The bulk of my research in the past has been devoted to the economic and legal history of the Hellenistic world. Given the nature of the survival of ancient documents, that inevitably means that I have focused on Egypt and documentary papyri found there.
In the last four years I have begun a new research agenda that is dedicated to understanding how to integrate human and natural archives to tell a richer and more dynamic story of the past. This has taken me into the very exciting area of Paleoclimatology. I am especially focused on ice core Geochemistry, both because of the nature of data generated and because ice core drilling and processing intersects with my interest in climbing. A very happy coincidence of research and hobby. I am the Principal Investigator of a US National Science Foundation-funded major project assessing volcanic impacts on Nile river hydroclimate and ancient Egyptian civilization. As part of the project our team is more broadly examining all relevant paleoclimate proxy records and all relevant historical data from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods in Egypt, the Nile river basin, and western Asia. We are also planning on using climate model reconstructions and new statistical techniques to tie in climate proxy data, qualitative Nile river flow data, historical events, and societal responses.
Project in the news here:
The project website is at:
nileclimateproject.netlify.com
In the last four years I have begun a new research agenda that is dedicated to understanding how to integrate human and natural archives to tell a richer and more dynamic story of the past. This has taken me into the very exciting area of Paleoclimatology. I am especially focused on ice core Geochemistry, both because of the nature of data generated and because ice core drilling and processing intersects with my interest in climbing. A very happy coincidence of research and hobby. I am the Principal Investigator of a US National Science Foundation-funded major project assessing volcanic impacts on Nile river hydroclimate and ancient Egyptian civilization. As part of the project our team is more broadly examining all relevant paleoclimate proxy records and all relevant historical data from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods in Egypt, the Nile river basin, and western Asia. We are also planning on using climate model reconstructions and new statistical techniques to tie in climate proxy data, qualitative Nile river flow data, historical events, and societal responses.
Project in the news here:
The project website is at:
nileclimateproject.netlify.com
My Fall 2018 Graduate seminar on Climate/Environmental history of the ancient world, and some of the Yale NSF-sponsored project team, visiting the Ice Core Lab of Joe McConnell, and his great team at the Desert Research Institute, Reno
Public Lectures 2018-2019
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