Staff profile

I specialize in the analysis of archaeological materials using archaeometric techniques, including ceramic petrography, scanning electron microscopy, XRF, ICP and X-ray diffraction. Although incorporating data at the micro-level, I am a landscape-oriented anthropological archaeologist interested in human adaptation to changing social, economic, and environmental conditions, especially as related to increasing settlement density. I currently run the Durham Archaeomaterials Research Centre (DARC) (www.darclab.com), an analytical research facility based in the Department of Archaeology that offers advanced chemical and materials analysis for academia and industry.

My research focuses on understanding the social and economic changes that accompanied the development of the first urban landscapes of the ancient Levant. I am especially interested in using a combination of archaeometric and landscapes approaches to assess changes in the modes of ceramic production and exchange that paralleled increased settlement nucleation during the Bronze Age in the Levant and what this information can tell us about the development and nature of early states.

I completed my doctoral dissertation titled 'Urbanization in the Levant: an Archaeometric Approach to Understanding the Social and Economic Impact of Settlement Nucleation in the Biqāc Valley, Lebanon’ in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Since 2002, I have participated in several field projects in Lebanon and Syria. I currently co-direct the Tell Koubba excavations (Koubba, North Lebanon) with Professor Graham Philip

I am a Co-Investigator on the Leverhulme funded 'Did British Tin Sources and Trade make Bronze Age Europe?' working with Dr Ben Roberts. I am also a collaborator on the Canadian funded CRANE project (Computational Research on the Ancient Near East: An Archaeological Data Integration, Simulation, and 3-D Visualization Initiative) with Prof Graham Philip. Together, we run a work package entitled 'Fuelling the State' which investigates through an experimental program the social and environmental impacts of increased fuel consumption on the development of early Near Eastern states.

• Ceramic Analysis, Ceramic Petrography, and the Application of Materials Science in Archaeology
• Archaeological Science
• Human Interaction and Environmental Impact on Ancient Landscapes
• The Social and Economic Development of Early States
• Prehistoric Levant
• 3-D Digital Imaging and Printing

• Material and Visual Culture

• Ceramics
• Computational Research on the Ancient Near East (CRANE)

• Ceramics
• Computational Research on the Ancient Near East (CRANE)
• Durham Archaeomaterials Research Centre (DARC)
• The DARC Lab: Archaeomaterials Research

• 2020: An early urban industrial quarter, Tell Koubba(£3520.00 from The Society of Antiquaries of London)
• 2020: Did British Tin Sources and Trade Make Bronze Age Europe?(£309084.52 from Leverhulme Trust)
• 2020: Innovative Exchanges: The Development, Dissemination, and Adoption of the Earliest Pottery Traditions in the Eastern Mediterranean(£11860.00 from )
• 2020: Tracing the late Akkadian and UR III 'Magan trade' using Mesopotamian imported vessels in southeast Arabia(£2000.00 from )
• 2017: Instruments of Imperialism? What transport jars reveal about economy and administration in the earliest world empires(£5300.00 from Council for British Research in the Levant)

Chapter in book

• Williams, R. Alan, Montesanto, Mariacarmela, Ponting, Matthew, Badreshany, Kamal & Roberts, Benjamin W. (2023). Project Ancient Tin: A short introduction. In Contacts and exchanges between Sardinia, Continental Italy and the North-Western Europe in the Bronze Age (18th-11th c. BC): the “Copper Route”, the “Amber Route”, the “Tin Route” Proceedings of the Fi!h Festival of the Nuragic Civilization (Orroli, Cagliari). Perra, Mauro & Lo Schiavo, Fulvia Cagliari: Arkadia.
• Badreshany, Kamal (2022). Byblos During the Chalcolithic Period. In Byblos: Gateway to the World. Kertai, David & Zaven, Tania Leiden: Sidestone Press.
• Badreshany, K & Beeby, A (2021). Analysis of Beeswax from a Roman seal-box and Pigments. In Contact, Concord and Conquest: Britons and Romans at Scotch Corner. Northern Archaeological Associates: Barnard Castle. Fell, D Northern Archaeological Associates.
• Gutiérrez, A, Blake, H, Badreshany, K & Hughes, M (2021). The South European Pottery, 1250–1550. In Studies in the Roman and Medieval Archaeology of Exeter: Exeter, A Place in Time. Rippon, S & Holbrook, N
• Genz, H., Badreshany, K. & Jean, M. (2021). A View from the North: Black Wheelmade Ware in Lebanon. In Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Early Bronze Age: Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard. Long, J.C. & Dever, W.G. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.
• Bidwell, P, Badreshany, K & Taylor, R (2021). Pottery Supply in Roman Exeter and the South-West. In Studies in the Roman and Medieval Archaeology of Exeter: Exeter, A Place in Time. Rippon, S & Holbrook, N Oxbow Books.
• Badreshany, K. & Philip, G. (2020). Potting on the Edge of the Painted Traditions: Ceramic Regionalism and the Role of Craft Production during the Neolithic of the Central Levant. In Third International Workshop on Ceramics from the Late Neolithic Near East. Özbal, R., Erdalkiran, M. & Yukiko, T. AKMED.
• Badreshany, K (2020). The ICP-AES and MS Analysis of Middle Saxon to Medieval Pottery. In Excavations at Stoke Quay, Ipswich southern Gipeswic and the parish of St Augustine. Brown, R, Teague, S, Loe, L, Sudds, B & Popescu, E EAA 172.
• Badreshany, K & Schmitt, A (2019). The Middle Bronze Age Remains in Area II. In Tell el-Burak I. The Middle Bronze Age With Chapters Related to the Site and to the Mamluk-Ottoman Periods. Kamlah, J & Sader, H Harrassowitz. 45.
• Badreshany, K. (2019). A Comparative Petrographic Analysis of Middle Bronze Age Ridged-Neck Pithoi from Tell el-Burak and Ashkelon. In Tell El-Burak 1: The Middle Bronze Age: With Chapters Related to the Site and to the Late Medieval Period. Kamlah, J. & Sader, H. Beirut: Harrassowitz. 1.
• Badreshany, K (2019). The Pottery. In Tell El-Burak 1: The Middle Bronze Age: With Chapters Related to the Site and to the Late Medieval Period. Kamlah, J & Sader, H Harrassowitz. 45.
• Badreshany, K (2018). The ICP-AES and -MS analysis of medieval and later ceramics from Buckfast Abbey and other sites in south Devon. In Excavations and Building Recording at Buckfast Abbey, Devon, 1984-2017. Brown, S 21.

Edited Journal

• Badreshany, K & Philip, G (2020). Ceramics, society and economy in the northern Levant: an integrated archaeometric perspective. Levant, 52 (1-2).
• Badreshany, K., Genz, H. & Sader, H. (2007). An Early Bronze Age Site on the Lebanese Coast Tell Fadous-Kfarabida 2004 and 2005: Final Report. Bulletin d’Archéologie et d’Architecture Libanaises, 9: 5-115

Journal Article

• De Groot, B., Badreshany, K., Torres-Martínez, J.F. & Fernández-Götz, M. (2023). Capturing technological crossovers between clay crafts: An archaeometric perspective on the emergence of workshop production in Late Iron Age northern Spain. PLoS ONE 18(5): e0283343.
• Tumolo, Valentina & Badreshany, Kamal (2023). The ‘Combed Ware’ storage and transport vessels from Khirbet ez-Zeraqon: a reappraisal of the EB II-III evidence in light of recent studies. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 37: 301-324.
• de Vreeze, Michel & Badreshany, Kamal (2023). Identity and Monumentality: The construction of an Early Bronze Age landscape on the Lebanese coast. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 37: 109-134.
• Jean, Mathilde & Badreshany, Kamal (2023). Egyptian Trade on the Central Levantine Coast During the Early Dynastic Period: A Ceramic-Material Perspective. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 37: 171-190.
• Edgar, J.O., Gould, J.A., Badreshany, K. & Telling, J. (2022). Mechanochemical generation of perchlorate. Icarus 387: 115202.
• Coria-Noguera, José Carlos,, Badreshany, Kamal & Sanz-Mínguez, Carlos (2022). Archaeometric Characterization of Pottery from the Iron Age Hillfort of Pintia (Valladolid, Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 41: 103313.
• Badreshany, Kamal, Sowada, Karin, Ownby, Mary, Jean, Mathilde De Vreeze, Michel McClymont, Alice & Philip, Graham (2022). The characterisation of ceramic production from the Central Levant and Egyptian trade in the Pyramid Age. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 41: 103309.
• D’Andrea, M, Douglas, K Genz, H & Badreshany, K (2022). The “Post-Urban” Occupation at Ḫirbet ez-Zeraqōn, Jordan: New Insights into the Early Bronze Age IV on the Northern Plateau. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins” (ZDPV) 138.
• Göttlich, Fanet, Schmitt, Aaron, Kilian, Andrea, Gries, Helen & Badreshany, Kamal (2021). A New Method for the Large-Scale Documentation of Pottery Sherds Through Simultaneous Multiple 3D Model Capture Using Structure from Motion: Phoenician Carinated-Shoulder Amphorae from Tell el-Burak (Lebanon) as a Case Study. Open Archaeology 7(1): 256-272.
• Badreshany, K. & Philip, G. (2020). Ceramic Studies and Petrographic Analysis in Levantine Archaeology, the Limitations of Current Approaches. Levant 52(1-2): 5-14.
• Kennedy, M. L., Badreshany, K. & Philip, G. (2020). Drinking on the Periphery: The Tell Nebi Mend Goblets in their Regional and Archaeometric Context. Levant 52(1-2): 103-135.
• Philip, G & Badreshany, K (2020). Discussion and Conclusions: Ceramics, society and economy in the northern Levant. Levant 52(1-2): 278-296.
• Badreshany, K, Philip, G & Kennedy, M (2020). The Development of Integrated Regional Economies in the Early Bronze Age Levant: new evidence from "Combed-Ware" jars. Levant 52(1-2): 160-196.
• Badreshany, K., Philip, G. & Sader, H (2019). New Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Discoveries fom Tell Koubba in Northern Lebanon. Bulletin for the Council for British Research in the Levant 12(1).
• Schmitt, A, Gries, H, Tachatou, E, Sader, H, Katzy, E & Badreshany, K (2019). The Zahrani Regional Survey Project: Vorbericht der Kampagnen 2017 und 2018. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin 151: 323-391.
• Gries, H, Schmitt, A, Tachatou, E, Sader, H, Katzy, E & Badreshany, K (2019). The Zahrani Regional Survey Project. Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaises 19: 173-228.
• Schmit, A., Badreshany, K. Tachatou, E. & Sader, H. (2018). Insights into the economic organization of the Phoenician homeland: a multidisciplinary investigation of the later Iron Age II and Persian period Phoenician amphorae from Tell el-Burak. Levant 50(1): 52-90.
• Badreshany, Kamal (2017). SEM-EDS analysis of residues from pottery from Wade Street, Bristol. Internet Archaeology (45).
• Badreshany, K. (2016). Lebanon's Earliest Potting Traditions in Regional Context. Berytus 59: 5-42.
• Blanco-González, A., Krieter, A., Badreshany, K., Chapman, J. & Pánczél, P. (2014). Matching sherds to vessels through ceramic petrography: an Early Neolithic Iberian case study. Journal of Archaeological Science 50: 139-152.
• Badreshany, K. & Kamlah, J. (2013). Middle Bronze Age Pottery from Tell el-Burak, Lebanon. Berytus 53-54: 81-113.
• Genz, H., El-Zaatari, S., Cakilar, C., Badreshany, K. & Riehl, S. (2011). A Middle Bronze Age Burial from Tell Fadous-Kfarabida, Lebanon. Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant 20: 183-205.
• Badreshany, K. & Genz, H. (2009). Pottery Production on the Northern Lebanese Coast During the Early Bronze Age II-III. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 355: 53-88.
• Badreshany, K. & Yanni, S. (2007). The Phosphorus Data from Tell Fadous-Kfarabida. Bulletin d’Archéologie et d’Architecture Libanaises 9: 93-100.
• Nitu, B., Singh I., Badreshany, K., Zhong, L., Henein, N. & Bryzik, W. (2002). Effect of EGR on Autoignition, Combustion, Regulated Emissions, and Aldehydes in DI Diesel Engines. Society of Automotive Engineers Technical Papers 2002-01-1153.