement of the Church of Sts. Lot and Procopius at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat in Jordan.

Flake's work focuses specifically on mosaics in Christian churches around 500 AD., a time when mosaics, popularized by the Romas Empire in public buildings as décor and an homage to the Roman gods, are beginning to change stylistically in Christian settings to serve as visual cues for worship of God, said Flake.

"We know from early Christian writings, what churches meant for the people of this time. They were sacred spaces built intentionally to reflect the beauty of God's creations," said Flake.

The people, animals, birds and fish included in floor and wall mosaics aren't just decorative but "become examples of Gods' creation to orient worshipers to think of their Creator and all the things he has provided for us. While they are singing praises they are seeing the creation on the floor, it all turns their mind to worship the Creator," she said

The Church of Sts. Lot and Procopius was constructed in 557 AD in a geographic area near Mount Nebo, where Moses was told by God he could not enter the Promised Land. (It was named for two saintly Christians, not the original Biblical Lot.)

The mosaic shows scenes of daily life including shepherds, hunters and vintaging (harvesting grapes for wine) in medallions created by a flowing grape vine. The borders of the mosaic show scenes involving water, and a floor panel at the end of the nave shows various clusters of animals mentioned in the Psalms (such as the deer mentioned in Psalms 42:1 panting for water).

Flake's dissertation will explore the connections between mosaics and the psalms Christians would be singing at that time.

During her fellowship, she will study the mosaic through on-site documentation and observation, focusing on spatial relationships, orientation and visibility within the nave, intercolumnar spaces and sanctuary. She will also conduct a comparative analysis of churches in the Mount Nebo region that employ similar imagery and thematic schemes.

Flake, a former adjunct Bible instructor and admission worker at Lipscomb and now a Louisiana resident, earned her bachelor's in ancient history studies at then-Southwestern Assembly of God University (now-Nelson University) and her master's in archaeology in 2019 from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (the former home of the Lanier Center's programs), both in Texas. She began work on her doctorate at Lanier in 2020.

Flake's love for archaeology was solidified in her very first excavation experience as an undergraduate. While working on an excavation at Tell es-Safi, the location of the Biblical city of Gath (where Goliath came from), she was able to experience part of the Biblical narrative firsthand.

"Standing on a site I had only ever read about in Scripture, and placing my hands in the soil to uncover the everyday objects of its ancient inhabitants, made the biblical narrative come alive in a way I had never experienced before," said Flake. "These were real people. These were real events. In that moment, the gap of space and time collapsed, and I knew without question that I wanted to pursue archaeology."

Throughout her studies, Flake has continued to excavate onsite since 2013 at eight locations in Israel, Cyprus and Jordan. Her interest in mosaics began on a Lanier dig at the Kourian site in Cyprus. On a side trip to the city of Paphos, mentioned in Acts as a stop on Paul's first missionary journey, Flake saw the many preserved mosaics of the city, and she knew she had found the topic she was passionate about.