Zachary C Dunseth
Biographic Data
| ID | 137674 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Zachary C Dunseth |
| GIVEN NAMES | Zachary C |
| FAMILY NAME | Dunseth |
| SIGNATURE | DUNSETH Z C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Brown University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2081-0089 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 48 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Experts against automation? Comparing artificial intelligence and human identifications of multi-cell cereal husk phytoliths
This study compares the efficacy of a deep learning-based computer vision model against manual expert identification of multi-cell husk phytoliths from wheat ( Triticum boeticum/dicoccoides ), barley ( Hordeum spontaneum ), and oats ( Avena sativa ). Conducted via an online survey in 2024 with twelve respondents (92% completion rate, one respondent did not finish), the survey presented 18 phytolith images selected based on: 1) deep learning perfo…
Dung Microremains as Archaeological Evidence of Early Navajo Sheepherding
Megiddo in the Middle Bronze Age
This article deals with Middle Bronze Megiddo, emphasizing its importance for understanding this period at the site, and in the entire southern Levant in general. We focus on new evidence for exceptional accumulation of layers for the earliest Middle Bronze layer, radiocarbon dated to the early twentieth century BCE, and for the first fortification system also dated to the twentieth century BCE. We also deal with the complex history of the fortif…
Crisis in motion
The destruction of Iron I Megiddo in the early 10th century BCE was a momentous event in the history of the southern Levant. It marked an abrupt break in the long cultural development of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. Despite extensive field research, essential questions related to this event remain unanswered, especially regarding the processes that took place in the city immediately before its destruction. In this article, findings from recen…
Tel Dor in the Middle Bronze Age and Maritime Adaptation along the Carmel Coast
A newly excavated, well-built, Middle Bronze (MB) II–III coastal structure at Tel Dor provides a fresh glimpse into the turbulent settlement history of the Carmel Coast in the first half of the 2nd millennium b.c.e. The structure, incorporating a massive ashlar orthostat, was built in the MB I–II transition or MB II and existed for more than a century before its collapse during the MB III. A tight cluster of radiocarbon data indicates its destruc…
Rethinking Occupation Intensity during the Levantine Middle Epipalaeolithic
The open-air Epipalaeolithic (Geometric Kebaran) site of Neve David (Mount Carmel, Israel) has played an important role in reconstructing scenarios of sedentarization in the Levant since its initial excavation in the 1980s, and has been seen as heralding later Natufian socioeconomic adaptations. However, little was known about the site’s formation processes and spatial organization, hindering the testing of this view. Employing new field data fro…
The Archaeology and History of Rock-cut Cisterns and Open Water Reservoirs in the Negev Highlands
This article provides the final assessment of a large-scale optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating project of water installations in the arid Negev Highlands, southern Israel. Results from five open reservoirs and five rock-cut cisterns are reported. By sampling spoil piles, feeding channels, and accumulation of sediments within reservoirs and cisterns, their construction and phases of maintenance and abandonment are dated. Conventional w…
Infrared spectra of mixtures of heated and unheated clay
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is frequently used for archaeological studies related to fire, allowing, among other things, researchers to distinguish between unheated and heated clay minerals. However, heat signatures are not always clear‐cut in infrared spectra of bulk sediments, as spectra occasionally appear with ambiguous absorbance bands attributed to hydroxyl (OH) in clay minerals. This paper presents an experimental study …
The Avdat in Late Antiquity Project
Three seasons of archaeological fieldwork by the Avdat in Late Antiquity Project have yielded new evidence of intensive Early Islamic activity in the late antique town of Avdat in Israel's Negev Highlands. This evidence has important implications for understanding the fate of such towns in the region during the Byzantine–Islamic transition
Excavations at Kiriath-jearim, 2019
In this article we report the results of the second season of excavations at Kiriath-jearim (Deir el-ʿAzar). The following topics are emphasized: layout and date of the supposed monumental Iron IIB summit compound; nature of the Iron IIC settlement; date of the Hellenistic fortification; characteristics of the Early Roman period activity. An archaeo-historical analysis follows the presentation of the new data, including updates on past interpreta…
Construction and use of rock-cut cisterns
The Negev Highlands (Israel) are characterized by a rich settlement history over the last millennia. To sustain life in this arid environment, measures to collect and store water were introduced. Two types of installations to collect and store runoff water were built in the region: open reservoirs, and more elaborate subterranean rock-cut cisterns. This article focuses on the latter. Based on a few inscriptions found in rock-cut cisterns, it is a…
Cyprus and Sardinia in the Late Bronze Age
In the course of the Swedish excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, table ware and domestic pottery of unknown provenance were discovered in offering pits dating to the 13th century BCE. These vessels comprise six hand-made and black burnished vessels, all of which have close typological parallels in the Nuragic culture of Sardinia. Comparative petrographic investigation confirmed their Sardinian provenance. Other archaeometric analyses includ…
Dung in the dumps
A key question in archaeobotany concerns the role of herbivore dung in contributing plant remains to archaeobotanical assemblages. This issue has been discussed for at least 40 years and has motivated several archaeobotanical studies on identifying dung-derived deposition of plant remains. Meanwhile, microarchaeological methods have developed and continue to be developed for detecting dung in archaeological sediments, and multi-proxy methodologie…
Intermediate Bronze Age subsistence practices in the Negev Highlands, Israel
The Archaeology and History of the Negev and Neighbouring Areas in the Third Millennium BCE
Conventional theory described two settlement waves in the Negev Highlands in the third millennium BCE—in the EB II and the Intermediate Bronze Age— and a period with no evidence for stone architecture between them in the EB III. Arad in the Beer-sheba Valley was presented as an EB I–II site, which lay deserted in the EB III. Old and new radiocarbon dates and other lines of evidence from the copper mining districts in the Arabah, Arad and the Nege…
Calcitic dung spherulites and the potential for rapid identification of degraded animal dung at archaeological sites using FTIR spectroscopy
OSL Age Determination of Archaeological Stone Structures Using Trapped Aeolian Sediments
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is widely applied to sediments in paleoenvironmental sciences. However, there are only limited examples determining the age of archaeological stone structures by OSL using dust deposits. The age of dust deposits associated with ancient buildings may be used to date the onset of settlement (sediment below structures), settlement activity (occupation layer), or the time after a settlement had been aban…
Geoarchaeological Investigation at the Intermediate Bronze Age Negev Highlands Site of Mashabe Sade
Massive settlement activity characterizes the arid Negev Highlands during the Intermediate Bronze Age (ca. 2500–1950 BCE). However, the underlying subsistence basis of this population is poorly understood. Recent microarchaeological work at Iron Age sites in the Negev Highlands has shown the potential for recovering direct evidence for subsistence practices through analysis of the microscopic plant remains in degraded animal dung. Following these…
Dung in the dumps
A key question in archaeobotany concerns the role of herbivore dung in contributing plant remains to archaeobotanical assemblages. This issue has been discussed for at least 40 years and has motivated several archaeobotanical studies on identifying dung-derived deposition of plant remains. Meanwhile, microarchaeological methods have developed and continue to be developed for detecting dung in archaeological sediments, and multi-proxy methodologie…
Geoarchaeological Investigation at the Intermediate Bronze Age Negev Highlands Site of Mashabe Sade
Massive settlement activity characterizes the arid Negev Highlands during the Intermediate Bronze Age (ca. 2500–1950 BCE). However, the underlying subsistence basis of this population is poorly understood. Recent microarchaeological work at Iron Age sites in the Negev Highlands has shown the potential for recovering direct evidence for subsistence practices through analysis of the microscopic plant remains in degraded animal dung. Following these…
OSL Age Determination of Archaeological Stone Structures Using Trapped Aeolian Sediments
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is widely applied to sediments in paleoenvironmental sciences. However, there are only limited examples determining the age of archaeological stone structures by OSL using dust deposits. The age of dust deposits associated with ancient buildings may be used to date the onset of settlement (sediment below structures), settlement activity (occupation layer), or the time after a settlement had been aban…
The Archaeology and History of the Negev and Neighbouring Areas in the Third Millennium BCE
Conventional theory described two settlement waves in the Negev Highlands in the third millennium BCE—in the EB II and the Intermediate Bronze Age— and a period with no evidence for stone architecture between them in the EB III. Arad in the Beer-sheba Valley was presented as an EB I–II site, which lay deserted in the EB III. Old and new radiocarbon dates and other lines of evidence from the copper mining districts in the Arabah, Arad and the Nege…
Intermediate Bronze Age subsistence practices in the Negev Highlands, Israel
Calcitic dung spherulites and the potential for rapid identification of degraded animal dung at archaeological sites using FTIR spectroscopy
Cyprus and Sardinia in the Late Bronze Age
In the course of the Swedish excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, table ware and domestic pottery of unknown provenance were discovered in offering pits dating to the 13th century BCE. These vessels comprise six hand-made and black burnished vessels, all of which have close typological parallels in the Nuragic culture of Sardinia. Comparative petrographic investigation confirmed their Sardinian provenance. Other archaeometric analyses includ…
Infrared spectra of mixtures of heated and unheated clay
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is frequently used for archaeological studies related to fire, allowing, among other things, researchers to distinguish between unheated and heated clay minerals. However, heat signatures are not always clear‐cut in infrared spectra of bulk sediments, as spectra occasionally appear with ambiguous absorbance bands attributed to hydroxyl (OH) in clay minerals. This paper presents an experimental study …
Construction and use of rock-cut cisterns
The Negev Highlands (Israel) are characterized by a rich settlement history over the last millennia. To sustain life in this arid environment, measures to collect and store water were introduced. Two types of installations to collect and store runoff water were built in the region: open reservoirs, and more elaborate subterranean rock-cut cisterns. This article focuses on the latter. Based on a few inscriptions found in rock-cut cisterns, it is a…
Megiddo in the Middle Bronze Age
This article deals with Middle Bronze Megiddo, emphasizing its importance for understanding this period at the site, and in the entire southern Levant in general. We focus on new evidence for exceptional accumulation of layers for the earliest Middle Bronze layer, radiocarbon dated to the early twentieth century BCE, and for the first fortification system also dated to the twentieth century BCE. We also deal with the complex history of the fortif…
Rethinking Occupation Intensity during the Levantine Middle Epipalaeolithic
The open-air Epipalaeolithic (Geometric Kebaran) site of Neve David (Mount Carmel, Israel) has played an important role in reconstructing scenarios of sedentarization in the Levant since its initial excavation in the 1980s, and has been seen as heralding later Natufian socioeconomic adaptations. However, little was known about the site’s formation processes and spatial organization, hindering the testing of this view. Employing new field data fro…
The Avdat in Late Antiquity Project
Three seasons of archaeological fieldwork by the Avdat in Late Antiquity Project have yielded new evidence of intensive Early Islamic activity in the late antique town of Avdat in Israel's Negev Highlands. This evidence has important implications for understanding the fate of such towns in the region during the Byzantine–Islamic transition
OSL Age Determination of Archaeological Stone Structures Using Trapped Aeolian Sediments
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is widely applied to sediments in paleoenvironmental sciences. However, there are only limited examples determining the age of archaeological stone structures by OSL using dust deposits. The age of dust deposits associated with ancient buildings may be used to date the onset of settlement (sediment below structures), settlement activity (occupation layer), or the time after a settlement had been aban…
Geoarchaeological Investigation at the Intermediate Bronze Age Negev Highlands Site of Mashabe Sade
Massive settlement activity characterizes the arid Negev Highlands during the Intermediate Bronze Age (ca. 2500–1950 BCE). However, the underlying subsistence basis of this population is poorly understood. Recent microarchaeological work at Iron Age sites in the Negev Highlands has shown the potential for recovering direct evidence for subsistence practices through analysis of the microscopic plant remains in degraded animal dung. Following these…
Intermediate Bronze Age subsistence practices in the Negev Highlands, Israel
The Archaeology and History of the Negev and Neighbouring Areas in the Third Millennium BCE
Conventional theory described two settlement waves in the Negev Highlands in the third millennium BCE—in the EB II and the Intermediate Bronze Age— and a period with no evidence for stone architecture between them in the EB III. Arad in the Beer-sheba Valley was presented as an EB I–II site, which lay deserted in the EB III. Old and new radiocarbon dates and other lines of evidence from the copper mining districts in the Arabah, Arad and the Nege…
Calcitic dung spherulites and the potential for rapid identification of degraded animal dung at archaeological sites using FTIR spectroscopy
Cyprus and Sardinia in the Late Bronze Age
In the course of the Swedish excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, table ware and domestic pottery of unknown provenance were discovered in offering pits dating to the 13th century BCE. These vessels comprise six hand-made and black burnished vessels, all of which have close typological parallels in the Nuragic culture of Sardinia. Comparative petrographic investigation confirmed their Sardinian provenance. Other archaeometric analyses includ…
Dung in the dumps
A key question in archaeobotany concerns the role of herbivore dung in contributing plant remains to archaeobotanical assemblages. This issue has been discussed for at least 40 years and has motivated several archaeobotanical studies on identifying dung-derived deposition of plant remains. Meanwhile, microarchaeological methods have developed and continue to be developed for detecting dung in archaeological sediments, and multi-proxy methodologie…
Excavations at Kiriath-jearim, 2019
In this article we report the results of the second season of excavations at Kiriath-jearim (Deir el-ʿAzar). The following topics are emphasized: layout and date of the supposed monumental Iron IIB summit compound; nature of the Iron IIC settlement; date of the Hellenistic fortification; characteristics of the Early Roman period activity. An archaeo-historical analysis follows the presentation of the new data, including updates on past interpreta…
Construction and use of rock-cut cisterns
The Negev Highlands (Israel) are characterized by a rich settlement history over the last millennia. To sustain life in this arid environment, measures to collect and store water were introduced. Two types of installations to collect and store runoff water were built in the region: open reservoirs, and more elaborate subterranean rock-cut cisterns. This article focuses on the latter. Based on a few inscriptions found in rock-cut cisterns, it is a…
The Avdat in Late Antiquity Project
Three seasons of archaeological fieldwork by the Avdat in Late Antiquity Project have yielded new evidence of intensive Early Islamic activity in the late antique town of Avdat in Israel's Negev Highlands. This evidence has important implications for understanding the fate of such towns in the region during the Byzantine–Islamic transition
The Archaeology and History of Rock-cut Cisterns and Open Water Reservoirs in the Negev Highlands
This article provides the final assessment of a large-scale optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating project of water installations in the arid Negev Highlands, southern Israel. Results from five open reservoirs and five rock-cut cisterns are reported. By sampling spoil piles, feeding channels, and accumulation of sediments within reservoirs and cisterns, their construction and phases of maintenance and abandonment are dated. Conventional w…
Infrared spectra of mixtures of heated and unheated clay
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is frequently used for archaeological studies related to fire, allowing, among other things, researchers to distinguish between unheated and heated clay minerals. However, heat signatures are not always clear‐cut in infrared spectra of bulk sediments, as spectra occasionally appear with ambiguous absorbance bands attributed to hydroxyl (OH) in clay minerals. This paper presents an experimental study …
Crisis in motion
The destruction of Iron I Megiddo in the early 10th century BCE was a momentous event in the history of the southern Levant. It marked an abrupt break in the long cultural development of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. Despite extensive field research, essential questions related to this event remain unanswered, especially regarding the processes that took place in the city immediately before its destruction. In this article, findings from recen…
Tel Dor in the Middle Bronze Age and Maritime Adaptation along the Carmel Coast
A newly excavated, well-built, Middle Bronze (MB) II–III coastal structure at Tel Dor provides a fresh glimpse into the turbulent settlement history of the Carmel Coast in the first half of the 2nd millennium b.c.e. The structure, incorporating a massive ashlar orthostat, was built in the MB I–II transition or MB II and existed for more than a century before its collapse during the MB III. A tight cluster of radiocarbon data indicates its destruc…
Rethinking Occupation Intensity during the Levantine Middle Epipalaeolithic
The open-air Epipalaeolithic (Geometric Kebaran) site of Neve David (Mount Carmel, Israel) has played an important role in reconstructing scenarios of sedentarization in the Levant since its initial excavation in the 1980s, and has been seen as heralding later Natufian socioeconomic adaptations. However, little was known about the site’s formation processes and spatial organization, hindering the testing of this view. Employing new field data fro…
Dung Microremains as Archaeological Evidence of Early Navajo Sheepherding
Megiddo in the Middle Bronze Age
This article deals with Middle Bronze Megiddo, emphasizing its importance for understanding this period at the site, and in the entire southern Levant in general. We focus on new evidence for exceptional accumulation of layers for the earliest Middle Bronze layer, radiocarbon dated to the early twentieth century BCE, and for the first fortification system also dated to the twentieth century BCE. We also deal with the complex history of the fortif…
Experts against automation? Comparing artificial intelligence and human identifications of multi-cell cereal husk phytoliths
This study compares the efficacy of a deep learning-based computer vision model against manual expert identification of multi-cell husk phytoliths from wheat ( Triticum boeticum/dicoccoides ), barley ( Hordeum spontaneum ), and oats ( Avena sativa ). Conducted via an online survey in 2024 with twelve respondents (92% completion rate, one respondent did not finish), the survey presented 18 phytolith images selected based on: 1) deep learning perfo…
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (16 works) · Archaeology (15 works) · Geography (14 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (9 works) · Bronze Age (9 works) · Geology (9 works) · Ancient history (8 works) · History (8 works) · Paleontology (5 works) · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History (4 works)