Staff profile

I hold a BA Hons in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Saskatchewan, and a MA (by research) in Archaeology from Durham University. My PhD, The Gorgan Plain of northeast Iran: a diachronic analysis of settlement and land use patterns relating to urban, rural and mobile populations on a Sasanian frontier was undertaken at Durham University as part of the ERC Funded Project ‘Persia and its Neighbours: The Archaeology of Late Antique Imperial Power in Iran (Persia Project) which has been investigating frontier landscapes of the Sasanian Empire (3^rd -7^th centuries AD). My research focused on reconstructing long-term settlement patterns (Iron Age through Sasanian) using data obtained from both modern and historical (CORONA) satellite imagery and field surveys. 

I am currently Assistant Professor (Research) on the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East & North Africa (EAMENA) project. The EAMENA project uses the remote sensing of satellite imagery to rapidly document and monitor archaeological sites across the MENA region. I am currently involved in documentation of and research into archaeological landscapes in Georgia, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

My research interests include landscapes of empires, water management in arid regions, archaeology of mobile pastoral communities, and GIS and remote sensing applications in archaeology. I have extensive fieldwork experience in the Near East and the Caucasus including as assistant survey director of the Gorgan Wall Project Survey (Iran) and the Caucasian Gates Project Survey (Georgia).

• Heritage Partnerships
• Landscapes of Complex Society
• Postgraduate students

• Gorgan Wall Project
• Persia and its Neighbours: the Archaeology of Late Antique Imperial Power in Iran (Persia Project)

• EAMENA Project
• Gorgan Wall Project
• Persia and its Neighbours: the Archaeology of Late Antique Imperial Power in Iran (Persia Project)
• Rewriting World Archaeology

Chapter in book

• Hopper, Kristen, Rova, Elena & Kvavadze, Davit (2023). Kurgans, Churches and Karvasla: Preliminary results from the first two seasons of the Lagodekhi Archaeological Survey, Georgia. In Proceedings of the 12th ICAANE, Bologna, 2021, Vol.1: Environmental Archaeology. Hammering the material world. Cognitive Archaeology. Modeling the Past. Networked Archaeology. Endangered Cultural Heritage. Marchetti, Nicolo Cavaliere, Francesca, Cirelli, Enrico, D'Orazio, Claudia, Giacosa, Gabriele, Guidetti, Mattia & Mariani, Eleonora Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. Vol. 1.
• Hopper, K., Omrani Rekavandi, H., Ricci, A., Welton, L., Lawrence, D. & Philip, G. (2022). Sasanian landscapes of the Gorgan Plain: new insights from remote sensing and field survey. In Ancient Arms Race: Antiquity's Largest Fortresses and Sasanian Military Networks of Northern Iran: A joint fieldwork project by the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research, the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism and the University of Edinburgh (2014–2016). Sauer, E.W., Nokandeh, J. & Omrani Rekavandi, H. Oxbow Books. 7.
• Fobbe, Seán Navrouzov, Natia Hopper, Kristen Khudida Burjus, Ahmed Philip, Graham Nawaf, Maher G Lawrence, Daniel Walasek, Helen Birjandian, Sara Hassan Ali, Majid Rashidani, Salim Salih, Hassan Sulaiman Qari, Dawood & Mishko, Faris (2021). Cultural Heritage Destruction during the Islamic State's Genocide against the Yazidis. In The Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Rehman, Javaid, Shahid, Ayesha & Foster, Steve Brill. 5: 111-144.
• Hopper, Kristen & Omrani Rekavandi, Hamid (2020). Investigating Mobile Pastoralist Landscapes in North East Iran: The Contribution of Remote Sensing. In New Agendas in Remote Sensing and Landscape Archaeology: Studies in Honor of Tony J. Wilkinson. Lawrence, Dan, Altaweel, Mark & Philip, Graham Oxford Archaeopress. 94-108.
• Hopper, K, Lawrence, D, Pitskhelauri, K & Philip, G (2020). Appendix III. Investigations of ancient canal systems in central and eastern Georgia. In Dariali: the ‘Caspian Gates’ in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages. The joint Georgian-British Dariali Gorge excavations & surveys 2013-2016. Sauer, E., Chologauri, L., Gabunia, A., Hopper, K., Lawrence, D., MacDonald, E., Mashkour, M., Mowat, F., Naskidashvili, D., Pitskelauri, K., Priestman, S., Shumilovkikh, L., Simpson, S., Tiliakou, A. & et al. Oxford: Oxbow Books. II: 937-954.
• Hopper, K, Lawrence, D., Snape-Kennedy, L., Chologauri, L., Priestman, S., Pitskelauri, K. & Philip, G. (2020). Landscape investigations in the Dariali Pass, Georgia. In Dariali: the ‘Caspian Gates’ in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages. The joint Georgian-British Dariali Gorge excavations & surveys 2013-2016. Sauer, E., Chologauri, L., Gabunia, A., Hopper, K., Lawrence, D., MacDonald, E., Mashkour, M., Mowat, F., Naskidashvili, D., Pitskelauri, K., Priestman, S., Shumilovkikh, L., Simpson, S. & Tiliakou, A. et al. Oxford: Oxbow Books. 6: 303-412.
• Labbaf-Khaniki, Meysam, Hopper, Kristen & Sauer, Eberhard (2020). Fortifications and the Defensive Landscapes of Kalat (North- Eastern Iran). In Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East Volume 2: Field Reports. Otto, Adelheid, Herles, Michael & Kaniuth, Kai Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden.
• Hopper, Kristen, Anderson, William & Robinson, Abby (2018). Landscape Archaeology in Southern Caucasia: An Introduction. In Landscape Archaeology in Southern Caucasia: Finding Common Ground in Diverse Environments. Workshop held at 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016. Anderson, William, Hopper, Kristen & Robinson, Abby Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences. 8: 11-22.
• Hopper, Kristen (2017). Connectivity on a Sasanian frontier: Route Systems in the Gorgan Plain of North-East Iran. In Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia. Sauer, Eberhard W. Edinburgh University Press. 126-150.
• Hopper, Kristen & Kondo, Yasuhisa (2016). Surface Structures at Ad-Dariz South. In The Bronze Age Towers at Bat, Sultanate of Oman: Research by the Bat Archaeological Project 2007-12. Thornton, Christopher P. Cable, Charlotte M. & Possehl, Gregory L. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Philadelphia. 155-167.
• Wilkinson, Tony J., Rekavandi, Hamid Omrani, Hopper, Kristen, Priestman, Seth, Roustaei, Kourosh & Galiatsatos, Nikolaos (2013). The Landscapes of the Gorgān Wall. In Persia's Imperial Power in Late Antiquity: The Great Wall of Gorgan and the Frontier Landscapes of Sasanian Iran. Rekavandi, Hamid Omrani, Wilkinson, Tony J., Nokandeh, Jebrael & Sauer, Eberhard, W. Oxford: Oxbow Books. 24-132.
• Hopper, K. & Wilkinson, T.J. (2013). Population and Settlement Trends in Southwest Iran and Neighbouring Areas. In Ancient Iran and its Neighbours: Local developments and long-range interactions in the fourth millennium BC. Petrie, C British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monographs Series. Oxbow Books. 35-50.

Edited book

• Anderson, William, Hopper, Kristen & Robinson, Abby (2018). Landscape Archaeology in Southern Caucasia: Finding Common Ground in Diverse Environments. Workshop held at 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016. Oriental and European Archaeology. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna.

Edited Journal

• Charbonnier, Julien & Hopper, Kristen (2018). Special Issue: The Qanāt: Archaeology and Environment. Water History, 10 (1): Springer.

Journal Article

• Mamo, Adnan Rashid, Ibraheem, Ismael M., Al Kassem, Amal, Al-Khalil, Ahmed & Hopper, Kristen (2022). The impact of the Syrian conflict on archaeological sites in Al-Hasakah province. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 43: 103486.
• Garcia-Molsosa, A, Orengo, Hector A, Lawrence, Dan, Philip, Graham, Hopper, Kristen & Petrie, Cameron (2021). Potential of deep learning segmentation for the extraction of archaeological features from historical map series. Archaeological Prospection 28(2): 187-199.
• Charbonnier, Julien & Hopper, Kristen (2018). The Qanāt: a multidisciplinary and diachronic approach to the study of groundwater catchment systems in archaeology. Water History 10(1): 3-11.
• Jansen van Rensburg, Julian & Hopper, Kristen (2017). Incense and imagery: mapping agricultural and water management systems on the island of Socotra, Yemen. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 47: 129-138.
• Shumilovskikh, Lyudmila S., Hopper, Kristen, Djamali, Morteza, Ponel, Philippe, Demory, Franҫois, Rostek, Frauke, Tachikawa, Kazuyo, Bittmann, Felix, Golyeva, Alexandra, Guibal, Frédéric, Talon, Brigitte, Wang, Liang-Chi, Nezamabadi, Masoud, Bard, Edouard, Lahijani, Hamid, Nokandeh, Jebrael, Rekavandi, Hamid Omrani, de Beaulieu, Jacques-Louis, Sauer, Eberhard & Andrieu-Ponel, Valérie (2016). Landscape evolution and agro-sylvo-pastoral activities on the Gorgan Plain (NE Iran)in the last 6000 years. The Holocene 1-16.
• Sauer, E W Pitskhelauri, K, Hopper, K, Tiliakou, A, Pickard, C, Lawrence, Dan, Diana, A, Kranioti, E & Shupe, C (2015). Northern outpost of the Caliphate: maintaining military forces in a hostile environment (the Dariali Gorge in the Central Caucasus in Georgia). Antiquity 89(346): 885-904.

Report

• Fobbe, Sean, Navrouzov, Natia, Hopper, Kristen, Khudida Burjus, Ahmed, Philip, Graham, Nawaf, Maher G, Lawrence, Daniel, Walasek, Helen, Birjandian, Sara, Ali, Majid Hassan, Rashidani, Salim, Salih, Hassan & Qari, Dawood Sulaiman (2019). Destroying the Soul of the Yazidis: Cultural Heritage Destruction During the Islamic State's Genocide Against the Yazidis. RASHID International, Yazda, EAMENA Project.