Lauren Malkoun is a first-generation Lebanese-American who began her archaeological education at the University of Southern California, where she received a B.A. in Archaeology and a B.A. in Italian in 2023. Her final capstone project focused on provenance and museum collections. Following her bachelors, Lauren began her Masters in Mediterranean Archaeology at La Sapienza in Rome, Italy. Her master's thesis was part of the "Progetto Regio VII" (Professor Paolo Carafa and Professor Maria Teresa D'Alessio). In this thesis, she documented and reconstructed a domus at Pompeii, specifically the House of the Colored Capitals (VII, 4, 31.51), using Autocad and following the methodologies and schools of thought proposed in this project as well as Progetto Lazio Antico and the Atlas of Ancient Rome. The research for the project amassed all available information on the domus and contextualized it with regard to the ongoing discourse surrounding the history and evolution of the ancient city of Pompeii.
Thus far in her academic career, Lauren has maintained interest in the Mediterranean basin as a connected network throughout the course of its history. Being of Lebanese ethnicity and having grown up fascinated by the Roman ruins in Lebanon, Lauren eventually focused not only on "classical" Archaeology of the eastern Mediterranean but also on what came before this time period while she studied at La Sapienza. In turn, she explored the modern and contemporary socio-political and geo-political history of the MENA region that has largely influenced the way archaeology and heritage has evolved. Her interests in post-colonialism and post-colonialist theory blossomed while at USC, but they grew immensely at La Sapienza.
Lauren has excavated in Menorca and Carrascosa (Castilla La Mancha), Spain; at Pompeii, Italy; at the Athenian Agora in Athens, Greece; and on the Palatine Hill in Rome, Italy. At USC, Lauren was very active with the Archaeological Institute of America, Los Angeles Society, the USC Archaeology Research Center, and the Society for Trojan Archaeologists (STARC). At La Sapienza, she participated in a variety of workshops, laboratories, seminars, and internships such as working with the archives of the Sapienza excavations at Tyre (Sur) (Professor D'Andrea), documenting and mapping sites for Progetto Lazio Antico (Professor Paolo Carafa), attending seminars on Roman Architectural Decoration, and participating in archaeological drawing workshops. She also held a seat as a Student Representative of Masters Students for the Department of the Science of Antiquity (Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Antichità) and was also one of the students part of the Osservatorio della Didattica, bridging communications between Professors and students specifically for the Mediterranean Archaeology masters.
At ISAW, Lauren aims to continue expanding on her interests in the eastern Mediterranean, concentrating on what is now known as "Lebanon" specifically during its Roman period (Syria/Syria-Phoenicia). She will focus on urbanization and landscape archaeology while simultaneously taking into consideration material culture, cross-cultural interactions, identity, and the manifestations of modernity in the ways we view the past. In this research, she will likewise be invested in post-colonialism / neo-colonialism in Lebanon and how that has thus affected archaeological practices in the nation. Making information and history in this region accessible to various audiences remains central to Lauren's research through studies in digital humanities, Autocad, GIS, publication, exhibitions, and mixed-media archaeological discussions.