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Mark Altaweel

@maltaweel.bsky.social
147 followers 143 following 36 posts

Professor of Near East Archaeology and Archaeological Data Science. Vice-Dean Innovation and Enterprise profiles.ucl.ac.uk/32234-mark-altaw…

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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Another job in the Institute. Come join us! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here is our recently submitted and under review paper on the use of AI for reconstructing palaeoclimate data from speleothems: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Code, data, link to a working site with trained models all available.
papers.ssrn.com
Bridging the Gaps: AI-Driven Imputation of Speleothem Geochemical Data
Speleothem geochemical records (e.g., δ¹⁸O, δ13C, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca) provide terrestrial paleoclimate reconstructions critical for understanding paleoenvironmental v
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
New job alert at the Institute of Archaeology. Come join us! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
New article out. We discuss the use of agentic AI with agent-based modelling in its application to archaeological theory. We discuss how the potential pasts, that is differnet possible ways to explain the past, can be explored using this approach: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Archeological theory and AI: the potential past through agentic systems - AI & SOCIETY
The increasing capabilities of AI in automation and integration within existing methodology present a new opportunity for disciplines to address long-standing theoretical challenges. This is evident i...
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UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
We are hiring! We are seeking to appoint a full-time Lecturer (Teaching) in Museum Studies to contribute to the teaching of core modules on the MA Museum Studies, develop new optional modules, support with dissertation supervision, and more! Find out more and apply: tinyurl.com/59ka25f3 #Hiring
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
It was really great to be part of the Nuragic Resilience and Vulnerability workshop (www.nurnet.net/nuragicresil...) in Sardinia. As always, our hosts were lovely and the presentations exceptional.
nurnet.net
Workshop on the Resilience and Vulnerability of the Nuragic Civilization - Nuragic Resilience Workshop
A workshop on climate change and complex societies in the central Mediterranean Villanovaforru + Gergei · 12–14 June 2026 This workshop brings together archaeologists, paleoclimatologists, and histori...
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UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
A fantastic time at Transparent Journeys along the Silk Roads: Glass and Connectivity across Central Asia and Beyond, organised by UCL Institute of Archaeology, @ahglass.bsky.social, and the British Museum! Check out some of the highlights👇 #Glass #Conference #SilkRoads #UCL #Archaeology
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
New fieldwork technician post at the Institute advertised: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
I will be speaking at the 'Looted Worlds' event at Ibraaz next Thursday May 21st at 6 PM. ibraaz.org/whats-on/loo... Hope to see you there
ibraaz.org
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Our AI-based rainfall forecasting paper is out on preprints: www.preprints.org/manuscript/2...
preprints.org
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
This is today. Hope to see some of you there...
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Enrico R. Crema @ercrema.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Very proud of my PhD student Alexes Mes for her first archaeology paper where she has developed a novel Bayesian spatiotemporal model for estimating arrival times using 14C dates authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
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UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
We are delighted to host our forthcoming international conference with the Association for the History of Glass and the British Museum, focusing on the vital role of glass as an indicator of exchange, trade and movement along the Silk Roads. Get your ticket: tinyurl.com/SilkRds3
In the background is a world map made out of shattered, coloured glass fragments. Title text reads: Transparent Journeys along the Silk Roads: Glass and Connectivity across Central Asia and Beyond. Text at the bottom reads: 14-16 May 2026, UCL Institute of Archaeology. Booking is essential. The UCL logo is in the bottom-right corner.
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
New job opportunity: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Giacomo Benati @giacomobenati.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
🚀 New! Pleased to share my new article (with C. Guerriero), “The Origins of (a Culture of) Cooperation,” now out in JLEO. We show how climate shocks and institutions shaped the emergence of cooperative norms in ancient Mesopotamia. Read it here 👉 doi.org/10.1093/jleo... #economics #politics #econsky
doi.org
Validate User
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Dr Micòl Di Teodoro @micsim.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
new position: University Professorship in Egyptology at Freie Universität Berlin #Egyptology
berufungsportal.fu-berlin.de
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Yes, the research included what I could find and other research on texts discussing irrigation practices/fallowing regimes in Mesopotamia. There are earlier studies that discuss this in detail from historical documents. We simply incorporated this in the modelling.
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
We just did some analyses using agent-based modelling to see how human choices affect salinity. Long story short, salinity could be managed so long as their is active monitoring, good fallowing rotation, and climate extremes minimised: discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/14...
discovery.ucl.ac.uk
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Dr Matt Pope @mattpope.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
I share my birthday with my employer! We also share lots of same characteristics including both chsmpioning empirically based science. This shouldn't be a suprise as we are both Aquarians! Happy Birthday to us! 🥳
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Enrico R. Crema @ercrema.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
We are looking for a research project manager for the upcoming FORAGER ERC Synergy Project. Based at the University of York, this is an exciting opportunity to work in a team of 37 researchers from the UK, the US, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Japan. Join us! jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/rese...
jobs.york.ac.uk
Jobs - The University of York
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Enrico R. Crema @ercrema.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Speakers: @lilalienz4ever.bsky.social @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social @maltaweel.bsky.social @hollywright.archaeo.social.ap.brid.gy @patymurrieta.bsky.social @maltaweel.bsky.social @rmcelreath.bsky.social @mayameme.bsky.social and Alan Blackwell!
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
c.org/cdVdr9r7c7
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Nice to see some popular press about our work at Assur (doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...): www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/01/a...
labrujulaverde.com
An Unexpected Discovery beneath the Ishtar Temple in Assur Reveals the City’s Founding Date and Its Relationship with a Hurrian Goddess
An international team of archaeologists and geologists has discovered beneath the foundations of the Ishtar Temple in Assur (or Ashur, Iraq) a thick layer of sand, deliberately placed there more than ...
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Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Still one week to apply! Come work with us!
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Our article analysing the origin of the sands underneath the Ishtar Temple as Assur is out. We demonstrate a regional (Zagros region) origin for the sands and indicate an early 3rd millennium BCE date for the temple's founding (and possibly Assur): authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
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Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Really excited that our *new paper* is finally out 🔥 This study is the first to quantitatively investigate museum visitors’ perceptions of historical analogies that compare concepts from the deep past to modern political ideas. doi.org/10.1057/s415...
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
New article about pottery kilns in Iraqi Kurdistan: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Assembling the puzzle pieces: Integrating pottery and kiln analysis to reconstruct pyrotechnology at the Dinka Settlement Complex (Iraqi Kurdistan)
This study offers an integrated analysis of pottery and firing installations, used to investigate ancient pyrotechnology. Such combined approaches rem…
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
The second volume of the series “Exploring Assur” presents the results achieved at ancient Assur chiefly in its New Town, through fieldwork and analyses undertaken in 2024 by the Assur Excavation Project. Out on open access and available for purchase: www.pewe-verlag.de?page_id=3198
pewe-verlag.de
ExA-2 | PeWe-Verlag
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UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
🚨 Job Alert 🚨 Research Fellow in Environmental Archaeology (Amazonia) 📆 Closing Date 10-Nov-2025 📲 bit.ly/475fr2U #LocalAndGlobal
bit.ly
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Our in-review preprint on the origin of sands used in the foundation of the Ishtar temple at Assur can be found here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Results show sands came from near Assur along the Zagros-Lower Zab but suggesting southern Mesopotamian influence in the cult of Ishtar.
papers.ssrn.com
The Sand Deposit underneath the Ishtar Temple in Assur, Iraq: Origin and Implications for the Foundation of the Goddess’s Cult and Sanctuary
This study presents the first-ever systematic mineralogical investigation of sands from an archaeological context in Iraq, establishing a methodological precede
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Paul Zimmerman @paulczimmerman.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Hot off the presses! Here’s a new article that I co-authored with my Lagash Archaeological Project colleagues on a geoarchaeological study of what we believe to be evidence of hydrological warfare in the Third Millennium BCE. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
The Flooding of Lagash (Iraq): Evidence for Urban Destruction Under Lugalzagesi, the King of Uruk and Umma
High-resolution remote sensing, magnetometry, and trench stratigraphy identify a significant flood event at Lagash (modern Tell al-Hiba) during the late Early Dynastic period (ca. 2400–2350 BC). Sate...
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Nice to see this book out: heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/view.... We have a chapter on population and wages in the 1st mill. BCE-1st mill CE in the Near East where we demonstrate wages mostly declined during this time and converged to similar wages across the Near East for unskilled labour.
heiup.uni-heidelberg.de
Economies of the Edge | Heidelberg University Publishing
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Our new work demonstrates the relationship between increased moisture and the beginning of urbanism in Mesopotamia: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Early urbanism in Mesopotamia coincided with increased moisture between 6500 to 5500 years BP
Climate change is thought to have played a significant role in the rise and demise of complex Mesopotamian societies throughout the mid- to late Holoc…
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Job in Ireland for a Geomatics expert: www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/pre...
etenders.gov.ie
European Dynamics - View CfT Workspace
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
We are advertising a lab manager post at UCL's IoA, details here: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Here is a two-year teaching cover at UCL Institute of Archaeology, with a focus on Quantitative Approaches and European Archaeology: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
The National Heritage Science Forum is holding a poster session on July 10th showcasing areas related to heritage and science-based methods as applied to heritage. For those interested, see: www.heritagescienceforum.org.uk/what-we-do/2...
heritagescienceforum.org.uk
Posters | National Heritage Science Forum
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UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
🚨 3rd Job Advert of the Week 🚨 Applications for a full-time (36.5 hours per week) Research Fellow @ucl.ac.uk IoA within the @erc.europa.eu Synergy project ‘MEDGREENREV: Re-thinking the “Green Revolution” in the Medieval Western Mediterranean (6th-16th centuries). 📲 bit.ly/4lso8t3 Deadline 2nd May
bit.ly
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Dear all, please see this call for papers I am involved with. If you are interested, please consider submitting.
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
New palaeoclimate results from Iraq, where we demonstrate that the mid-Holocene was ancient Mesopotamia's wettest period during the Holocene, at about the time urbanism first began: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Mid-Holocene hydroclimatic optimum recorded in a stalagmite from Shalaii Cave, northern Iraq
In Mesopotamia, climate is regarded as an important contributing factor to major socio-cultural transformations. However, the scarcity of Holocene pal…
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School of Archaeology @unioxarchaeology.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
New research by an international team of researchers incl. Prof Nick Barton & Dr Stacy Carolin suggests that the #Sahara experienced wetter conditions during the African Humid Period between 8700-4300 years ago! Remember, 'c' for 'ceiling' and 'g' for ground! #Caves scitechdaily.com/ancient-cave...
scitechdaily.com
Ancient Cave Discovery Reveals That 8,000 Years Ago, the Sahara Was Green
Analysis of Moroccan stalagmites reveals that the Sahara received increased rainfall between 8,700 and 4,300 years ago, supporting early herding societies. This rainfall, likely driven by tropical plu...
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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 03/03/2025
NEW Eridu is traditionally considered the earliest city in southern #Mesopotamia. Discovery of thousands of irrigation canals in the Eridu region provides a rare direct example of intense agricultural management in ancient Mesopotamia. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology
Map of the Eridu region, reconstructing the irrigation canal network in relation to the ancient Euphrates riverbed and the archaeological sites of the Eridu region. The base map is a Corona satellite image.
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Donald Trump has been invited to a state visit to the UK. We should not be rolling out the red carpet to celebrate this man. Agree? Add your name to the petition today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no...
you.38degrees.org.uk
No second state visit for Trump
Unbelievable. Keir Starmer has handed Donald Trump a letter from King Charles, inviting him for a second state visit to the UK. It’s totally unprecedented, and should not go ahead.  This is the...
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
More jobs :)
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Another job! This one as a two year research fellow in paleobot for the ERC DREAM project I am happily advising on: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Website for the project, about state institutional capacity, is now also up: www.origins-project.com
origins-project.com
Home page
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Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Sever post-doc possibilities for Mesopotamia archaeologists and with expertise in the region based in Bologna for a project I am involved with: www.origins-project.com/open-positions
origins-project.com
Open Positions
Postdoc in Archeology of Bronze Age Mesopotamia
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UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
🚨 Research Fellow in #Archaeobotany Job Klaxon 🚨 All info here on the @ucl.ac.uk jobs page: 📲 bit.ly/ABOTRF25 📆 Deadline 25th February 2025 Applications are now being sought for a Research Fellow to support the ERC-awarded and UKRI-underwritten project DREAM #LocalAndGlobal
bit.ly
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨 LECTURER IN HERITAGE 🚨 DEADLINE 26 FEB 2025🚨 We are hiring a *Lecturer in Heritage* (1 year, FT), on a 40(research)-40(teaching)-20(admin) contract. The post holder will work in @edinburgharchaeo.bsky.social @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social & @uoe-sps.bsky.social! Info: shorturl.at/PjRRs
shorturl.at
Lecturer in Heritage at The University of Edinburgh
Discover an exciting academic career path as a Lecturer in Heritage at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!
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