Meet The Team!
A Global Collaboration
Our team is organized to maintain the highest standards of archaeological research while fostering a supportive learning environment for future archaeologists. Led by our directors, the staff includes area supervisors and assistant supervisors who manage daily excavation operations, supported by the registrar who oversees artifact documentation. The Tel Shaddud Regional Project is an international partnership between institutions in Israel, Germany, and the USA. Together, we bridge academic borders to uncover the ancient history of the Jezreel Valley.
Directors
Dr. Karen Covello-Paran (Israel Antiquities Authority)
Field and Research Antiquities | Archaeological Research Department.
Karen is a senior research archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority and a leading expert on the archaeology of Northern Israel. Her research investigates the long-term settlement patterns of the Jezreel Valley and Galilee, focusing on how rural communities interacted with centralized powers. In addition to her work at Tel Shaddud, she also leads the excavations at Ḥorvat Tevet, bringing her extensive expertise in stratigraphy and regional material culture to the study of the site’s transition from an Iron Age village to an Assyrian administrative locale.
Prof. Omer Sergi (Tel Aviv University)
Professor at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures | Head of The International MA Program for Ancient Israel Studies.
Omer’s research focuses on the social and political history of the Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages, with a particular emphasis on the formation of the Kingdom of Israel and the role of kinship and “palace-clan” relations in ancient state structures. He also co-directs the excavations at Ḥorvat Tevet, where his work has been instrumental in uncovering the 9th century BCE administrative hub of the House of Omri and its impact on the regional economy of the Jezreel Valley.
Prof. William M. Schniedewind (University of California, Los Angeles)
Professor of Biblical Studies & NWS Languages | Director of Graduate Studies | NELC Department | Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director | Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies
Prof. William Schniedewind holds the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies at UCLA. A world-renowned scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic languages, his research explores the socio-historical context of ancient Israel and the evolution of biblical literature. His involvement in the Tel Shaddud Regional Project provides a crucial linguistic and historical framework, bridging the gap between the material finds in the field and the textual records of the ancient Near East to better understand the cultural identity of the Jezreel Valley’s inhabitants.
Prof. Dr. Joachim J. Krause (Ruhr University Bochum)
Professor of Hebrew Bible | Faculty of Protestant Theology.
Prof. Dr. Joachim J. Krause is a Professor of Old Testament at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. His research explores the intersection of archaeology, history, and biblical studies, with a focus on how centralized administrations interacted with local populations. Through his leadership in the project, he works to uncover the administrative mechanisms of the “royal estates” that shaped the political landscape of the Jezreel Valley across the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Prof. Dr. Hannes Bezzel (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena)
Professor of Old Testament Studies | Faculty of Theology.
Prof. Dr. Hannes Bezzel is a Professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of Jena, Germany. His academic work focuses on the history of Israel during the Iron Age and the literary evolution of the Hebrew Bible, particularly the Book of Kings. As a key collaborator in the regional project, he helps contextualize the archaeological findings at Tel Shaddud and Ḥorvat Tevet within the broader historical-literary records of the ancient world.
Area Supervisors and Assistants
Nimrod Katsir (Tel Aviv University)
Nimrod is the supervisor of Area C. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in archaeozoology at Tel Aviv University, focusing on human-animal relations in the ancient world. His thesis explores the ancient economy of Motza, combining archaezoological evidence with broader questions of social and environmental dynamics. Last year, Nimrod opened a new Area on the Tel (Area C) and will continue his important work this year!
Ofer Naveh (Tel Aviv University)
Ofer is the supervisor of Area A. He’s interested in uncovering the rural landscape of the Nazareth Hills and the Jezreel Valley during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Ofer is now a PHD student at Tel Aviv University and his dissertation will investigate how these rural areas endured centuries of political and social change – from Canaanite city-states to Egyptian imperial rule, to the Kingdom of Israel, and eventually Assyrian annexation.
Guy Brandes (Tel Aviv University)
Guy is the supervisor of Area B. He recently completed his BA studies in Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and is now working at the Israel Antiquities Authority. In addition to being an area supervisor, Guy is also our expedition’s spatial archaeologist and is responsible for daily documentation of the Tel, using drones and aerial imaging.
Maayan Reuven is the assistant supervisor in Area B. She recently completed her BA in Archaeology and is now pursuing her MA at Tel Aviv University.
Mor Yermolaev is the expedition’s registrar. She is responsible for the documentation of artifacts for future analysis and interpretation. She is currently an MA student at Tel Aviv University.
Romy Malamud is returning as the assistant supervisor in Area A. She is currently pursuing her BA in Archaeology at Tel Aviv University.
Ben Alfasi is in his last year of studies in his BA in Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and will be returning as assistant supervisor in Area A.
Ori Winter is the assistant supervisor in Area B and will soon be graduating Tel Aviv University with a BA in Archaeology.
Guy Eilon will be returning this year as the assistant supervisor in Area C. Guy recently graduated with a BA in Archaeology and is now pursuing his Master’s Degree in Archaeology.
Tel Shaddud 