Mark Altaweel

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 There are earlier studies that discuss this in detail from historical documents.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.

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...

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! 🥳

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...

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!

c.org/cdVdr9r7c7

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 ...

Nice to see some popular press about our work at Assur (doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...): www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/01/a...

Still one week to apply! Come work with us!

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...

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...

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…

New article about pottery kilns in Iraqi Kurdistan: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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

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).

🚨 Job Alert 🚨

Research Fellow in Environmental Archaeology (Amazonia)

📆 Closing Date 10-Nov-2025

📲 bit.ly/475fr2U

#LocalAndGlobal

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.

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...

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/...

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.

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…

Our new work demonstrates the relationship between increased moisture and the beginning of urbanism in Mesopotamia: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Job in Ireland for a Geomatics expert: www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/pre...

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).

We are advertising a lab manager post at UCL's IoA, details here: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

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).

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/...

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...

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).

🚨 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

Dear all, please see this call for papers I am involved with. If you are interested, please consider submitting.

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…

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...

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...

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...

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.

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

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...

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...

More jobs :)

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/...

Home page

Website for the project, about state institutional capacity, is now also up: www.origins-project.com