Giacomo Fontana , Ph.D. Assistant Professor - Archaeology

Dr. Giacomo Fontana is a computational and landscape archaeologist studying the emergence of complex societies in nomadic and non-urban contexts, across landscapes often framed as marginal, such as highlands and deserts. Originally from Italy, he earned a B.A. in Cultural Heritage from the University of Bologna, a Research M.A. in Archaeology from Leiden University, and a Ph.D. in Computational and Landscape Archaeology from the UCL Institute of Archaeology in 2023. After a postdoctoral research fellowship at the same institute, he joined Texas Tech, first as a postdoctoral scholar and then as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, where he directs the Digital Archaeology Research and Exploration (DARE) Lab. He also serves on the Scientific Committee of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) International and on the board of CAA North America.

Dr. Fontana's research challenges urban-centric models of early social complexity, drawing on active projects in the Apennines of central Italy and the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. His methodological program is quantitative and geospatial, integrating LiDAR and multispectral remote sensing, spatial statistics, architectural energetics, and landscape modeling. Current work centers on two linked agendas: archaeological synthesis through quantitative methods applied to large-scale heterogeneous datasets, and AI-assisted site detection using machine learning on statewide LiDAR data. These computational strands run alongside ongoing field-based projects in Italy with the Ancient Hillforts Survey and the Sangro Valley Project.

Education

• PhD in Archaeology, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 2023. Dissertation: Computational and Landscape Approaches to Samnite Mountain Society in the 1st Millennium BCE Mediterranean. Funded by the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP).
• Research Master's in Archaeology, Leiden University, 2018. Thesis: Seeking Tombs from Space: Automatic Detection and Extraction of Complex Burial Monuments of Oman in Multispectral Satellite Images. Winner of NINO Thesis Prize 2018. Graduated cum laude.
• Bachelor's in Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, 2015. Thesis: Predictive Model of the Protohistoric Settlement Location Preferences on Vicentine Prealps. Graduated cum laude.

Selected Publications

• Fontana, G. 2025. Issues of sampling and representativeness in large-scale LiDAR-derived archaeological surveys in Mediterranean contexts. Archaeological Prospection 32: 103–117.
• Li, Z., G. Fontana, A. Bevan, and R. Li, 2025. Frontier walls, labour energetics and Qin imperial collapse. Journal of Archaeological Science, 181, 106313.
• Fontana, G., and W. de Neef. 2024. Italy's empty hillforts: Reassessing urban-centric biases through combined non-invasive prospection methods on a Samnite site (fourth–third centuries BC). Antiquity 98(402): 1558–1575.
• Fontana, G., and S. Bernard. 2023. A new method for the energetics analysis of polygonal masonry in Samnite hillforts. Journal of Archaeological Science 153: 105730.
• Fontana, G. 2022. Italy's hidden hillforts: A large-scale LiDAR-based mapping of Samnium. Journal of Field Archaeology 47(4): 245–261.

Selected Grants and Honors

• AIA Ellen and Charles Steinmetz Endowment for Archaeology (2026).
• Angela Caveness Weisskopf Research Fellowship (2025).
• Journal of Archaeological Science Reproducibility Prize (2024).
• Accordia Early Career Prize (2024).
• Nick Ryan Award, CAA International (2023).

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Curriculum Vitae