-Grant Proposal Developer for the University of Vermont. -PhD in Anthropological Archaeology from University of California San Diego. Interests in archaeometallurgy of the Iron Age Southern Levant. Supervisors: Thomas E. Levy
In 2014, the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project renewed excavations at Khirbat al-Jariya ... more In 2014, the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project renewed excavations at Khirbat al-Jariya (KAJ), an Iron Age copper smelting site in Faynan, Jordan. Located roughly 3 km from the prominent smelting center Khirbat en-Nahas (KEN), KAJ was an integral component of Early Iron Age (ca. 1200–800 B.C.) copper production in Faynan, one of the largest copper ore deposits in the southern Levant. To date, the site had only been investigated by surveys and limited excavation; the 2014 excavations opened two areas (the largest extant building and a slag mound sounding) to explore the social dynamics and temporal intricacies of copper production. The excavation results, detailed site remapping, paleobotanical analysis, and new radiocarbon dates suggest KAJ more rapidly developed into a large-scale copper production center than previously believed, likely as a strategic expansion to the industry at KEN. This reinterpretation sheds new light on the development of the Iron Age industrial landscape in Faynan.
Osmium isotope and highly siderophile element (HSE: Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd, Re, Au) abundance ana... more Osmium isotope and highly siderophile element (HSE: Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd, Re, Au) abundance analysis provides a new methodology for examining the origins of ancient iron production in the Eastern Mediterranean, a current scholarly lacuna. Here we present results from a two-stage campaign of laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) followed by thermal ionization mass spectrometry and solution ICP-MS to measure mixed iron-copper chunks and iron objects from the Faynan region of Jordan. Faynan is a copper-ore resource zone with a rich history of copper smelting. The combination of sophisticated copper metallurgy and iron artifacts in the archaeological record of Iron Age Faynan (10th-9th centuries BCE) offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate the hypothesis that iron production originally developed as an adventitious byproduct of advanced copper smelting technologies. Based on the results, we find no connection from HSE abundances and inter-element ratios, or osmium isotopes, between the iron objects (Pt/Os = 2-7; 187 Os/ 188 Os = 1.15 to 2.50) and mixed metal chunks from the furnaces (Pt/Os = 7.7-35; 187 Os/ 188 Os = 2.15 to 8.96) excavated in Faynan, indicating that the objects were not locally produced. This conclusion provides additional evidence that iron production in the Levant was probably not directly developed from copper smelting. In turn, osmium isotopes and siderophile element abundances in artifacts and products from metal production can also offer a new line of evidence for examining exchange networks in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere.
While the punctuated equilibrium model has been employed in paleontological and archaeological re... more While the punctuated equilibrium model has been employed in paleontological and archaeological research, it has rarely been applied for technological and social evolution in the Holo-cene. Using metallurgical technologies from the Wadi Arabah (Jordan/Israel) as a case study, we demonstrate a gradual technological development (13 th-10 th c. BCE) followed by a human agency-triggered punctuated "leap" (late-10 th c. BCE) simultaneously across the entire region (an area of ~2000 km 2). Here, we present an unparalleled, diachronic archaeo-metallurgical dataset focusing on elemental analysis of dozens of well-dated slag samples. Based on the results, we suggest punctuated equilibrium provides an innovative theoretical model for exploring ancient technological changes in relation to larger sociopolitical conditions in the case at hand the emergence of biblical Edom-, exemplifying its potential for more general cross-cultural applications.
Archaeologists have a responsibility to use their research to engage people and provide opportuni... more Archaeologists have a responsibility to use their research to engage people and provide opportunities for the public to interact with cultural heritage and interpret it on their own terms. This can be done through hypermedia and deep mapping as approaches to public archaeology. In twenty-first-century archaeology, scholars can rely on vastly improved technologies to aid them in these efforts toward public engagement, including digital photography, geographic information systems, and three-dimensional models. These technologies, even when collected for analysis or documentation, can be valuable tools for educating and involving the public with archaeological methods and how these methods help archaeologists learn about the past. Ultimately, academic storytelling can benefit from making archaeological results and methods accessible and engaging for stakeholders and the general public. ArcGIS StoryMaps is an effective tool for integrating digital datasets into an accessible framework t...
Google Earth Engine (GEE) is an in-development, cloud-based platform providing access to petabyte... more Google Earth Engine (GEE) is an in-development, cloud-based platform providing access to petabytes of satellite imagery data for planetary-scale analysis (Google Earth Engine Team 2015). Combining this massive database with the parallel computing power of Google's infrastructure facilitates quick and easy analysis of satellite imagery on any scale, opening new avenues for research in a number of fields. This paper evaluates the potential role GEE can play in the future of archaeological research. To do so, GEE was employed/tested in two case studies. First, GEE was used to automatically identify specific archaeological features across the landscape of the archaeologically-rich Faynan region of Southern Jordan. Second, GEE-based edge-detection and automatic vectorization for mapping archaeological sites was tested at the Iron Age (ca. 1200-900 BCE) site of Khirbat al-Jariya in Faynan. Based on the test results, the authors concluded that GEE has significant potential for assisting archaeologists with automated feature detection and vectorization, tasks that are often onerous and expensive.
Levy T.E. & Jones I.W.N. (eds.), Cyber-Archaeology and Grand Narratives. Digital Technologies and Deep-Time Perspectives on Cultural Change in the Middle East., 2018
The paper represents the first Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology (SCMA) land and sea study ca... more The paper represents the first Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology (SCMA) land and sea study carried out in collaboration with Greek colleagues that took place in 2016 at the Mycenaean site of Kastrouli and the nearby Antikyra Bay on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece. It is an interim study of what happened to a Late Mycenaean land and sea system at the end of the Late Bronze Age. It has new data on the social economic nature of a LH IIIC settlement and the anchorages that probably serviced it some 5 km from the site. The paper explores what Thomas Tartaron (2013) defines as a Mycenaean coastal world. The work has implications for the larger issue of the collapse of Late Bronze Age civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean and the possible influences of climate and environmental change.
The paper presents the excavations of 2016 season at the Mycenaean site of Kastrouli, Phokis. The... more The paper presents the excavations of 2016 season at the Mycenaean site of Kastrouli, Phokis. The site has been looted in the past decades and excavated in a very limited scale by the Archaeological Service. It is located on the top of a rocky hill and delimited by a fortification wall, probably constructed in two phases, the earliest of which could be Mycenaean. A hybrid rock-cut and built chamber tomb, excavated at the west-ernmost part of the fortified area, contained an undisturbed commingled burial of at least fifteen individuals. The main pottery shape is the stirrup jar, and the small finds include Phi and Psi figurines, steatite beads, and fragments of gold foil. The period of the original use of the tomb falls between the LH IIIA 2 and the LH IIIC Early or Advanced. There is some evidence that the tomb has been reused in the Middle Geometric Period .
Digital media and learning initiatives for virtual collaborative environments are contributing to... more Digital media and learning initiatives for virtual collaborative environments are contributing to the definition of new (sub-)disciplines in archaeological and heritage sciences. New nomenclature and terminology is emerging such as cyber archaeology, cyber archaeometry, virtual worlds and augmented and immersive realities; and all of them are related to museums and cultural heritage—tangible, intangible or natural (Forte 2010; Liritzis et al. 2015).
For Digital Cultural Heritage, 3D modeling is an essential practice for the identification, monit... more For Digital Cultural Heritage, 3D modeling is an essential practice for the identification, monitoring, conservation, restoration, and enhancement of archaeological objects from artifacts to monuments. In this context 3D computer graphics can support archaeology and heritage policy, offering scholars a “sixth sense” for the understanding of the past, as it allows them to almost relive it. In addition, current trends for 3D video gaming (serious games) and scientific storytelling provide a variety of new approaches towards new, enhanced, and realistic experiences of the past. The research project “Digital Enterprise for Learning Practice of Heritage Initiative FOR Delphi” (Delphi4Delphi) targets most of these issues. In particular, it focuses on educational, research, and social implications of digital heritage, through the use of modern technologies such as digital optical documentation, geographical information systems and georeferencing, big data, video and interactive content pro...
Structure from Motion (SfM) is one of the trendiest techniques in archaeology today. Archaeologis... more Structure from Motion (SfM) is one of the trendiest techniques in archaeology today. Archaeologists across the world are increasingly applying techniques of digital photogrammetry to record archaeological sites in three-dimensions, often for the sake of documenting active excavations or for acquiring a new perspective on sites. This paper describes one such recording campaign, conducted as part of the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project (ELRAP) in southern Jordan, under the direction of T.E. Levy and M. Najjar. ELRAP team members recorded the Iron Age copper production site of Khirbat al-Jariya with low-altitude balloon photography for the purpose of SfM modeling and production of 2D GIS data. This data served as an excellent basis for comprehensive site mapping, substantially improving on the results of previous, traditionally-conducted mapping efforts. We suggest that aerial SfM-based mapping approaches are the best method currently available for exhaustive site mapping.
In 2014, the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project renewed excavations at Khirbat al-Jariya ... more In 2014, the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project renewed excavations at Khirbat al-Jariya (KAJ), an Iron Age copper smelting site in Faynan, Jordan. Located roughly 3 km from the prominent smelting center Khirbat en-Nahas (KEN), KAJ was an integral component of Early Iron Age (ca. 1200–800 B.C.) copper production in Faynan, one of the largest copper ore deposits in the southern Levant. To date, the site had only been investigated by surveys and limited excavation; the 2014 excavations opened two areas (the largest extant building and a slag mound sounding) to explore the social dynamics and temporal intricacies of copper production. The excavation results, detailed site remapping, paleobotanical analysis, and new radiocarbon dates suggest KAJ more rapidly developed into a large-scale copper production center than previously believed, likely as a strategic expansion to the industry at KEN. This reinterpretation sheds new light on the development of the Iron Age industrial landscape in Faynan.
Osmium isotope and highly siderophile element (HSE: Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd, Re, Au) abundance ana... more Osmium isotope and highly siderophile element (HSE: Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd, Re, Au) abundance analysis provides a new methodology for examining the origins of ancient iron production in the Eastern Mediterranean, a current scholarly lacuna. Here we present results from a two-stage campaign of laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) followed by thermal ionization mass spectrometry and solution ICP-MS to measure mixed iron-copper chunks and iron objects from the Faynan region of Jordan. Faynan is a copper-ore resource zone with a rich history of copper smelting. The combination of sophisticated copper metallurgy and iron artifacts in the archaeological record of Iron Age Faynan (10th-9th centuries BCE) offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate the hypothesis that iron production originally developed as an adventitious byproduct of advanced copper smelting technologies. Based on the results, we find no connection from HSE abundances and inter-element ratios, or osmium isotopes, between the iron objects (Pt/Os = 2-7; 187 Os/ 188 Os = 1.15 to 2.50) and mixed metal chunks from the furnaces (Pt/Os = 7.7-35; 187 Os/ 188 Os = 2.15 to 8.96) excavated in Faynan, indicating that the objects were not locally produced. This conclusion provides additional evidence that iron production in the Levant was probably not directly developed from copper smelting. In turn, osmium isotopes and siderophile element abundances in artifacts and products from metal production can also offer a new line of evidence for examining exchange networks in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere.
While the punctuated equilibrium model has been employed in paleontological and archaeological re... more While the punctuated equilibrium model has been employed in paleontological and archaeological research, it has rarely been applied for technological and social evolution in the Holo-cene. Using metallurgical technologies from the Wadi Arabah (Jordan/Israel) as a case study, we demonstrate a gradual technological development (13 th-10 th c. BCE) followed by a human agency-triggered punctuated "leap" (late-10 th c. BCE) simultaneously across the entire region (an area of ~2000 km 2). Here, we present an unparalleled, diachronic archaeo-metallurgical dataset focusing on elemental analysis of dozens of well-dated slag samples. Based on the results, we suggest punctuated equilibrium provides an innovative theoretical model for exploring ancient technological changes in relation to larger sociopolitical conditions in the case at hand the emergence of biblical Edom-, exemplifying its potential for more general cross-cultural applications.
Archaeologists have a responsibility to use their research to engage people and provide opportuni... more Archaeologists have a responsibility to use their research to engage people and provide opportunities for the public to interact with cultural heritage and interpret it on their own terms. This can be done through hypermedia and deep mapping as approaches to public archaeology. In twenty-first-century archaeology, scholars can rely on vastly improved technologies to aid them in these efforts toward public engagement, including digital photography, geographic information systems, and three-dimensional models. These technologies, even when collected for analysis or documentation, can be valuable tools for educating and involving the public with archaeological methods and how these methods help archaeologists learn about the past. Ultimately, academic storytelling can benefit from making archaeological results and methods accessible and engaging for stakeholders and the general public. ArcGIS StoryMaps is an effective tool for integrating digital datasets into an accessible framework t...
Google Earth Engine (GEE) is an in-development, cloud-based platform providing access to petabyte... more Google Earth Engine (GEE) is an in-development, cloud-based platform providing access to petabytes of satellite imagery data for planetary-scale analysis (Google Earth Engine Team 2015). Combining this massive database with the parallel computing power of Google's infrastructure facilitates quick and easy analysis of satellite imagery on any scale, opening new avenues for research in a number of fields. This paper evaluates the potential role GEE can play in the future of archaeological research. To do so, GEE was employed/tested in two case studies. First, GEE was used to automatically identify specific archaeological features across the landscape of the archaeologically-rich Faynan region of Southern Jordan. Second, GEE-based edge-detection and automatic vectorization for mapping archaeological sites was tested at the Iron Age (ca. 1200-900 BCE) site of Khirbat al-Jariya in Faynan. Based on the test results, the authors concluded that GEE has significant potential for assisting archaeologists with automated feature detection and vectorization, tasks that are often onerous and expensive.
Levy T.E. & Jones I.W.N. (eds.), Cyber-Archaeology and Grand Narratives. Digital Technologies and Deep-Time Perspectives on Cultural Change in the Middle East., 2018
The paper represents the first Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology (SCMA) land and sea study ca... more The paper represents the first Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology (SCMA) land and sea study carried out in collaboration with Greek colleagues that took place in 2016 at the Mycenaean site of Kastrouli and the nearby Antikyra Bay on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece. It is an interim study of what happened to a Late Mycenaean land and sea system at the end of the Late Bronze Age. It has new data on the social economic nature of a LH IIIC settlement and the anchorages that probably serviced it some 5 km from the site. The paper explores what Thomas Tartaron (2013) defines as a Mycenaean coastal world. The work has implications for the larger issue of the collapse of Late Bronze Age civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean and the possible influences of climate and environmental change.
The paper presents the excavations of 2016 season at the Mycenaean site of Kastrouli, Phokis. The... more The paper presents the excavations of 2016 season at the Mycenaean site of Kastrouli, Phokis. The site has been looted in the past decades and excavated in a very limited scale by the Archaeological Service. It is located on the top of a rocky hill and delimited by a fortification wall, probably constructed in two phases, the earliest of which could be Mycenaean. A hybrid rock-cut and built chamber tomb, excavated at the west-ernmost part of the fortified area, contained an undisturbed commingled burial of at least fifteen individuals. The main pottery shape is the stirrup jar, and the small finds include Phi and Psi figurines, steatite beads, and fragments of gold foil. The period of the original use of the tomb falls between the LH IIIA 2 and the LH IIIC Early or Advanced. There is some evidence that the tomb has been reused in the Middle Geometric Period .
Digital media and learning initiatives for virtual collaborative environments are contributing to... more Digital media and learning initiatives for virtual collaborative environments are contributing to the definition of new (sub-)disciplines in archaeological and heritage sciences. New nomenclature and terminology is emerging such as cyber archaeology, cyber archaeometry, virtual worlds and augmented and immersive realities; and all of them are related to museums and cultural heritage—tangible, intangible or natural (Forte 2010; Liritzis et al. 2015).
For Digital Cultural Heritage, 3D modeling is an essential practice for the identification, monit... more For Digital Cultural Heritage, 3D modeling is an essential practice for the identification, monitoring, conservation, restoration, and enhancement of archaeological objects from artifacts to monuments. In this context 3D computer graphics can support archaeology and heritage policy, offering scholars a “sixth sense” for the understanding of the past, as it allows them to almost relive it. In addition, current trends for 3D video gaming (serious games) and scientific storytelling provide a variety of new approaches towards new, enhanced, and realistic experiences of the past. The research project “Digital Enterprise for Learning Practice of Heritage Initiative FOR Delphi” (Delphi4Delphi) targets most of these issues. In particular, it focuses on educational, research, and social implications of digital heritage, through the use of modern technologies such as digital optical documentation, geographical information systems and georeferencing, big data, video and interactive content pro...
Structure from Motion (SfM) is one of the trendiest techniques in archaeology today. Archaeologis... more Structure from Motion (SfM) is one of the trendiest techniques in archaeology today. Archaeologists across the world are increasingly applying techniques of digital photogrammetry to record archaeological sites in three-dimensions, often for the sake of documenting active excavations or for acquiring a new perspective on sites. This paper describes one such recording campaign, conducted as part of the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project (ELRAP) in southern Jordan, under the direction of T.E. Levy and M. Najjar. ELRAP team members recorded the Iron Age copper production site of Khirbat al-Jariya with low-altitude balloon photography for the purpose of SfM modeling and production of 2D GIS data. This data served as an excellent basis for comprehensive site mapping, substantially improving on the results of previous, traditionally-conducted mapping efforts. We suggest that aerial SfM-based mapping approaches are the best method currently available for exhaustive site mapping.
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