معرفی
Christian Cloke serves as the Associate Director of the Michelle Smith Collaboratory for Visual Culture within the Department of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland's College of Arts and Humanities. His interdisciplinary work bridges classical archaeology with digital humanities methodologies.
Dr. Cloke's educational background includes a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Cincinnati, an M.Phil. in Archaeology (Museums and Cultural Heritage Management) from the University of Cambridge, and an M.A. and B.A. in Classics and Old World Archaeology from Brown University. He was also a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of American History.
His research focuses on the archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean world with particular expertise in digital methodologies including GIS, photogrammetry, laser scanning, and reflectance transformation imaging. Dr. Cloke conducts fieldwork across Italy, Jordan, Armenia, Albania, and Greece, with special attention to rural Mediterranean regions and underrepresented populations in historical records. His work with Greek and Roman pottery and ancient waterworks demonstrates his diverse archaeological interests.
Analysis of Dr. Cloke's publications reveals a consistent research trajectory from traditional Mediterranean archaeology toward increasingly digital approaches. His most recent work explores interdisciplinary connections between humanities and data science, showing how historical network data can be interpreted differently across academic disciplines. While maintaining focus on Mediterranean archaeology, his research has evolved to incorporate innovative digital tools and methodologies.
As Associate Director of the Michelle Smith Collaboratory for Visual Culture, Dr. Cloke develops digital projects with faculty across departments and creates opportunities for students to master innovative approaches to studying material culture. His work at the Collaboratory emphasizes practical student engagement with digital tools for archaeological research and presentation.
Dr. Cloke's fieldwork includes significant projects such as the Nemea Valley research in Greece and the Brown University Petra Archaeological Project in Jordan, where he employed intensive survey methodologies across 1,000 hectares. His numismatic research at the Smithsonian examined how ancient Greek and Roman portrayals of 'others' influenced modern American depictions of indigenous peoples and abolitionist imagery.
