Amanda Gaggioli
Assistant Professor

Education
Ph.D., Stanford University, 2022
Fields of Interest
My research and teaching center on the intersections of environment, technology, and society in the ancient Mediterranean. I am particularly interested in human-environment relationships, resilience, political ecology, environmental humanities, archaeological science, geoarchaeology, soil micromorphology, and postcolonial theory. Currently, I am completing a book manuscript titled Earthquakes and the Structuring of Greco-Roman Society. My fieldwork in Greece, Cyprus, and Armenia investigates how societies responded to and influenced environmental change, as reflected in technological and material adaptations over time. My research has received support from Stanford University's Environment, Energy & Sustainability Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship, National Geographic, and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
For more, please see my academia.edu page and CV.
Courses taught
Environment and History; Epic History of Ancient Greece; Origins, Empire, and Religion in Ancient World History [World History to 1500]; Engineering and Technology in the Ancient World; Troy Rocks!; Geoarchaeology and Soil Micromorphology; Independent Study in Akkadian Language I/II; Intermediate Greek: Homer’s Odyssey
Representative Publications
Academic Articles
2024. Gaggioli, A. M. A Re-examination of Earthquakes in Mediterranean Archaeology in Light of Historical Sources: the case of Helike and Greco-Roman earthquake perceptions. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology.
2024. Gaggioli, A.M., The geoarchaeology of seismically triggered soft sediment deformation structures (SSDS). Journal of Archaeological Science 165, 105961.
2024. Gaggioli, A. M. Soil Micromorphological Investigation of Hellenistic Helike (Romanos site) in Katsonopoulou, D. (Ed.), Helike VI: Helike after 373 BCE - an interdisciplinary approach. The Helike Society, Athens.
- Gaggioli, A. M. Applications of Soil Micromorphology to Archaeoseismology Investigations in Cyprus in Amadio, M. (Ed.), Archaeology in the Smallest Realm: Micro analyses and methods for the reconstruction of Cyprus early societies. Artemide, Archaeology Series, Roma.
2021 Gaggioli, A. The Ancients and Sustainability. Review of Usher, M.D., Plato’s Pigs and other Ruminations. Ancient Guides to Living with Nature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. The Classical Review.
2021. Gaggioli, A. M., Bauer, A. M., Morrison, K.D., Lycett, M. T. Early water management in South Asia: geochronology and micromorphology of rock pools and small-scale water catchment features in Karnataka, India. Geoarchaeology.
2021. Erdogmus, E., Turan, M., Freedland, J., Gaggioli, A. M., Hoff, M. Characterization of Historic Mortar Samples for Period Analysis and Determination of Intervention Mortars: A Case Study. 12th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions (SAHC) Interdisciplinary Projects and case studies.
2020 Erdogmus, E., Pulatsu, B., Gaggioli, A. M., Hoff, M., Reverse Engineering a Fully Collapsed Ancient Roman Temple through Geoarchaeology and DEM. International Journal of Architectural Heritage 1–21.
Public Writing
2023 Blog post, A Tale of Two Seismic Cities: How Memory Prevents Disaster, Council of American Overseas Research Centers. April 18
2020 Op-Ed, On the edge of empire: Armenians and the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in context, The Stanford Daily, October 12
Representative Conferences
2024 Chair of session ‘Advances in Geoarchaeology and Environmental Archaeology Perspectives on Earthen-Built Constructions,’ The Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology. New Orleans, LA, April 21
2023 Co-organizer, Material Histories and Environmental Politics, Past and Present conference, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World, Institute at Brown for Environment & Society, Brown University. Nov. 3-4
2023 “Resilience and Political Ecology of Human-Geological Environment Relationships: the case of Helike, Greece.” Panel ‘Geoarcheology and paleoenvironmental evolution of the coastal areas.’ XXI INQUA Congress 2023. Rome, Italy, July 17
2023 “The Anthropogenic and Geogenic Co-production of seismically triggered Soft Sediment Deformation Structures (SSDS) in Helike, Greece.” Panel ‘Political Geologies in the Ancient and Recent Pasts: Ontology, Knowledge, and Affect.’ The Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology. Portland, OR, April 2
2023 “Geoarchaeology and Soil Micromorphology Perspectives on Late Helladic Burial and Ritual at Eleon, Greece.” The Annual Meeting for the Archaeological Institute of America. New Orleans, LA, January 8
2022 “Geoarchaeology and Soil Micromorphology of Destruction and Site Formation at Kourion, Cyprus.” The Annual Meeting for the American Society for Overseas Research. Boston, MA. November 19
2022 “The Geoarchaeology and Soil Micromorphology of seismically triggered Soft Sediment Deformation Structures (SSDS),” Panel ‘Geoarchaeology at the Micro-scale: new applications of microanalytical techniques.’ The Annual Meeting for the Geological Society of America. Denver, CO, October 12
2022 “Discovering a Catastrophic Day: the 373 BCE Helike, Greece earthquake and its aftermath in cultural memory and the socio-natural landscape.” Panel ‘Ruination and Emergent Futures: Archaeological Perspectives on Landscapes of Insecurity.’ The Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology. Chicago, IL, April 3
2022 “Poseidon Ἐννοσίγαιος as ‘Traditional Environmental Knowledge’ of Earthquake Hazards and Risks in the Greco-Roman World.” Panel ‘Homo Necans Revisited: Diachrony and the Long-Term Study of Ancient Religions’ for the Annual Meeting for the Archaeological Institute of America. San Francisco, CA, January 7
Administration/Service
Undergraduate Studies Committee; Awards Committee
Representative Awards and Grants
2023 U.S. National Committee for Quaternary Research (USNC/INQUA) Fellowship Grant, National Academy of Sciences
2019-2022 Environment, Energy & Sustainability Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship (SIGF), Stanford University
2020-2021 Multi-Country Fellowship, Council of American Overseas Research Centers
2020-2021 Early Career Grant, National Geographic Society