Tobias Richter (University of Copenhagen)
My work focuses on the transition from hunting and gathering societies to the first farmers in southwest Asia, in particular the Levant. I am particularly interested in the chipped and ground stone technologies of this time period, as well as questions concerning social interaction, landscape and environmental change. I am also interested in how social evolutionary meta-narratives have shaped the academic discourse of this transition as a progression from ‘simple’ hunter-gatherers to ‘complex’ farmers.
I currently direct the Younger Dryas and the Origins of Agriculture project, which is funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research (http://shubeika.ccrs.ku.dk). This is part of the wider Epipalaeolithic Foragers in Azraq Project, a collaborative research initiative investigating the last hunter-gatherers in the Azraq Basin. I also have ongoing interests in the general prehistory of southwest Asia, archaeological theory, the history of archaeological practice in southwest Asia, landscape archaeology and the politics of heritage. Website
Louise Martin (University College London)
Research details coming soon. Website; Project Website
Adam Allentuck (University College London, University of Toronto)
My research is concerned with shifting wildlife hunting practices and mobility in the context of climate change in the eastern Jordanian steppe during the Early Epipalaeolithic period. At Kharaneh IV, the dense faunal deposits from repeated occupations in Area B are ideally suited to studying the seasonal timing of site occupation, animal procurement strategies and animal consumption practices through zooarchaeological methods. The dwelling structures in Area B also provide the opportunity to examine intra-site spatial manifestations of repeated seasonal aggregations and evidence for innovative strategies of procuring, preparing and discarding animal resources in the context of early seasonal sedentism. Website; Academia
Jay Stock (University of Cambridge)
Research details coming soon. Website
Matthew Jones (University of Nottingham)
My research focuses on the reconstruction of past environments, particularly the quantity and quality of the water within it, and includes projects in Jordan as well as the wider Near East region (Turkey and Iran). I have worked on and around the EFAP sites including Kharaneh IV using geomorphological and sedimentological techniques to look at water availability issues. My other main research interests lie in developing methods to better quantify by how much water availability has changed through time, particularly through the use of oxygen isotope palaeohydrology. Website; Project Website
Alison Damick (Columbia University)
I am interested in different formations of tradition, history, knowledge, and learning, and the specific histories that shape archaeological understanding of these processes. I am especially interested in collaborative and community-based archaeologies that engage with these issues. Ahmad Lash and I started the EFAP Community Engagement Program, and eventually the Azraq Community Archaeology Program (ACAP), to increase communication between the local communities in Azraq and the archaeological projects in the greater Azraq area, and to increase participation locally in conversations about the history and archaeology of the region. The site and team at KHIV have been central to this project and its activities.
My other research is concerned with the interrelationships between technological practices, landscape, and power; I currently co-direct the Tell Fadous-Kfarabida Excavation Project on the north-central coast of Lebanon, and my dissertation research uses a combination of use-wear, phytolith, and experimental analyses to analyze changes and continuities in stone and plant processing technologies at several sites on the Lebanese coast over the course of the ‘first urbanization’ in the third millennium BCE. Academia
Ahmad Lash (Department of Antiquities, Jordan)
I started working in the eastern desert of Jordan in 2005 (around the same time when Tobias Richter and Lisa Maher arrived to work in Azraq). At this point, most of my research was concentrated on the Islamic periods and I was working at the desert castles. But when I started to work with Tobias and Lisa as DOA representative I became interested in the prehistoric periods too!
With full support from EFAP and the CBRL, Alison Damick and I established the Azraq Community Archaeology Program (ACAP). ACAP is an awareness program and the objective is to create friendship between the local community in Azraq (kids, youths and local community representatives) and archaeological projects working there, as well as to increase awareness about the archaeological sites and history in the region. To date, most of our activities for the local community have been implemented at Kharaneh IV. DOA website
Eleni Asouti (University of Liverpool)
Research details coming soon. Website
Christophe Delage (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle)
Christophe Delage (Ph.D., 2001, University of Paris 1-Sorbonne) is a specialist of lithic raw material sourcing in the Southern Levant. Before joining the Kharaneh IV project, he has been working for the past 20 years in Northern Israel (Galilee) on mapping chert sources; and with that experience and knowledge, he has analyzed archaeological lithic assemblages from the Acheulian (Gesher Benot Yaaqov) to the Neolithic (Munhata) with a strong emphasis on the Natufian (Hayonim and Eynan) for documentating strategies of lithic procurement through time in that specific region. He has edited two books (2004, The Last Hunter-Gatherers in the Near East, BAR International Series 1320, Oxford: John and Erica Hedges. 2007, Chert Availability and Prehistoric Exploitation in the Near East, BAR International Series 1615, Oxford: John and Erica Hedges) and published various articles on these topics.
Javier Mangado Llach (University of Barcelona)
Javier Mangado Llach (Ph.D., 2002, Lecturer at the University of Barcelona) is a specialist in archaeopetrological characterisation of lithic raw material. His work in this project is his first experience on the Southern Levant. Before joining the Kharaneh IV project, he has been working for the past 20 years in Western Europe (Portugal, Spain and France) on analysing chert sources from an archaeopetrological point of view (micropaleontology and petrography). With that experience and knowledge he has analysed archaeological lithic assemblages from many Solutrean and Magdalenian sites in Southern Europe. Recently his interests are turning to the mountain environments and last hunters-gatherers with a strong emphasis for defining and documenting strategies of lithic procurement through time in those specific regions. He has edited books, chapters of books, and various articles on these topics. Website; Academia
Kharaneh IV 