Zachary C. Dunseth

Zachary C. Dunseth is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and the Kershaw Chair of the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California San Diego. His research focuses on geoarchaeology and phytolith science in desert environments, particularly the ancient Levant. Dunseth investigates long-term human-environmental interactions in arid regions, using microscopic physical and chemical traces in archaeological sediments to explore mobility, subsistence, and resource economies.

Education: B.A. in Archaeology and Classical Humanities (George Washington University, 2009); M.A. and Ph.D. in Archaeology (Tel Aviv University, 2014 and 2019); Postdoctoral Fellowships at Brown University (2019–2021) and Babson College (2021–2022).

Research Interests include desert urbanism, Bronze and Iron Age Levant, micro-geoarchaeology, dung analysis, and Open Science initiatives like the International Committee on Open Phytolith Science (ICOPS). He leads fieldwork projects in Israel (Megiddo, Kiriath Jearim, Arad) and collaborates with teams in Jordan, Syria, Cyprus, Sardinia, and the U.S. Southwest.

Recent articles highlight studies on dung microremains in Navajo pastoralism, Middle Bronze Age urbanization at Megiddo, and the archaeology of ancient water systems in the Negev. His work bridges field archaeology with advanced analytical methods to reconstruct environmental and social dynamics in arid regions.