- San Diego, California
The first industrial revolution in the southern Levant crystallized during the Iron Age when copper production reached scales never before seen in this part of the Middle East. Ever since copper ore was first smelted during the... more
The first industrial revolution in the southern Levant crystallized during the Iron Age when copper production reached scales never before seen in this part of the Middle East. Ever since copper ore was first smelted during the Chalcolithic period, the Arabah valley, and its widespread distribution of copper mineralization, was the main source for copper ore in the region. The main ore deposits are located in Timna (Israel) in the southern part of the valley, and some 105 km to the north, in the Faynan region (Jordan). Faynan is the largest copper ore resource zone in the southern Levant. Excavations at the Iron Age Faynan site of Khirbat en-Nahas and the recent final publication of that project have revealed peaks in industrial-scale production during the 10 th and 9 th centuries BCE. However, the role of ground stone tools in the Iron Age copper industry in Faynan has not been systematically presented. This paper presents a preliminary study of the ground stone assemblage from one excavation season at Khirbat en-Nahas, thereby highlighting the great potential for ground stone tools research at the site. Using the chaîne opératoire method of technological study, this paper takes a quantitative approach to the typological, material, and spatial distribution of ground stone artefacts at Khirbat en-Nahas to understand their role in copper production. Ethnoarchaeological study of hereditary bronze casting workshops in southern India provides a compelling model of how ground stone tools played a critical role in one of the most important dimensions of metal production in all periods-recycling-in an Iron Age copper factory.
Research Interests:
Abstract to Miroslav Barta's book 'Sinuhe, the Bible, and the Patriarchs. Contextulizes Barta's work in a transdisciplinary perspective.
Research Interests:
Recent current events have dramatically highlighted the vulnerability of the world's material cultural heritage. The 3-D Digital Preservation of At-Risk Global Cultural Heritage project, led by Thomas Levy at UC San Diego, catalyzes a... more
Recent current events have dramatically highlighted the vulnerability of the world's material cultural heritage. The 3-D Digital Preservation of At-Risk Global Cultural Heritage project, led by Thomas Levy at UC San Diego, catalyzes a collabora-tive research effort by four University of California campuses (San Diego, Berkeley, Los Angeles and Merced) to use cyber-archaeology and computer graphics for cultural heritage to document and safeguard virtually some of the most at-risk heritage objects and places. Faculty and students involved in this project are conducting path-breaking archaeological research-covering more than 10,000 years of culture and architecture-in Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Ethiopia, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, and the United States. This project uses the 3-D archaeological data collected in numerous at-risk heritage places to study, forecast, and model the effects of human conflict, climate change, natural disasters and technological and cultural changes on these sites and landscapes. The greater challenge undertaken by this project is to integrate archaeological heritage data and digital heritage data using the recently-announced Pacific Research Platform (PRP) and its 10-100Gb/s network as well as virtual reality kiosks installed in each participating UC campus. Our aim is to link UC San Diego and the San Diego Supercom-puter Center to other labs, libraries and museums at the other UC campuses to form a highly-networked collaborative platform for curation, analysis, and visualization of 3D archaeological heritage data.
Research Interests:
New data concerning the role of one of the earliest historically know Egyptian kings, Narmer, in the expansion of the Nile Valley civilization is present.
The environmental impact of mining and metallurgy is an issue that has affected societies in the ancient Near East over the past 8000 years. We present the results of a multidisciplinary project using agricultural sediments from ancient... more
The environmental impact of mining and metallurgy is an issue that has affected societies in the ancient Near East over the past 8000 years. We present the results of a multidisciplinary project using agricultural sediments from ancient terraces as a cultural archive of environmental pollution and land use in the copper ore-rich Faynan valley of southern Jordan. Due to the simultaneous production of agricultural goods and copper metallurgy throughout the last 6000 years in the valley, environmental pollution and its consequences for human health have been considered as a factor in settlement abatement. Sediments from two farming terrace systems adjacent to the major mining and smelting locales were analyzed. The sediment analyses included metal concentrations, lead-isotopes and phytolith analysis, and OSL dating. Although measurable concentrations of lead and other heavy metals persist in ancient metallurgical waste piles, our investigations found minimal evidence for contamination in the adjacent terrace systems. Based on these results, we argue that the occurrence of environmental pollution in the Faynan valley is highly variable, and that the distribution of heavy metals resulted from a combination of natural and cultural factors, including persistent landscape features that helped contain the most polluted metallurgical deposits. These findings are significant for understanding the processes of landscape change and human impacts on desert environments, including the ways in which past human actions have negatively affected the environment, as well as preserved and protected the environment from further degradation.
THE PAST FORWARD - Drawing on new emerging technologies, Thomas E. Levy predicts the rise of the cyber-archaeologist
Geomagnetic models based on direct observations since the 1830s show that the averaged relative change in field intensity on Earth's surface over the past 170 years is less than 4.8% per decade. It is unknown if these rates represent the... more
Geomagnetic models based on direct observations since the 1830s show that the averaged relative change in field intensity on Earth's surface over the past 170 years is less than 4.8% per decade. It is unknown if these rates represent the typical behavior of secular variations due to insufficient temporal resolution of archaeomagnetic records from earlier periods. To address this question we investigate two ancient slag mounds in Cyprus - Skouriotissa Vouppes (SU1, 4th - 5th centuries CE, 21 meter in height), and Mitsero Kokkinoyia (MK1, 7th - 5th BCE, 8 meter in height). The mounds are multi-layered sequences of slag and charcoals that accumulated near ancient copper production sites. We modeled the age-height relation of the mounds using radiocarbon dates, and estimated paleointensities using Thellier-type IZZI experiments with additional anisotropy, cooling rate, and non-linear TRM assessments. To screen out ambiguous paleointensity interpretations we applied strict selection criteria at the specimen/sample levels. To ensure objectivity, consistency, and robust error estimation we employed an automatic interpretation technique and put the data available in the MagIC database. The analyses yielded two independent sub-century scale paleointensity time series. The MK1 data indicate relatively stable field at the time the mound accumulated. In contrast, the SU1 data demonstrate changes that are comparable in magnitude to the fastest changes inferred from geomagnetic models. We suggest that fast changes observed in the published archaeomagnetic data from the Levant are driven by two longitudinally-paired regions, the Middle East and South Africa, that show unusual activity in geomagnetic models.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The Faynan region in southern Jordan is the largest copper ore resource zone in the southern Levant and was exploited for these ores beginning ca. 8000 years BP. We discuss the relationship between nomadic populations and major copper... more
The Faynan region in southern Jordan is the largest copper ore resource zone in the southern Levant and was exploited for these ores beginning ca. 8000 years BP. We discuss the relationship between nomadic populations and major copper smelting sites during the Iron Age (ca. 1200-500 BCE) based on mortuary excavations and toxic metal analyses at the Wadi Fidan 40 cemetery, the largest Iron Age mortuary complex in southern Jordan. The Iron Age represents the first industrial revolution in this part of the Middle East. The study presented here is the first to employ chemical and isotopic measurements from a systematically excavated Iron Age mortuary population to determine exposure to Cu and Pb pollution and mobility patterns (based on Sr isotopes). We describe a methodology to control for post-depositional diagenetic uptake of chemical elements in human teeth recovered from the cemetery that has not previously been applied in Faynan in ancient pollution studies. The results suggest that most of the excess of Pb and Cu measured in tooth enamel samples were a product of post-depositional diagenetic addition. Our findings suggest that the majority of people buried at the Wadi Fidan 40 cemetery were not exposed to metal pollution during their lives. The few individuals who were exposed to metal pollution exhibited a spectrum of traits indicative of lifestyle and social status. The results bring into question how severe the ancient pollution impacted the lives of the Iron Age population living in Faynan.
A series of AMS radiocarbon determinations have been obtained from the site of Khirbet-en-Nahas, Jordan. An initial suite of samples dated in Oxford and a subsequent and much larger suite from Groningen were obtained to determine the... more
A series of AMS radiocarbon determinations have been obtained from the site of Khirbet-en-Nahas, Jordan. An initial suite of samples dated in Oxford and a subsequent and much larger suite from Groningen were obtained to determine the onset of copper and iron production in the Faynan district. The determinations came from two different areas at the site. Bayesian modeling was used to improve the chronometric resolution. This showed that copper production expanded from ca. 950 BCE. The challenge at sites such as this is to obtain samples of short-lived age and thereby avoid ‘inbuilt age’. Several of the AMS determinations were, in all likelihood, affected by this, and the Bayesian modeling enabled us to determine outliers and question their reliability. Further work is planned.
The domestication of cattle, sheep and goats had already taken place in the Near East by the eighth millennium bc. Although there would have been considerable economic and nutritional gains from using these animals for their milk and... more
The domestication of cattle, sheep and goats had already taken place in the Near East by the eighth millennium bc. Although there would have been considerable economic and nutritional gains from using these animals for their milk and other products from living animals-that is, traction and wool-the first clear evidence for these appears much later, from the late fifth and fourth millennia bc. Hence, the timing and region in which milking was first practised remain unknown. Organic residues preserved in archaeological pottery have provided direct evidence for the use of milk in the fourth millennium in Britain, and in the sixth millennium in eastern Europe, based on the delta(13)C values of the major fatty acids of milk fat. Here we apply this approach to more than 2,200 pottery vessels from sites in the Near East and southeastern Europe dating from the fifth to the seventh millennia bc. We show that milk was in use by the seventh millennium; this is the earliest direct evidence to d...
Research Interests: Ancient History, Near Eastern Archaeology, Eastern Europe, Near Eastern Studies, Mesopotamian Archaeology, and 32 moreMesopotamia History, Syrian Studies, Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, Syria, Ancient Near East, Neolithic Europe, Multidisciplinary, Ancient Near East (Archaeology), Nature, Neolithic, Central Anatolian Neolithic, Milk Technology, Ceramics, Early Neolithic pottery technology, Humans, Fatty acids, Europe, Sheep, Mesopotamia, Animals, Meat, Milk Fat, Milk, Goats, Cattle, Dairy Cattle Breeding, Northern Mesopotamia, Fatty Acid, Dairy Products, Dairying, and Organic Residue
ABSTRACT Stereo panorama photography is able to create a visual immersive experience in which the viewer is able to see in any direction from a single static point. Acquiring data through CAVEcams [1, 2], we are able to create points of... more
ABSTRACT Stereo panorama photography is able to create a visual immersive experience in which the viewer is able to see in any direction from a single static point. Acquiring data through CAVEcams [1, 2], we are able to create points of immersion at cultural heritage sites. Through this technique, the user can virtually experience archaeological sites, which they might not otherwise be able to do. These immersive data communicate a sense of place better than an individual photograph is capable of doing. CAVEcam images can be combined with data collected by LiDAR and "Structure from Motion" techniques to create a stereo fusion of gigapixel photography and 3D point cloud data. For museums, this means bringing the context of the artifacts they display to their visitors. Rather than isolated artifacts, visitors can experience where they come from and gain a better understanding for the story behind them. For researchers this means being able to visit their project, even when it is thousands of miles away. Collaborative tools in virtualization systems such as CalVR [3, 4] make it possible for researchers in different parts of the world to work on projects together. For the classroom, it means bringing the environments to the students in ways not previously possible. Hieroglyphs can be read from the walls of tombs, while benchmark sites can be visited and explored in conjunction with classroom lectures and presentations. Ultimately, this tool has very real implications for the preservation and presentation of cultural heritage and archaeology.
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT As cyberarchaeology pushes the boundaries of digital replication of space, objects, and arguably, time itself, it simultaneously adjusts mankind's perception of these things, their connection to the individual and to... more
ABSTRACT As cyberarchaeology pushes the boundaries of digital replication of space, objects, and arguably, time itself, it simultaneously adjusts mankind's perception of these things, their connection to the individual and to culture, and our ability to analyze these increasingly solid intangible data sets. When considered as part of the evolving global modernist perspective, and as something valuable as a comparative analytical tool-these are useful developments. However, with every innovation, comes a price. And in creating virtually solid simulacra of cultural heritage, we must consider the implications of the removed authenticities cyberarchaeologists are creating. How might the ability to have a virtual copy affect international conservation policies for archaeological sites and collected artifacts? What does a virtual and potentially 3D printable version of an artifact mean to the economics of looting? How might digital augmentation in museums be balanced so as not to replace the real artifacts themselves? In developing the interdisciplinary and collaborative big-system cyberarchaeological methodologies and systems like those at the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture, and Archaeology at the University of California, San Diego, the ethical implications of reactions to digitization and digital analysis are being concurrently evaluated so that some flexible contingencies can be built in as a safety measure to protect the authentic from the misuse of its heterotopic virtual counterparts.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT As smartphones and tablets continue to pervade our daily lives, museums have turned to these devices as a new platform for engaging visitors with cultural heritage. However, the needs of the museum visitor are often overlooked... more
ABSTRACT As smartphones and tablets continue to pervade our daily lives, museums have turned to these devices as a new platform for engaging visitors with cultural heritage. However, the needs of the museum visitor are often overlooked when designing these applications. Researchers from CISA3 are beginning to address this problem by performing studies to gage users' wants in both engaging with the interfaces of mobile applications and the affordances associated with their environment of use. CISA3 has developed its own augmented reality tablet application, ARtifact, which intends to put a wealth of collected information directly into the hands of both researchers and the general public in a variety of contexts [1]. With ARtifact, users can examine metadata in museums as well as in the field at archaeological sites [2]; users are able to view both multispectral images of artifacts and annotated information pertaining to them in real time using the tablet's video seethrough interface. Wishing to deliver an optimal experience that engages the user and enhances the discovery and learning process, we followed the methodology of cognitive design to refine ARtifact's utility, based on contextual interviews for data collection and affinity diagrams for qualitative data organization and interpretation. Interviews were conducted in three stages. The first round of interviews took place at the Timken Museum in Balboa Park, San Diego, shadowing the art museum's testing of a new in-house developed mobile app. For this initial round, twenty-three visitors were interviewed and observed as they made their way around the museum. The second round of interviews took place with two directors from Balboa Park looking into enhancing the use of technology throughout the park, providing access to findings on extensive prior visitor research that the
Research Interests:
Because the Holy Land occupies a land bridge between the two great centers of early Near Eastem cul-ture—Egypt and Mesopotamia— the Holy Land and its social évolu-tion have usually been linked to thèse core areas of ancient civilization.... more
Because the Holy Land occupies a land bridge between the two great centers of early Near Eastem cul-ture—Egypt and Mesopotamia— the Holy Land and its social évolu-tion have usually been linked to thèse core areas of ancient civilization. Récent excavations in Israel's northem Negev Désert at the late fifth to early fourth millennium BC settlement of Shiqmim provide insights into the growth and décline of the earliest agro-pastoral settlement System in the Beersheva Valley. The new data point to a local growth process with little direct influence from the outside world. Numerous radiocarbon détermina-tions, extensive Systems of subterranean rooms in the lowest occupation levels, and a planned open-air settlement in the latest stratum, challenge théories conceming the developmental history of human societies in this part of the Near East. Analyses of fauna and craft specialization in métal add insi^ts into the émergence of the Mediter-ranean economy and social complexity in the an...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Archaeology is a discipline that studies time through an understanding of space and objects in that space; archaeology is ultimately, therefore, an intersection where the visualization of space and the visualization of time meet.... more
ABSTRACT Archaeology is a discipline that studies time through an understanding of space and objects in that space; archaeology is ultimately, therefore, an intersection where the visualization of space and the visualization of time meet. Archaeology has long utilized visualization as a technique to analyze and disseminate information; however, comprehensive and collaborative analysis and storytelling with this visual data has always been limited by the capacity of the systems, which create and display it. To present the most complete narrative of the past, one must seek the “big picture” by assembling the disparate pieces of data, which reflect the lives of the humans we study. This paper presents a framework for the visualization of and interaction with rich data collections in high resolution, networked, tiled-display environments, called the MediaCommons Framework.
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Archaeology is a destructive science. Photographs and videos preserve some aspects of the sequence of events inherent within the archaeological excavation process, but cannot replicate the spatiality and detail of the downward... more
ABSTRACT Archaeology is a destructive science. Photographs and videos preserve some aspects of the sequence of events inherent within the archaeological excavation process, but cannot replicate the spatiality and detail of the downward progression of the digging entailed through excavation. Time lapse sequences of properly adapted and employed terrestrial laser scanning to create a temporal sequence of point clouds of the archaeological methodologies can, however, serve as an innovative step towards accurate documentation of crucial data for future archaeologists interested in the site. Over the course of the National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship funded Sediment Intervals and Site Deformation Processes: Exploring Time Lapse Laser Scanning Capabilities and Methodologies for Archaeology, temporal scanning was tested on the beaches of San Diego to establish a baseline capability for data capture. Subsequently, the methodologies for data collection were utilized as a part of the excavation workflow at the University of California, San Diego's Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeological Project's excavation of a Roman era section of tell Khirbat Faynan in southern Jordan. With the data collected from the excavation as the impetus for new system development, original visualization processing designed with the archaeological problems and end-goals in mind is being created at the University of California, San Diego Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture, and Archaeology in order to meaningful display the shifting data sets in real time and exhibit not just the archaeological data, but the archaeological process.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This paper presents a functional implementation of an unmanned aerial vehicle complete with image acquisition payloads for the documentation and virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage sites. We discuss technological advances... more
ABSTRACT This paper presents a functional implementation of an unmanned aerial vehicle complete with image acquisition payloads for the documentation and virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage sites. We discuss technological advances in unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as contemporary practices in implementation, which have evolved in the direction of reducing costs, enabling new functionalities, and emerging applications in cultural heritage fieldwork. These advances are the basis for the design and execution of our unmanned aircraft, which we develop to collect unique and comprehensive datasets in challenging acquisition scenarios at active cultural heritage sites. Our platform is able to perform visual imaging, using a variety of acquisition triggers and mechanisms to enable high-resolution in-plane site photogrammetry, oblique aerial examinations of large sites, and sequence acquisitions for use in structure from motion based volumetric reconstructions of specific areas of interest. This data is in turn suitable for exploration with or without volumetric post processing techniques using visual analysis techniques using interactive high resolution tiled display inspection environments.
Abstract A modern field science such as archaeology is heavily data-driven using various kinds of state-of-the-art measurement instruments. It requires sophisticated computer infrastructure to manage large amounts of heterogeneous data.... more
Abstract A modern field science such as archaeology is heavily data-driven using various kinds of state-of-the-art measurement instruments. It requires sophisticated computer infrastructure to manage large amounts of heterogeneous data. The concept of cloud computing provides a flexible cyber infrastructure for large-scale data management, which is being deployed at university campuses. A problem unique to field research is that researchers often work at remote field sites with limited computer and network resources. ...
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Page 1. Prehistoric metalworking in the southern Levant: archaeometallurgical and social perspectives Thomas E. Levy and Sariel Shalev Introduction The introduction of copper metalworking in the southern Levant during the ...
Research Interests:
... The study area To monitor the changing patterns in prehistoric settlement and subsistence in the northern Negev Desert, two distinctive semi-arid regions were sampled: the humidNegev coastal plain and the more arid inland foothill... more
... The study area To monitor the changing patterns in prehistoric settlement and subsistence in the northern Negev Desert, two distinctive semi-arid regions were sampled: the humidNegev coastal plain and the more arid inland foothill zone. ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT
Research Interests:
... 1982 The Chalcolithic Mortuary Site near Mezad Aluf, Northern Negev Desert: A Preliminary Study. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 248: 37-59. 1983 Chalcolithicsettlement patterns in the northern Negev desert.... more
... 1982 The Chalcolithic Mortuary Site near Mezad Aluf, Northern Negev Desert: A Preliminary Study. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 248: 37-59. 1983 Chalcolithicsettlement patterns in the northern Negev desert. Current Anthropology, 24: 105-107. ...
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT