DroneDeploy.org Speaker Series: Mapping ancient Mesopotamia and the Missions of Mexico
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Speakers
Karla Muñoz-Alcocer
Karla Muñoz Alcocer has a PhD in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. She founded the interdisciplinary project "A Mission for Chihuahua: Its Colonial Missions" and has served as director of the nonprofit Misiones Coloniales de Chihuahua since 2000. In 2011 she established the first laboratory focused on science conservation research of cultural heritage in Northern Mexico. She spent over seven years at the Smithsonian Institution as conservator and director of the project Imaginería de Las Californias, which studied the Spanish colonial polychrome sculpture in the Southwest of the United States and northern Mexico. Currently she works as professor at Tecnologico de Monterrey Campus Chihuahua.
Paul Zimmerman
Dr. Paul Zimmerman is an archaeologist and technologist. He has written total station surveying software used on archaeological excavations worldwide and is a maintainer of and contributor to multiple open source software projects. His Master’s Thesis used 3D reconstructions to analyze early excavations, revolutionizing our understanding of the tombs in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, Iraq. His Doctoral research relied heavily on GIS to better interpret changing settlement patterns in Late Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Yemen. After two decades in educational technology at a prestigious K–12 school in New York City, he returned to field archaeology in 2021, leveraging his computer, database, and mapping skills as the drone specialist for the University of Pennsylvania’s Lagash Archaeological Project.
Reed Goodman
Reed Goodman is a PhD student in archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. His research investigates the environmental context of the world's earliest cities in southern Iraq through remote-sensing and geoarchaeology, with support from the Penn Museum, the National Science Foundation, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Reed has used drones to explore Mesopotamian sites since 2015, when he mapped the Bronze Age city of Tell Zurghul in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governate. He is currently working with Drs. Paul Zimmerman and Brad Hafford, both of the Penn Museum, to leverage UAV technology at the sites of Tell al-Hiba and Tell Muqqayer (ancient Lagash and Ur), utilizing DroneDeploy to document and model features at varying scales, from entire neighborhoods and districts to individual structures.
Gunthar Hattig
Gunthar has been working at the intersection of research, technology and design creating new products, services, and platforms for the last twenty years. He is excited about the real-world possibilities that site reality capture and scanning technologies have to help us understand, preserve, and restore our planet and its environment. He holds a BA in Anthropology from Pomona College and a MS in Information Design and Technology for Georgia Tech.
Rey Fernando Montes Trevizo
Rey Fernando Montes Trevizo is an architect specializing in Sustainable Regional Architecture. He is certified in Cultural Heritage Management and Conservation of Earthen Architecture and holds a Master's Degree in Cultural Heritage and Tourism. Currently, he is pursuing a Master's Degree in Architecture and Urbanism with the theme of the Iconography of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the City of Chihuahua. Additionally, he is a visiting professor at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in the architecture and biotechnology school for topics of earthen architecture and bio-deterioration in Cultural Heritage. He has worked in Misiones Coloniales de Chihuahua A.C since 2008. where he has coordinated and managed Restoration projects in 28 historic temples cataloged as Historical Monuments of Federal Property that were built between s. XVII to s. XIX in the state of Chihuahua.