Shawn is a Senior Lecturer in Ancient and World History at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and a research associate at the American Research Center in Sofia. Specialising in pre-classical Greece, his research interests include Greece in its wider context, trade and exchange, the rise (and fall) of complex societies, oral tradition, the integration of historical and archaeological evidence, and the applicaiton of IT to history and archaeology. Shawn contributes to the development of project methodology, administers project databases, co-supervises remote sensing, and leads pedestrian survey teams.
Adela completed her PhD in Archaeology at the University of Michigan (Inderdisciplinary Program in Classical Art and Archaeology) in January 2012. Adela used the survey data from Bulgaria as the basis for her dissertation on the evolution of settlement patterns and polity in Thrace. Her interests include the history and archaeology of the Black Sea region, theories of state formation, and the application of remote sensing to archaeology. Adela manages the day-to-day operations of fieldwork, helps to develop project methodology, administers the GIS, co-supervises remote sensing, and leads field teams. As of February 2012, she is joining the UNSW staff as one of the coordinators of the NeCTAR project in digital archaeology, while also working on the final report on TRAP 2009-2011.
Simon currently holds a postdoctoral research position at the University of the Algarve, Portugal. His research interests include human-environment interactions in the Late Quaternary, modelling vegetation and fire history, reconstructing palaeoclimates in the semi-arid lands of Europe, and the biogeography of Tertiary-relict taxa in the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins. Simon is investigating the palaeoecology of the Tundzha region, primarily through palynology; he supervises collection of environmental samples, coordinates (and often performs) laboratory analysis.
Andy is an Australian Research Fellow in the Human Origins Group, School of Medical Sciences, at the University of New South Wales. His research interestes include palaeolithic and neolithic archaeology, human evolution, archaeological science and geoarchaeology, archaeomagnetism, Quarternary palaeoclimate and environments, geochronology, and fire history. Andy coordinates the archaeological sciences component of our project and manages archaeomagnetism research (for both dating and envirnomental study).
Scott is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Science at UNSW. Scott is a palaeoecologist and his research interests can be summed under the heading of the past interactions between people and their environment. In particular, his recent research has investigated the controls on past fire activity in various locations. In this project Scott contributes to the palaeoenvironmental research, particularly the analysis and interpretation of charcoal found in environmental samples.
Dr. Iliev is the former director of the Historical Museum, Yambol (retired). A specialist in Bulgarian prehistory, he has extensive field experience in the region, including excavations at the major Neolithic and Bronze Age site of Drama. Dr. Iliev directs our activities in the Yambol region, leads field teams, and contributes to all aspects of project planning and methodological development.
Stefan Bakardzhiev is the Director of the Historical Museum in Yambol. Stefan specializes in the Roman archaeology of the Yambol reigon and has extensive field experience related to all periods in the Yambol region. He directed the excavations at the sites located in the TRAP survey areas in Yambol such as the Roman period sites of Dodoparon, Stroino and the burial mound of Boyanovo.
Dr. Nehrizov is a researcher and field archaeologist with the Archaeological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, specialising in Early Iron Age Thrace. His extensive fieldwork centres on the Eastern Rhodope Mountains (including the Lower Tudnzha), but recently has been extened to the Middle and Upper Tundzha Valley. Dr. Nehrizov directs our activities in the Kazanluk region, leads field teams, and contributes to all aspects of project planning and methodological development.
Dr. Tzvetkova is an Assistant Professor in Ancient History and Thracology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ochridski”. Her research interestes include the history of ancient Greece, the history of ancient Thrace, Ancient settlement patterns, numismatics, and the archaeology of the Early Iron Age and Classical eras. She leads field teams, manages GIS and assists with project planning and methodological development.
Elena is a Doctoral Candidate in Archaeology at the Sofia University. The topic of her dissertation is Chronology and Periodization of the Early Iron Age in Thrace. Her interests include the archaeology of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age as she focuses her research on the pottery development, the settlement pattern and phenomena that consider Thrace as an integrated part of the Eastern Mediterranean. With her experience in excavation, survey and multi-tasking, Elena functions as a pottery analyst, survey team leader and an excavation assistant director at the project.
Petra is a PhD student in Classical Archaeology and Philology at Charles University, Prague, with a dissertation topic of Graeco-Thracian interactions based on epigraphic evidence. She has been a member of the project since its inception. Her interests include epigraphy, archaeology, Greek imperialism, and Greco-Thracian relations. Petra doubles as teamleader, documentation administrator and overall project assistant.
Barbora is PhD student in Classical Archaeology at Charles University in Prague. Her dissertation topic is on Thracian burial mounds and her interests span Thracian archaeology, art and history, GIS applications to archaeology and worldwide travel. Bara has risen through the ranks since her arrival at the project in 2009 and functions as team leader, GIS trainee and overall project assistant.