Dr Mark Altaweel
Reader in Near East Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology Gordon Square
Institute of Archaeology
- Joined UCL
- 1st Sep 2011
Research summary
Agent-based modelling
GIS and land use
Complex adaptive systems
Computational Social Science
Mesopotamian history and archaeology
Research Projects
Documentation of Iraqi Archaeological Sites
Restructuring the social and social-ecological sciences in the 21st century
Salinisation in Mesopotamia
Shahrizor Research Project
SHULGI: A Geospatial Tool for Modelling Human Movement and Interaction
Social Perceptions, Water Use and Climate Change
Fieldwork
- 2011: Archaeological project conducted in Kurdistan, Iraq (near Sulaymaniyah). Work focuses on studying anthropogenic landscape change in the past using soil analysis, remote sensing, and archaeological survey. Work conducted with the University of Heidelberg.
- 2008-2010: Co-PI on archaeological documentation projected sponsored by the United States State Department with data collected focusing on ancient Mesopotamian sites in southern and northern Iraq. Work included training Iraqis on the use of archaeological survey methods and GPS. Project was conducted near Istanbul, Turkey and Amman, Jordan.
- 2006-2008: Co-PI on archaeological documentation projected sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities with data collected focusing on ancient Mesopotamian sites in southern and northern Iraq. Work included training Iraqis on the use of archaeological survey methods and GPS on archaeological sites in Jordan. Project work was conducted in Homs, Syria and Amman, Jordan.
- 2004-5: PI on archaeological data collection project for sites in northern Mesopotamia with data focused on surveys and excavations conducted in the 1980s and 1990s. Project included training Iraqis on the useof GPS and other survey techniques on sites in Jordan. Project conducted in and near Amman, Jordan.
- 2003: Archaeological site damage assessment survey in Iraq sponsored by National Geographic Society (see October 2003 issue of National Geographic). Conducted near Baghdad, Mosul, and Samarra, Iraq.
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.
Biography
BA, MS, PhDPhD (University of Chicago, 2004)
MS (University of Chicago, 2000)
BA (University of Illinois, 1997)