Sebastian Heath
Clinical Associate Professor of Computational Humanities and Roman Archaeology
Director of Graduate Studies, AY2024-25, AY2025-26, & AY2026-27
Chair, PhD Admissions Committee, AY2024-25
- GitHub: sfsheath
- ORCID: Sebastian Heath
- VIAF: 220831018
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HlkJu3cAAAAJ&hl=en
- Zotero: sebastianheath
Sebastian Heath has an A.B. from Brown University in Medieval Studies and received his Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Michigan. His research interests include Roman archaeology, Roman pottery, numismatics, and Digital Humanities with a focus on computational approaches to the study Mediterranean material culture. He is editor of ISAW Papers. Along with Eric Poehler of the University of Massachusetts, he is co-director of the Getty-funded Pompeii Artistic Landscape Project.
Recent courses taught include the graduate seminars "Graph Databases and Network Analysis" (Spring 2023) and "3D and Virtual Reality for the Ancient World" (Spring 2021), and "Data Modeling and Querying" (Spring 2022).
Sebastian has participated in excavation and survey in Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Kingdom. He is currently a member of the American Excavations at Kenchreai in Greece and work there includes digitizing archival material as well as ongoing study of Roman pottery. He is the editor of the volume Digital Approaches to teaching the Ancient Mediterranean (2020). Other recent publications include "Estimating and Mapping Roman Amphitheater Seating Capacity" in the Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology, "Roman Studies and Digital Resources" with R. Bagnall in the Journal of Roman Studies, "SPARQL as a first step for querying and transforming numismatic data: Examples from Nomisma.org", and "Animated Shadows on Virtual Stone: Ancient Sundials in a Gallery Setting" with C. Roughan and R. Herschman in the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. Other recent work includes "Preliminary Report on Early Byzantine Pottery from a Building Complex at Kenchreai (Greece)" in ISAW Papers. He is co-editor with Billur Tekkök of the digital publication Greek, Roman and Byzantine Pottery at Ilion (Troia), is an editor of The Pylos Regional Archaeological Project: Internet Edition, and a founding editor of Nomisma.org. Along with Jennifer Chi, he is co-editor of the exhibition catalog Edge of Empires: Pagans, Jews and Christians at Roman Dura-Europos. Other articles and chapters include "Legal Threats to Cultural Exchange of Archaeological Materials" (online) in the American Journal of Archaeology (2009); "Diversity and Reuse of Digital Resources for Ancient Mediterranean Material Culture" (online) in the volume Digital Research in the Study of Classical Antiquity, Bodard and Mahony, eds. (2010); and "Closing Gaps with Low-Cost 3D" in Visions of Substance: 3d Imaging in Mediterranean Archaeology, B. Olson and W. Caraher, eds. (2015). He was Project Manager of the NEH-Funded "Linked Ancient World Data Institute" (LAWDI). Reports on many of the projects presented at LAWDI are available in "Current Practice in Linked Open Data for the Ancient World," edited with T. Elliott and J. Muccigrosso in ISAW Papers 7.
From 2008 to 2011, Dr. Heath served as Vice-President for Professional Responsibilities of the Archaeological Institute of America. He came to ISAW from the American Numismatic Society, where he remains a Research Scientist, Life Fellow, and Trustee (2017-2019).
See https://nyu.academia.edu/SebastianHeath for links to digital copies of additional publications and other materials.
Education and Degrees
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology, 12/2004. Dissertation title, “Imported Pottery and the Rural Consumer in Late Roman Mediterranean Gaul.”
Brown University, Providence, RI. A.B. in Medieval Studies, 5/1989.
Publications
For more recent papers see Academia.edu.
2010. “Digitization and Reuse of Ancient Mediterranean Material Culture”, in S. Mahony and G. Bodard (eds.) Digital Research in the Study of Classical Antiquity, Ashgate, pp. 35-52.
2009. with G. Schwartz. “Legal Threats to Cultural Exchange of Archaeological Materials,” American Journal of Archaeology 113.3 (July 2009), pp. 459-461.
2007. “Acquisitions for 2005 in the American Numismatic Society collection,” American Journal of Numismatics 19 (Second Series), pp. 183-190. With the curatorial staff of the Society.
2006-2010. with Billur Tekkök. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Pottery at Ilion (Troia). http://classics.uc.edu/troy/grbpottery.
2006. “A Box Mirror Made from Two Antinous Medallions of Smyrna,” American Journal of Numismatics 18 (Second Series), pp. 63-74.
2006. “Acquisitions for 2005 in the American Numismatic Society collection,” American Journal of Numismatics 18 (Second Series), pp. 153-202. With the curatorial staff of the Society.
2005. Susan E. Alcock et al., “The Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, Part VII: Historic Messenia. Geometric to Late Roman,” in Hesperia 74.2, pp. 147-209.
2004/5. “Acquisitions for 2003 and 2004 in the American Numismatic Society collection,” American Journal of Numismatics 16/17 (Second Series), pp. 269-303. With the curatorial staff of the Society.
2002. “Acquisitions for 2002 in the American Numismatic Society collection," American Journal of Numismatics 14 (Second Series), pp. 179-222. With the curatorial staff of the society.
2002. The British Museum Lot of Silver from the Taranto 1911 Hoard (Inventory of Greek Coins Hoards [1973], no. 1874) . New York. Electronic publication available at http://numismatics.org/html/dpubs/taranto1911/. With John Kroll.
2001. "A sixth-century tremissis from Psalmodi (Gard, France)," American Journal of Numismatics 13 (Second Series): 63-80. With David Yoon.
2001. “Acquisitions for 2000 and 2001 in the American Numismatic Society collection," American Journal of Numismatics 13 (Second Series), pp. 151-212. With the curatorial staff of the society.
2001. “A cemetery and mausoleum on the W edge of Leptiminus: salvage excavations and recording, 1992 (Site 177),” with David Mattingly in L. Stirling, D. Mattingly, and N. Ben Lazrig (eds.) Leptiminus (Lamta). Report No. 2. The East Baths, Cemeteries, Kilns, Venus Mosaic, Site Museum, And Other Studies, pp. 397-408.
1998. “Mapping and Databases” in Jack Davis (ed.), Sandy Pylos: From Nestor to the Battle of Navarino, University of Texas Press, pp. 298-301.
1997. Jack Davis et al., “The Pylos Archaeological Project, Part I: Overview and the Archaeological Survey,” in Hesperia 66.3, pp. 391-494. Contributed the section “Data Mapping,” pp. 411-414.
1992. Gregory Crane et al. The Perseus Project 1.0. Yale University Press.
1990. "Hypertext from the Data Point of View: Paths and Links in the Perseus Project" in Hypertexts: Concepts, systems, and applications, A. Rizk, N. Streitz and J. Andre (eds). Cambridge University Press, pp. 324-336. With Elli Mylonas.
Lectures
January 2011. Linking Concepts for Mediterranean Ceramics, talk given in the panel “” at the 2011 Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Insitute of America.
October, 2010. When Worlds Link. The Complex Context of Internet Archaeology. Invited lecture at the Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin.
June 2009. Web-based Publication and New Directions. Talk presented at the conference “Symposium on Hellenistic and Roman Pottery” sponsored by Baskent University in Dalyan, Turkey.
April 2009. Ancient Pottery and the Semantic Web: Digital Publication at Ilion (Troy), University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
April 2009. Digital Publication and Linked Data at Troy, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University.
January 2009. With Billur Tekkök, Late Hellenistic and Roman Pottery at Ilion (Troia), Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
March 2008. Establishing Identity and Creating Links for Museum Collections. Talk presented at the conference “Symposium of The Preservation of Cultural Heritage; New Methods and Applications”, Başkent University, Turkey.
January 2008. Panel participant Web-based Research Tools for Mediterranean Archaeology.
January 2007. Local Responses to Late Roman African Red Slip Tablewares. Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
March 2005. Imports in their rural context: the case of Late Roman Mediterranean Gaul. Seminar at the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College.
January 2005. The Characterization and Importance of Finewares on Late Roman Shipwrecks. Paper at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
January 2005. “Photographic Processes at the American Numismatic Society,” presentation to be given at the workshop Digital Photography from Field to Print, Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America.
March 2004. Workshops on Numismatics, Part 1: Chronology, Denomination, and Use of Roman Coins. Center for the Ancient Mediterranean, Columbia University.
March 2004. Workshops on Roman Numismatics, Part 2: Images and Empire on Roman Coins. Center for the Ancient Mediterranean, Columbia University.
January 2004. Non economic uses of Coins in the Greek and Roman World. Paper at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
September 2003. “The Way Forward. Exchanging Data,” contribution to the round-table The Future of Web Databases for Numismatic Study, 13th International Numismatic Congress, Madrid, Spain.
October 2002. From Museum to Digital Library at the American Numismatic Society. Paper presented to the Department of History at Tulane University.
February 2002. The Coinage of Roman Zeugma. Paper presented to the Department of Classics at the University of Cincinnati.
January 2002. The Civic and Religious Identity of Zeugma as Seen on its Coins. Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Philological Society.
April 2001. Patterns of Imperialism: Production and Consumption in Roman Central Sicily, 200 BC – AD 400. With Stephen Thompson. Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology.
January 2001. Databases and the Field Archaeologist-Standards and Practices, Panelist at workshop given at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
December 2000. The Internet as Context. Cross Project Resource Discovery in a Networked World. Paper given at the conference “Ancient Studies – New Technology: The World Wide Web and Scholarly Research, Communication, and Publication in Ancient, Byzantine, and Medieval Studies,” Salve Regina College.
February 2000. The Internet as Context. Cross Project Resource Discovery in a Networked World. Center for Computational Sciences, University of Kentucky.
December 1999. The Internet as Context for Papyrological Studies. Presenation at the Annual Meetings of the American Philological Association.
December 1999. Excavation in Carthage (1924-1925): Horton O’Neil’s Summers of Archaeology. Presentation at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
March 1999. Bishops and Rural Resources in Late Roman Southern Gaul. Presentation at the Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology.
December 1999, Directions in Electronic Publication. Panel participant at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
March 1998, The New Rhetoric: Doing Classical Philology, Archaeology and History with Information Technology. Panel participant in Classics Department Colloqium Series, Brown University.
March 1998 with David Yoon, Pottery and Economic Transformation at the Ancient-Medieval Transition in Mediterranean France, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
December 1997, Processing Pottery in the Field: The First Step Towards Publication, Panel participant at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America
December 1997 with David Yoon, The Late Roman Pottery at Psalmodi in its Southern French Context, Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
December 1996 Publishing on the InterNet. Panel participant at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
December 1996 with David Stone et al. Functional Differentiation between City and Country at Leptiminus, Tunisia. Poster presented at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
November 1996 Session Chair of Digital Libraries for Ancient Science at the History of Science Society Annual Meetings, Atlanta, Georgia.
March, 1996 Field Work in Tunisia, France and Greece: Methods, Results and Connections. Paper given to the Classics Department, College of the Holy Cross.
March, 1995 Society and Settlement in Southern Gaul: Boundary to the Past? Paper presented at the conference "LIMITES: Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity" at the University of Kansas.
December 1994 with David Stone, et al. Leptiminus, Tunisia: The Results of Three Seasons of Urban Survey. Paper Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America.
February, 1991 Text and Object: Problems of Representation in Multimedia Databases. Faculty Colloquium on Computing in the University, New York University.
December 1989 Archaeological Computing on Corfu, Greece, paper presented to the Computing in the Humanities Users Group, Brown University.