Lynn Welton

Lynn Welton is an Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Toronto, specializing in human-environment interactions, complex socio-ecological systems, and computational archaeological methods. With 20 years of fieldwork experience across Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, and Ethiopia, she focuses on the Levant and Anatolia during the Chalcolithic to Iron Ages, particularly examining state formation in the Horn of Africa.

• Education:
  • PhD in Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Toronto

Her research integrates isotopic analysis (strontium, carbon, oxygen) to study mobility and migration, petrographic methods for ceramic provenance, and GIS/spatial analysis of ancient landscapes. She leads investigations into the rise of urbanism and social complexity through the Tayinat Archaeological Project and CRANE Project, which combines archaeological data with climate models.

Recent publications highlight her contributions to understanding animal provisioning systems (2021), redefining land use classification for climate models (2021), and reassessing collapse narratives in the Northern Levant through radiocarbon dating at Tell Tayinat (2020). She was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship for isotopic analysis of animal remains related to pastoral mobility.

• Key Collaborations:
  • Physics Department (climate models)
  • Marie Curie Research
  • CRANE Project (computational research)
  • ASOR Annual Meetings (2015-2017 sessions)