Department of Anthropology
Bio
My research focuses on the later prehistory of the Near East, with specializations in remote sensing, GIS, advanced image processing, and faunal analysis. I am the field director of the Galilee Prehistory Project, excavating Chalcolithic sites in the Galilee region of Israel, and co-Direcor of the Landscapes of the Dead project, using drones to monitor looting at Early Bronze age cemeteries in Jordan. As part of the Penn Paleoecology lab I am working on the Landcover 6k project, using archaeological, historical, and paleoenvironmental data to improve modern climate models.
Education
Ph.D.: Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 2011; M.A. Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 2006; B.A.: Archaeology and Classical History, Oberlin College, 2003.
Research Interests
Near Eastern Prehistory, Environmental Archaeology, GIS, remote sensing, faunal analysis, GNSS and mapping technologies, photogrammetry, lidar, multi- and hyper-spectral imaging
Selected Publications
2020 M.M. Kersel and A.C. Hill. Big Data and Diplomacy: Aerial Images, Ethnographies, and U.S. Department of State Cultural Property Bilateral Agreements. Journal of Field Archaeology.
2019 E. Sawchuk, S.Pfeiffer, C. Klehm, M. Cameron, A.C. Hill, A. Janzen, K. Grillo, E. Hildebrand. The Bioarchaeology of mid-Holocene Pastoralist Cemeteries west of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11(11): 6221–6241.
2019 M. Kersel and A.C. Hill. The (W)Hole Picture: Responses to a Looted Landscape. International Journal of Cultural Property 26(3): 305-329.
2019 A.C. Hill, F. Limp, J. Casana, E.J. Laugier, M. Williamson. A New Era in Spatial Data Recording: Low Cost GNSS. Advances in archaeological practice 7(2): 169-177.
2019 A.C. Hill. Economical Drone Mapping for Archaeology: Comparisons of Efficiency and Accuracy. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 24: 80-91.
2018 E. Hildebrand, K. Grillo, E. Sawchuk, S. Pfeiffer, L. Conyers, S. Goldstein, A.C. Hill, A. Janzen, C. Klehm, M. Helper, P. Kiura, E. Ndiema, C. Ngugi, J. Shea, H. Wang. A Monumental Cemetery Built by Eastern Africa’s First Herders Near Lake Turkana, Kenya. PNAS (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721975115).
2018 M. McLeester, M. Schurr, J. Casana, A.C. Hill, J.H. Wheeler III. Detecting Prehistoric Landscape Features Using Thermal, Multispectral, and Historical Imagery Analysis at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Illinois. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 21: 450-459.
2017 A.C. Hill, and Y.M. Rowan. Droning On in the Badia: UAVs and Larger Scale Site Documentation at Wadi Qattafi, Jordan. Near Eastern Archaeology 80(2): 114-123.
2017 Y.M. Rowan, G. Rollefson, A. Wasse, A.C. Hill, M.M. Kersel. The Late Neolithic Presence in the Black Desert. Near Eastern Archaeology 80(2): 102-113.
2017 J. Casana, A. Wiewel, A.C. Hill, A. Cool, K. Fisher, E. Laugier. Archaeological Aerial Thermography in Theory and Practice. Advances in Archaeological Practice 5(4): 310-327.
2017 G. Rollefson, A. Wasse, Y.M. Rowan, M. Kersel, M. Jones, B. Lorentzen, A.C. Hill, J. Ramsay. The 2016 Excavation Season at the Late Neolithic Structure SS-1 on Mesa 7, Black Desert. Neo-Lithics 2/17: 19-29.
2016 M. Price, Y. Rowan, A.C. Hill, M. Kersel. Gazelles, Liminality and Chalcolithic Ritual: A Case Study From Marj Rabba. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 376: 7-27.
2016 A. Petersen, F. Abdullah al-Naimi, T. Grey, I. Edwards, A.C. Hill, H. Russ, and D. Williams. Ruwayda, an Historic Urban Settlement in North Qatar. Post Medieval Archaeology 50(2): 321-349.
2016 G. Rollefson, Y. Rowan, A. Wasse, A.C. Hill, M. Kersel, B. Lorentzen, K. al-Bashaireh and J. Ramsay. Investigations of a Late Neolithic Structure at Mesa 7, Wadi al-Qattafi, Black Desert, 2015. Neo-Lithics 1/16: 3-12.
2016 A.C. Hill, M. Price, Y.M. Rowan. Feasting at Marj Rabba, an Early Chalcolithic Site in the Galilee. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 35(2): 127-141.
2015 Y.M. Rowan, G. Rollefson, A. Wasse, W. Abu-Azizeh, A.C. Hill, M.M. Kersel. Revelations in the ‘Land of Conjecture’: New Late Prehistoric Discoveries at Maitlands Mesa and Wisad Pools, The Eastern Badia Project, Jordan. Journal of Field Archaeology 40(2).
2014 D. Rosenburg, F. Klimscha, P. Graham, A.C. Hill, L. Weissbrod, I. Katlav, S. Love, S. Pinsky, and E. Hubbard. Back to Tsaf: A Preliminary Report on the 2013 Season of the Renewed Project at Tel Tsaf. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 44.
2014 A.C. Hill, Y.M. Rowan, and M.M. Kersel. Mapping with Aerial Photographs: Recording the Past, the Present, and the Invisible at Marj Rabba, Israel. Near Eastern Archaeology 77(3): 182-186.
2011 N. Munro, G. Bar-Oz, A.C. Hill. An Exploration of Character Traits and Metric Measurements for Sexing Mountain Gazelle (Gazella gazella) Skeletons. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(6): 1253-1265.
2009 D. Ben-Shlomo, A.C. Hill, Y. Garfinkel. Feasting Between the Revolutions: Evidence From Chalcolithic Tel Tsaf. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 22(2): 129-150.