Mark Altaweel
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maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel
@maltaweel.bsky.social
130 followers 130 following 25 posts

Professor of Near East Archaeology and Archaeological Data Science. Vice-Dean Innovation and Enterprise
https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/32234-mark-altaweel/about

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History 26%
Environmental science 25%
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Reposted by Jonathan Wolff, George B. Ploubidis, Neil Lee , and 4 more

ucl.ac.uk
UCL @ucl.ac.uk · 1d
Today, UCL turns 200. 🎉 For two centuries, our community has opened doors, challenged convention and pushed the boundaries of knowledge across every discipline. Thank you to everyone who’s been part of the UCL story, here’s to the next century. ✨

#UCL200 #LoveUCL

Reposted by Mark Altaweel

ercrema.bsky.social
Enrico R. Crema @ercrema.bsky.social · 10d
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!

Reposted by Mark Altaweel

ercrema.bsky.social
Enrico R. Crema @ercrema.bsky.social · 10d
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 - The University of York
jobs.york.ac.uk

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 11d
c.org/cdVdr9r7c7

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 14d
Nice to see some popular press about our work at Assur (doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...): www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/01/a...
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 ...
www.labrujulaverde.com

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Alberto Acerbi, Mark Altaweel

weaponisedpasts.bsky.social
Weaponised Pasts @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social · 24d
🚨 We're hiring 🚨

Still a week left to apply for the advertised post-doc position on our @leverhulme.ac.uk-funded project Weaponised Pasts! We are looking for an early career researcher with experience in experimental design, programming and statistical analysis.

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · 29d
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...
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
authors.elsevier.com

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, Charles West, Mark Altaweel

chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social
Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · Jan 7
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...

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Dec 23
New article about pottery kilns in Iraqi Kurdistan: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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…
www.sciencedirect.com

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Nov 19
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
ExA-2 | PeWe-Verlag
www.pewe-verlag.de

Reposted by Mark Altaweel

uclarchaeology.bsky.social
UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · Oct 21
🚨 Job Alert 🚨

Research Fellow in Environmental Archaeology (Amazonia)

📆 Closing Date 10-Nov-2025

📲 bit.ly/475fr2U

#LocalAndGlobal
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).
bit.ly

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Oct 14
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 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
papers.ssrn.com

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Oct 2
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.
Economies of the Edge | Heidelberg University Publishing
heiup.uni-heidelberg.de

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Sep 12
Our new work demonstrates the relationship between increased moisture and the beginning of urbanism in Mesopotamia: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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…
www.sciencedirect.com

Reposted by Liviu Giosan, Mark Altaweel

paulczimmerman.bsky.social
Paul Zimmerman @paulczimmerman.bsky.social · Aug 26
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/...
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...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Mark Altaweel

leverhulme.ac.uk
Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · Feb 19
Five Philip Leverhulme Prizes are available for extraordinary researchers in Archaeology. Deadline 14 May 2025 https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/philip-leverhulme-prizes
Screenshot of webpage describing the Philip Leverhulme Prize

Reposted by Mark Altaweel

shgordin.bsky.social
Shai Gordin @shgordin.bsky.social · Mar 14
Call for papers: new Nature HSS collection! articles on computational analysis of #western-asia from when writing emerged c. 3500 BCE till 1500CE! #DANES @geophilologist.bsky.social @maltaweel.bsky.social

www.nature.com/collections/...
From bits of history to bytes of data: AI and the study of the ancient Near East
This Collection aims at examining the computational and digital study of “greater Western Asia” and its epistemological implications.
www.nature.com

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Jun 24
Job in Ireland for a Geomatics expert: www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/pre...
European Dynamics - View CfT Workspace
www.etenders.gov.ie

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Jun 18
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).
www.ucl.ac.uk

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Apr 27
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 – 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).
www.ucl.ac.uk

Reposted by Matthew J. Collins

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Apr 22
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...
Posters | National Heritage Science Forum
www.heritagescienceforum.org.uk

Reposted by Mark Altaweel

uclarchaeology.bsky.social
UCL Institute of Archaeology @uclarchaeology.bsky.social · Apr 11
🚨 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
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).
bit.ly

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Mar 17
Dear all, please see this call for papers I am involved with. If you are interested, please consider submitting.

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Mar 13
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...
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…
www.sciencedirect.com

Reposted by Mark Altaweel

unioxarchaeology.bsky.social
School of Archaeology @unioxarchaeology.bsky.social · Mar 10
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...
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...
scitechdaily.com

Reposted by Mark Altaweel

antiquity.ac.uk
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · Mar 3
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...

🏺 <a href="/hashtag/Archaeology" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#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.

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Mar 2
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...
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.&nbsp; This is the...
you.38degrees.org.uk

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Feb 24
More jobs :)
leverhulme.ac.uk Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · Feb 19
Five Philip Leverhulme Prizes are available for extraordinary researchers in Archaeology. Deadline 14 May 2025 https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/philip-leverhulme-prizes
Screenshot of webpage describing the Philip Leverhulme Prize

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Feb 14
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/...

maltaweel.bsky.social
Mark Altaweel @maltaweel.bsky.social · Feb 14
Website for the project, about state institutional capacity, is now also up: www.origins-project.com
Home page
www.origins-project.com