Roger Michel (right) with Prof. e.G. Stanley of Oxford University.
link to memorial tribute to eric stanley HEre
Photo credit: Mark Ashworth
Roger L. Michel Jr - Founder & Executive Director
The IDA was founded in 2012 by its current Executive Director, Roger Michel of Cambridge Massachusetts, to promote the fusion of new digital technologies and traditional archaeological techniques. As Mr. Michel explained in his keynote address at the organization's very first annual conference in 2013, "the IDA's mission is to encourage a diverse, crowd-sourced and stake-holder driven approach to the stewardship of heritage assets. Our goals are to study, preserve and restore ancient artifacts at a time when large numbers of irreplaceable objects are under obvious threat of being lost forever." Of the IDA's signature project, the Palmyra arch reconstruction, Mr. Michel has stated that "our mission is to rebuild the landscape of the Middle East and the great symbols of our shared cultural heritage that have been destroyed or defaced. These symbols - the architecture and objects of the ancient world - speak powerfully to what unites the East and the West." Mr. Michel is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford Universities. He was on the faculty at Boston University for more than two decades and is an honorary fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. The author of numerous articles on a wide range of topics, Mr. Michel is also the co-publisher of Arion magazine.
To see a profile of Roger Michel in the New York Times, Click Here
Alexy Karenowska - Director of Technology
Dr. Alexy Karenowska is a magnetician with a research group based in the University of Oxford, UK's Department of Physics, and is also Fellow by Special Election of Magdalen College Oxford. A trained engineer as well as a physicist, Karenowska directs the IDA's technical team. She has a particular interest in the application of 3D printing and machining technologies to the restoration or replication of damaged or destroyed archaeological structures and artefacts, and the development of new technologies for the characterization and preservation of heritage objects. Karenowska also manages the IDA's public installations in the UK and the USA.
Khaled Hiatlih - Reconstruction Initiative, Syria,
Mr. Khaled Hiatlih leads our on-site reconstruction initiative in Syria. In collaboration with the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums and other regional stakeholders, we are exploring all aspects – methodological and conceptual – of the application of new technologies to the repair and reconstruction of archaeological sites. Mr. Hiatlih has worked in many projects in Syria such as the restoration of the Folk museum (Azem Palace) in Damascus, and led a team to document all the mosaic panels in Syrian museums as part of a database project with the European center for Byzantine and post-Byzantine monuments. Mr Hiatlih graduated from Damascus University and studied at Birmingham University, USA.
George Altshuler - Project Coordinator
George Altshuler is a researcher for Cambridge Capsicum Analytics, where he specializes in the quantitative and qualitative studies of spices. Altshuler has worked with the IDA in a range of capacities since 2016. Currently, he provides supporting research in IDA’s Ancient Spice program where he is adapting modern biotech analytical techniques to the study of the spice trade. In addition, as part of IDA’s outreach and education program, Altshuler is developing a series of novel olfactory exhibits for museum installations in the USA and UK.
Photo Credit: greg smolenski
Roger Bagnall - Professor of Ancient History, Leon Levy Director Emeritus ISAW, NYU
Dr. Bagnall is the Leon Levy Director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and a professor of Ancient History at NYU. He specializes in the social economic history of Hellenistic, Roman and Late Antique Egypt. Dr. Bagnall has been working with the IDA since 2013, and was honored in an event in September 2013 at Trinity College, Oxford. Currently, Dr. Bagnall is responsible for the IDA/ISAW epigraphical database, a crucial element of the 'crowd-sourced, inter-disciplinary approach' to the study of archaeology on which the IDA was founded.
Photo Credit: Harvard university
Emma Dench - Convener - Annual Harvard Sicily Program
Prof. Emma Dench is a professor of the Classics and History at Harvard University. Her research focuses on Roman Republican and early Imperial history, and questions of identity in the ancient world. Beginning with the first IDA/Harvard Sicily Trip in 2014, Prof. Dench has been working with the IDA to make epigraphical studies and digital techniques a staple of the Harvard Classics Department, creating workshops and specialty training for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Alan Bowman - Textbook Publications
Dr. Alan Bowman, FBA, FSA is the former Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford and the director of the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents at Oxford University. He is also the Emeritus Camden Professor of Ancient History. Dr. Bowman has worked on numerous joint CSDA-IDA projects, including most recently a comprehensive photo-documentation of the Philae Obelisk at Kingston Lacy -- soon to be the subject matter of a book published for the National Trust. He is currently overseeing the publication of the IDA's forthcoming textbook, Digital Archaeology.
