People_
Dr Ioana A Dumitru
PhD Johns Hopkins
Associate Lecturer
Address
A18 - Brennan MacCallum Building
The University of Sydney
Details
Member of Sydney Environment Institute
Member of The Vere Gordon Childe Centre
Resume
Ioana A. Dumitru is an archaeologist of the Indian Ocean World with a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Johns Hopkins University. She investigates the climate-environment-society nexus, focusing on responses to extreme weather and climate, strategic resource exploitation, human-environment interactions, trends in settlement patterns, and human cooperation. Her research engages digital archaeology, GIS, remote sensing, and social network analysis (SNA).
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- Ioana is a digital landscape archaeologist interested in understanding social resilience and societal change in response to extreme climatic events, with a particular focus on longitudinal processes in North and East Africa and Arabia.
- Her research trajectory demonstrates a commitment to achieving methodological consistency and robust comparison around coupled human-environment dynamics. This research combines multi-sensor remotely sensed datasets (multispectral, hyperspectral, LiDAR) with in situ cultural and environmental proxies to model the relationship between past social networks and their environments.
- Ioana’s current research looks at responses to extreme climatic events, with a particular focus on social resilience to climate change during the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA).
- Her previous work integrated Social Network Analysis and GIScience methods to comparatively model strategic raw material exploitation of copper in northern Oman (2500 BCE – 1800 CE) and obsidian in northern Ethiopia (800 BCE – 825 CE). This project diachronically examined change and investigated dynamics between commodity flows, power relationships, and cooperation.
- Ioana’s long-term career goal is to contribute to the development of more effective forms of applied archaeology, revitalizing sustainability studies.
- ARCO3014 Social Archaeology: Everyday Worlds
- ARCO3015 Humans and the Living World
- ARCO3016 Mapping the Past
2024
- Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Excellence Award (Commendation), The University of Sydney
2014
- Cornelia G. Harcum Scholarship, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Johns Hopkins University
| Project title | Research student |
|---|---|
| Coastal Living: Environmental Changes and Human Responses in Southern Sri Lanka in the mid-to-late Holocene | Madeline ROBINSON |
Publications
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Book Chapters
- Lehner, J., Dumitru, I., Buffington, A., Dollarhide, E., Nathan, S., Paulsen, P., Young, M., Sivitskis, A., Wiig, F., Harrower, M. (2023). Iron Age Copper Metallurgy in Southeast Arabia: A Comparative Perspective. In Erez Ben-Yosef, Ian W. N. Jones (Eds.), "And in length of days understanding" (Job 12:12) - Essays on Archaeology in the 21st Century in Honor of Thomas E. Levy, (pp. 1391-1417). Cham: Springer Nature. [More Information]
- Dumitru, I., Harrower, M. (2018). FROM RURAL COLLECTABLES TO GLOBAL COMMODITIES: COPPER FROM OMAN AND OBSIDIAN FROM ETHIOPIA. Globalization in Prehistory Contact, Exchange, and the 'People Without History', (pp. 232-262). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
- Dumitru, I., Harrower, M. (2018). Mapping Ancient Production and Trade of Copper in Oman and Obsidian in Ethiopia. Stories of Globalisation: The Red Sea and the Persian Gulf from Late Prehistory to Early Modernity, (pp. 74-94). Germany: Verlag Ferdinand Schoeningh GmbH. [More Information]
Journals
- Paulsen, P., Zaribaf, A., Lehner, J., David-Cuny, H., Dumitru, I., Nathan, S., Sivitskis, A., Shannon, J., Wiig, F., Arsenault, B., et al (2024). Architecture, social relations, and trade at mountain settlements in Iron Age Oman. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 53, 194-210.
- Zaribaf, A., Lehner, J., Paulsen, P., Dumitru, I., Sivitskis, A., Arsenault, B., Fisher, B., Buffington, A., Dollarhide, E., Harrower, M. (2024). Socio-political factors influencing early Islamic copper production in Oman. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 53, 316-332.
- Harrower, M., Mazzariello, J., D'Andrea, A., Nathan, S., Taddesse, H., Dumitru, I., Priebe, C., Zerue, K., Park, Y., Gebreegziabher, G. (2023). Aksumite Settlement Patterns: Site Size Hierarchies and Spatial Clustering. Journal of Archaeological Research, 31(1), 103-146. [More Information]
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2024
- Paulsen, P., Zaribaf, A., Lehner, J., David-Cuny, H., Dumitru, I., Nathan, S., Sivitskis, A., Shannon, J., Wiig, F., Arsenault, B., et al (2024). Architecture, social relations, and trade at mountain settlements in Iron Age Oman. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 53, 194-210.
- Zaribaf, A., Lehner, J., Paulsen, P., Dumitru, I., Sivitskis, A., Arsenault, B., Fisher, B., Buffington, A., Dollarhide, E., Harrower, M. (2024). Socio-political factors influencing early Islamic copper production in Oman. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 53, 316-332.
2023
- Harrower, M., Mazzariello, J., D'Andrea, A., Nathan, S., Taddesse, H., Dumitru, I., Priebe, C., Zerue, K., Park, Y., Gebreegziabher, G. (2023). Aksumite Settlement Patterns: Site Size Hierarchies and Spatial Clustering. Journal of Archaeological Research, 31(1), 103-146. [More Information]
- Lehner, J., Dumitru, I., Buffington, A., Dollarhide, E., Nathan, S., Paulsen, P., Young, M., Sivitskis, A., Wiig, F., Harrower, M. (2023). Iron Age Copper Metallurgy in Southeast Arabia: A Comparative Perspective. In Erez Ben-Yosef, Ian W. N. Jones (Eds.), "And in length of days understanding" (Job 12:12) - Essays on Archaeology in the 21st Century in Honor of Thomas E. Levy, (pp. 1391-1417). Cham: Springer Nature. [More Information]
- Comer, J., Comer, D., Dumitru, I., Priebe, C., Patsolic, J. (2023). Sampling methods for archaeological predictive modeling: Spatial autocorrelation and model performance. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 48, 103824-1-103824-11. [More Information]
2021
- Harrower, M., Nathan, S., Dumitru, I., Wiig, F., Sivitskis, A., David-Cuny, H., Lehner, J., Swerida, J., Mazzariello, J., et al (2021). Water History of Wilayat Yanqul: The Archaeological Water Histories of Oman (ArWHO) Project Survey (2011-2016). Journal of Oman Studies, 21.
2020
- Harrower, M., Dumitru, I., et al (2020). Erratum: Beta Samati: Discovery and excavation of an Aksumite town (Psychological Medicine (2019) 93 (1534-1552) DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.84). Antiquity, 94(373), 289. [More Information]
- Harrower, M., Nathan, S., Mazzariello, J., Zerue, K., Dumitru, I., Meresa, Y., Bongers, J., Gebreegziabher, G., Zaitchik, B., Anderson, M. (2020). Water, Geography, and Aksumite Civilization: The Southern Red Sea Archaeological Histories (SRSAH) Project Survey (2009 - 2016). African Archaeological Review, 37(1), 51-67. [More Information]
2019
- Comer, D., Comer, J., Dumitru, I., Ayres, W., Levin, M., Seikel, K., White, D., Harrower, M. (2019). Airborne LiDAR reveals a vast archaeological landscape at the Nan MadolWorld Heritage Site. Remote Sensing, 11(18), 2152-1-2152-24. [More Information]
- Harrower, M., Dumitru, I., Perlingieri, C., Nathan, S., Zerue, K., Lamont, J., Bausi, A., Swerida, J., Bongers, J., Woldekiros, H., et al (2019). Beta Samati: Discovery and excavation of an Aksumite town. Antiquity, 93(372), 1534-1552. [More Information]
- Sivitskis, A., Lehner, J., Harrower, M., Dumitru, I., Paulsen, P., Nathan, S., Viete, D., Al-Jabri, S., Helwing, B., Wiig, F., et al (2019). Detecting and Mapping Slag Heaps at Ancient Copper Production Sites in Oman. Remote Sensing, 11(24), 1-24. [More Information]
2018
- Dumitru, I., Harrower, M. (2018). FROM RURAL COLLECTABLES TO GLOBAL COMMODITIES: COPPER FROM OMAN AND OBSIDIAN FROM ETHIOPIA. Globalization in Prehistory Contact, Exchange, and the 'People Without History', (pp. 232-262). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
- Sivitskis, A., Harrower, M., David-Cuny, H., Dumitru, I., Nathan, S., Wiig, F., Viete, D., Lewis, K., Taylor, A., Dollarhide, E., et al (2018). Hyperspectral satellite imagery detection of ancient raw material sources: Soft-stone vessel production at Aqir al-Shamoos (Oman). Archaeological Prospection, 25(4), 363-374. [More Information]
- Wiig, F., Harrower, M., Braun, A., Nathan, S., Lehner, J., Simon, K., Sturm, J., Trinder, J., Dumitru, I., Hensley, S., et al (2018). Mapping a Subsurface Water Channel with X-Band and C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar at the Iron Age Archaeological Site of 'Uqdat al-Bakrah (Safah), Oman. Geosciences, 8(9), 1-15. [More Information]
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2016
- Harrower, M., David-Cuny, H., Nathan, S., Dumitru, I., Al-Jabri, S. (2016). First discovery of ancient soft-stone (chlorite) vessel production in Arabia: Aqir al-Shamoos (Oman). Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 27(2), 197-207. [More Information]
2014
- Harrower, M., O'Meara, K., Basile, J., Hickman, C., Swerida, J., Dumitru, I., Bongers, J., Bailey, C., Fieldhouse, E. (2014). If a picture is worth a thousand words..3D modelling of a Bronze Age tower in Oman. World Archaeology, 46(1), 43-62. [More Information]
Selected Grants
2023
- Dynamic Coasts and Landscapes of Resilience (CALOR): Exploring Historical Adaptations to Climatic and Environmental Extremes in Tropical East Africa, Dumitru I, Mwitondi M, Universitas 21/ARUA-U21 Early Career Researcher Collaborative Awards
Other Grants
2023
- I.A. Dumitru, J. Lehner, Kirsten McKenzie, Provost’s Capital Equipment and Contingency fund (CAPEX), The University of Sydney, “The Vere Gordon Childe ExoLab for Field Research and Education” - $1,043,349.18 AUD
- I.A. Dumitru, ARUA-U21 Early Career Researcher Collaborative Award – “Dynamic Coasts and Landscapes of Resilience (CALOR): Exploring Historical Adaptations to Climatic and Environmental Extremes in Tropical East Africa” - $15,000 USD ($23,500 AUD)
2021
- I.A. Dumitru, National Geographic Society, Early Career Grant, “Cooperation and Coercion in Ancient Societies: A Study in Applied Archaeologies of Sustainability from Ethiopia” - $9,895 USD ($15,000 AUD)
- I.A. Dumitru (research collaborator, grant co-writer), D. Comer (CI), United States Ambassadors Fund Large Grant for Cultural Preservation, “Conservation of the Endangered World Heritage Site of Nan Madol: A Ceremonial Center of Eastern Micronesia” (2021-2023) - $200,000 USD ($259,436 AUD)
2020
- I.A. Dumitru (research collaborator, grant co-writer), D. Comer (CI), National Aeronautics and Space Administration Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (NASA ROSES), “Multisensor Analyses of Pacific Island Migration and Societal Development” (2020 - 2023) - $917,300 USD ($1,300,000 AUD)