Faculty

The scholars leading research and teaching on the ancient world.

Gil J. Stein he/his

Rowe Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology
  • Director, University of Chicago Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation (C3HP)

Research Interests

Near Eastern Archaeology; Mesopotamian Archaeology; Cultural Heritage Preservation; Evolution of Ancient Complex Societies; Political Economy of Early States; Urbanism; Ancient Colonies; Regional Economic Organization; Craft Specialization; Neolithic Subsistence Systems; Zooarchaeology

Gil Stein headshot

About

Gil Stein is the Rowe Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Chicago and Director of the University of Chicago Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation in the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC). He received his BA in Archaeology from Yale University (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa cum Laude, Honors in Archaeology) and his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. His research investigates the development of the earliest urbanized state societies in the Near East, the archaeology of colonialism, ancient economic organization, zooarchaeology, and cultural heritage preservation. He has directed archaeological excavations in Turkey, Syria, and currently at the sixth–fifth millennium BC Chalcolithic site of Surezha in Iraqi Kurdistan. From 2012 to the present, with US State Department funding, he has carried out eleven cultural heritage projects in Afghanistan and currently in Uzbekistan. These focus on training museum and heritage professionals from the National Museums of the five post-Soviet Central Asian Republics, the development of a Cooperation Council of Central Asian National Museums, and a project to preserve Langar Ota—a historic fifteenth-century Timurid Sufi mosque in the mountains of Uzbekistan near the Silk Road city of Samarkand.

 

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Education

PhD Anthropology University of Pennsylvania
BA Archaeology Yale University

ISAC Publications

Select Publications

Books

  • Gil Stein, Alejandro Gallego-Lopez, and Mohammad Fahim Rahimi. A History of Afghanistan in 100 Objects. Treasures from the National Museum of Afghanistan. London, Scala Arts and Heritage Publishers, Ltd., 2022. Electronic publication in English and Dari editions.

Edited Volumes

  • Gil Stein (ed.). The Archaeology of Colonial Encounters. Santa Fe: SAR Press, 2005.

Articles

  • Gil J. Stein and Fabio Colombo. "Preserving the 15th–16th Century Timurid Period Sufi Mosque of Langar Ota, Uzbekistan: A Progress Report." In Proceedings of the I. International and Practical Symposium: Current Issues of Study and Preservation of the Tangible Heritage of the Silk Road, edited by Mavlyuda Yusupova, pp. 267–272. Samarkand: Silk Road Institute, 2025.
  • Gil J. Stein, A. Gallego Lopez, F. Colombo, E. Pannunzio, and A. Casalini. "The NMA-ISAC Haḍḍa Sculptural Project – Conserving and Restoring Early Buddhist Sculptures in the National Museum of Afghanistan." In Gandharan Artists and Artisans. Representations of an Era of Religious Images, edited by A. Vanleene, A. Marguier, and V. Brice, pp. 191–213. Archaeologia Afghana. Serie Scientifique VI A. Strasbourg: Université de Strasbourg, 2025.
  • Gil J. Stein. "Performative Destruction: Da’esh (ISIS) Ideology and the War on Heritage in Iraq." In Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities: Human and Security Costs, edited by James Cuno and Thomas Weiss, pp. 168–185. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2022.
  • Gil J. Stein. "Leadership Strategies and the Multi-linear Development of Social Complexity in Ubaid Mesopotamia and Susa A Southwestern Iran (5500–4000 BCE)." In Pathways through Arslantepe. Essays in Honour of Marcella Frangipane, edited by F. Balossi Restelli, A. Cardarelli, G. M. Di Nocera, L. Manzanilla, L. Mori, G. Palumbi, and H. Pittman, pp. 175–189. Viterbo: Università di Roma La Sapienza and Sette Città, 2022.

Research Projects

Active
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Chicago Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation (C3HP)

Location:
Middle East
Timespan:
2006 – Present

Cultural heritage is the glue that binds communities and nations together through a shared history and identity. The Chicago Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation (C3HP) at the University of…

Courses Taught

NEAA 20030

Rise of the State in the Ancient Near East

An introduction to the background and development of the first urbanized civilizations in the Near East in the period from 9000 to 2200 BC. The course examines the archaeological evidence for the first domestication of plants and animals and the earliest Neolithic village communities in the "fertile crescent" - the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia and western Iran. The second half of the course focuses on the economic and social transformations which took place during the development from, village-based communities to the emergence of the urbanized civilizations of the Sumerians and neighboring groups in the fourth and third millennia BC.

NEAA 20035

Introduction to Zooarchaeology

This course provides undergraduate and graduate students with an introduction to the use of animal bones in archaeological research. The class addresses theoretical and methodological issues involved in the use of animal bones as a source of information about prehistoric societies. The course consists of lectures, laboratory sessions, and original research projects using collections of animal bone from archaeological excavations in southeast Turkey. Topics covered include: 1) identifying, ageing and sexing animal bones; 2) zooarchaeological sampling, measurement, quantification, and taphonomy; 3) analysis of animal bone data; 4) prehistoric hunting and herding economies, especially: animal domestication, and pastoral production in complex societies.