The Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology Transdisciplinary Research Approach

Geophysics, Environmental Science, Cyber and Underwater Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean

Since 2016, when the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology (SCMA) was launched as an academic research enterprise, SCMA has carried out 5 research expeditions in Greece, Israel and Cyprus and one in Puerto Rico. The new center is a joint UC San Diego Department of Anthropology and Scripps Institution of Oceanography endeavor that strives to bring the strengths of both to create a new transdisciplinary (team science) approach to studying the last great frontier of archaeology – submerged landscapes around the world.  As coastal environments are some of the most sensitive regions to monitor the effects of climate and environmental change on human societies, SCMA focuses on research related prehistoric and historic cultural adaptation in these areas - especially during the Holocene - the last 12,000 years. To jump-start SCMA as a player in world maritime archaeology studies, SCMA has focused research in the eastern Mediterranean where UC San Diego has a record of long-term research.

Thomas E. Levy, Distinguished Professor, holds the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California, San Diego.  He is a member of the Department of Anthropology and co-director of the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology (SCMA) at UC San Diego. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Levy is a Levantine field archaeologist with interests in the role of technology, especially early mining and metallurgy, on the evolution of societies, especially in eastern Mediterranean coastal zones.  In 2018, Levy was awarded a doctor of philosophical sciences, honors causaat Charles University in the Czech Republic.