Enrico Ascalone

Dr. Enrico Ascalone is Associate Professor (habilitated 2014) in “Cultures of Ancient Near East” at the University of Göttingen, Seminar für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, and Director of the Italian multidisciplinary project at Shahr-i Sokhta, Iran. Previously he held research and teaching positions at Rome “Sapienza”, Naples “L’Orientale”, Copenhagen, Berlin ASET, Milan, Messina and Palermo, and co-directed Syrian–Italian excavations at Ebla and Tell Tuqan.

Education & training

• 1997 – Laurea (110/110 cum laude), Humanities, Rome “Sapienza”
• 1999-2002 – PhD Archaeology, Naples “L’Orientale”
• 2003 – Post-graduate specialisation (70/70 cum laude), Rome “Sapienza”
• 2006-2008 – Post-doc, Istituto di Scienze Umane, Florence

Research interests centre on the archaeology of Early–Middle Bronze Age Iran, Syria and Mesopotamia, with particular attention to Elamite glyptic art, ancient metrology and weighing systems, east–west Asian intercultural relations, and the rise of early states. He combines fieldwork (Shahr-i Sokhta since 2016, Qaleh Kuchek 2009-10, Ebla 1994-2007, Tell Tuqan 1993-2010, Jericho 1998-99) with laboratory study of seals, weights and administrative tools.

His publication record (eight monographs, three edited volumes, ninety-five titles overall) explores cultural transmission between Elam, the Iranian plateau and Central Asia, socio-economic implications of standardised weights, and dynastic propaganda in glyptic art. Articles consistently integrate archaeological, iconographic and metrological data to model long-distance exchange and political ideology.

Scientific awards & honours include repeated Italian national research grants (PRIN, FIRB, MAE, “Grandi Scavi”), ERC sub-project coordination (Copenhagen & Göttingen 2016-18), and entrusted publication of major corpora of seals and balance weights from the National Museum of Iran, Ebla, Jericho and Shahr-i Sokhta.

Grants & team leadership: He currently directs the multidisciplinary Italian project at Shahr-i Sokhta (funded by Italian MAE, University of Salento, ICAR & RICHT) and has led EU “Ebla Chora”, ERC “Weightandvalue – Indus Valley & Central Asia”, and bilateral Iranian-Italian missions, coordinating teams of up to thirty specialists.

Labs & networks: Field laboratories are maintained at Shahr-i Sokhta (ceramics, archaeobotany, GIS) and in Göttingen (digital epigraphy, 3-D scanning of seals); he is a founding member of the international “Weights in Context” research network and sits on scientific boards of ICYA and southeastern Iran archaeology conferences.