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Micka Ullman

Archaeologist/speleologist

Micka is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Archeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her main research interest is human selection and exploitation patterns of karstic caves during prehistoric and proto-historic periods in the Southern Levant. Her current projects include the of study of Nesher Ramla Pre- Pottery Neolithic site, Har Sifsuf Chalcolithic cave site, Qina and Ashalim Late Chalcolithic cave sites. For the last decade she is participating in speleological and archeological cave survey and cave mapping conducted by the Israeli Cave Research Center (ICRC) of the Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences at Hebrew University.

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Natalia Égüez

Geoarchaeologist

After graduating in Physical Geography from Barcelona University, Natalia started her MA in Archaeology and completed her PhD in Natural Sciences at Kiel University (Germany) under the supervision of Prof. Makarewicz. Her research focuses in understanding the relationships between apex predators, people and their domesticates, and ecosystem components in human-dominated landscapes, through the molecular examination of mammal coprolites and organic-rich sediments. She has worked as a Geoarchaeologist in several sites in Africa, Europe and Central Asia, with chronologies ranging from Middle Palaeolithic to Bronze and Iron Age. At the University of Haifa, her work is centred in the analysis of bulk nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes in combination with collagen amino acids analyses.

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Valentina Rovelli

Geneticist

Valentina is currently a post-doctorate scholar in the Department of Maritime Civilizations and at the University of Haifa. She completed her doctorate studies in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Analysis at Roma Tre University under the supervision of Dr. Leonardo Vignoli, which followed her Ms.C studies in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management and her BA in Biology at the same University. Her main interests are population genomics, conservation, molecular ecology and evolution. Her PhD dissertation dealt with the application of different genetics and genomics techniques for population analyses of endangered Amphibian species endemic to Italy. She completed a first postdoc at the University of Haifa, where she worked on the project “Salamandra infraimmaculata ecological genomics”, aimed at identifying the genetic architecture of habitat-dependent adaptation. Within the DEADSEA-ECO project she is focused on paleogenomics, ancient DNA and demographic reconstructions.

Ignacio Aguilar Lazagabaster

Paleontologist & Archaeozoologist

Ignacio is a Humboldt post-doctorate scholar in Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin, and the Department of Maritime Civilizations and at the University of Haifa. His main interests are mammal – including human – evolution, ecomorphology, and paleoenvironments, with an emphasis on eastern African Cenozoic. He has extensive field experience in eastern Africa, southern Africa, and Spain, where he has participated in excavations ranging from the Late Cretaceous to less than 100 years old. He is focused on zooarchaeological analyses, food webs, and statistical modeling aspects of the project.

Roi Porat

Archaeologist

Roi has been exploring the Judean desert landscapes and caves for two decades. He is head of the Hebrew University Expedition to Herodion.

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Romi Halevi

Archaeologist

Romi is an undergraduate student of Classical and prehistoric archaeology in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a team member in the on-going excavation at Tel Qedesh. She is documenting and dating the leopard trap in the southern Judean Desert, working in the field and in the OSL Laboratory of the Israel Geological Survey (headed by Naomi Porat) .

Asaf Oron

Conservator, archaeologist

Asaf Oron is an objects conservator and a maritime archaeologist. He worked at the Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on the renovation of the Greek and Roman Galleries and later headed the conservation facility of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) research center in Bodrum, Turkey. Between 2005 and 2015 Asaf co- directed the Dead Sea Coastal Survey Project and in 2017 completed his dissertation on 'Geophysical Conditions and Maritime Activity on the Dead Sea in Antiquity' at Haifa University Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. He is currently Head of Conservation at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and holds a part-time position as lecturer in the Conservation of Material Cultural Heritage program at the University of Haifa. He is engaged in several ongoing research projects linked with the technical analysis of Classical and Hellenistic Naval rams and the preservation of cultural heritage remains.

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Avi Mashiach

Archaeologist

Avi is an undergraduate student at the Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He studies Archaeology of the Biblical and Classical periods and Hebrew Language. His main interest is the Iron Age Levant.

Meirav Meiri

Paleogeneticist

Meirav is ancient DNA specialist working at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. Meirav completed her PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK where she studied phylogeographic inference using modern and ancient DNA of Holarctic deer. Her research interests include are the use of ancient DNA analysis to address a variety of questions on the evolutionary relationships of species, population movements, and the impact of environmental changes on demography through time and space.

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Tal Lavi

Archaeozoologist

Tal is a MA student at the Department of Archaeology in the University of Haifa. She is interested in the Neolithic of the southern Levant and the formation of cultural norms such as iconography and symbolism in art, religion/belief systems, burial practices etc., and the way they reflect in social structures and economy.