Dr.
Michal
Birkenfeld
- Department of Archaeology & School of Sustainability and Climate Change
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
English, Hebrew, Spanish
- Humanities Archaeology
- Fields: Archaeology
- Archeology Sub-Fields: Prehistoric Archaeology
- Research Keywords: Desert archaeology, Digital archaology, drones, environmental archaeology, GIS, Neolithic, Prehistory, Remote Sensing, Satellite remote sensing
Research Interests
I’m a senior lecturer at BGU’s Dept. of Archaeology and head of the Digital Archaeology Research Lab (BGU-DARC). My research focuses on early societies in the southern Levant during major transitions—from mobile foragers to settled farmers and complex societies. I specialize in integrating traditional archaeology with GIS and remote sensing. Recently, I’ve focused on Neolithic adaptations in the arid Negev, exploring how human-environment interactions shaped socio-economic and ritual systems in extreme settings.
Selected Awards
2021 Alon scholarship for Integration of Outstanding Faculty, Israeli Council for Higher Education.
2019-2020 Post-doctoral fellowship, The Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies, Ben-Gurion University in the Negev (160,000 NIS, ca. 45,000$, 2-year term).
2018 The Polonsky Prizes for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; First prize, Post-doctoral category (5000$).
2012-2014 Rotenstreich Fellowship for Outstanding Doctoral Students in the Humanities, Israeli Council for Higher Education (320,000 NIS, ca. 90,000$, 4-year term).
2019-2020 Post-doctoral fellowship, The Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies, Ben-Gurion University in the Negev (160,000 NIS, ca. 45,000$, 2-year term).
2018 The Polonsky Prizes for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; First prize, Post-doctoral category (5000$).
2012-2014 Rotenstreich Fellowship for Outstanding Doctoral Students in the Humanities, Israeli Council for Higher Education (320,000 NIS, ca. 90,000$, 4-year term).
