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Prof Mark Altaweel
Professor of Near East Archaeology and Archaeological Data Science
Institute of Archaeology Gordon Square
Institute of Archaeology
- Joined UCL
- 1st Sep 2011
Research summary
Dr. Altaweel takes a data science approach to his research. He is interested in investigating a variety of heritage, landscape, and social-environmental topics in his teaching and research. Dr. Altaweel has been involved in numerous projects on the ancient Near East, application of complex system modelling, and use of machine/deep learning methods for insights on heritage and archaeological topics. He has also broad interests in the ancient climate, environment, and land use in the ancient Near East. Additionally, his work has been published in many leading journals in various fields, with application to modern and ancient studies.Research Interests
Data science
Machine learning
Complex adaptive systems
Computational Social Science
Urban systems and complexity science
Image analysis and computer vision techniques
Natural language processing
Near Eastern history and archaeology
Fieldwork
Since 2011, Dr. Altaweel has been involved in fieldwork in Iraq, conducting geoarchaeological and landscape research in Northern Iraq, Kurdistan, and Southern Iraq. Recent work includes the Peshdar Plain region in Iraqi Kurdistan, Nimrud, Nineveh, regions around Nippur and Uruk, and Shalaii Cave near Chamchamal, Iraqi Kurdistan.
Teaching summary
Mark takes an interdisciplinary perspective in his teaching philosophy and integrates a variety of methods and fields in his courses. He has taught courses on Near Eastern history and archaeology, GIS, remote sensing methods, computational modelling, data science, social-ecological theory, introduction to archaeology, and on land use and environmental change. Mark helped establish the UK's first data science focus in archaeology while his courses in the Near East focus on material culture and its change over time and space. Current courses he teaches are listed below.
- Co-ordinator: Archaeological Data Science
- Co-ordinator: Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Near East: City-States and Empires
Biography
BA, MS, PhD
Professor on Near East Archaeology and Archaeological Data Science
Vice-Dean Innovation, Enterprise and Knowledge Exchange, Social and Historical Sciences, UCL
Associate Editor: Social Science Computer Review, Iraq
Educational Background
PhD (University of Chicago, 2004)
MA (University of Chicago, 2000)
BA (University of Illinois, 1997)