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Christine Markussen

 

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Ph.D. Candidate, University of Vienna, Austria
M.A. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
B.A. Fort Lewis College, Durango
CAST Digital Fellow

Christine Markussen is the GIS/Geospatial Program Manager at EnviroSystems Management, Inc. in Flagstaff, Arizona. She has worked in contract archaeology for over 14 years and has specialized in geodetics for the majority of that time. Her main interests lie both in archaeological prospection and applying GIS analysis to archaeological research objectives. Her interests over the years have ranged from multi-scaler data analysis, agent based modelling, 3-D visualizations, database management, and landscape analysis. 

Christine received her Master's degree at the University of Arkansas where she focused on archaeological prospection methods and techniques along with raster GIS analysis. During this time she applied her web development skills by working on the North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics (NADAG) with Dr. Ken Kvamme. She had a Research Assistantship (RA) cataloging geophysical data for archaeological sites in North Dakota. Her Master's thesis involved analysis of archaeological feature signals and shapes, their spatial relationships, and characteristics on the Double Ditch site in North Dakota. Microtopography of the present landscape was also analyzed to identify the spatial relations to prehistoric features across the site.

She has been involved in numerous archaeological prospection projects throughout the United States (New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Kansas, and Arizona).  Her interests in archaeological prospection, geodetics, and computer applications in archaeology has also permitted her to travel abroad for various research projects and often provide insight into data processing and interpretation of geophysical anomalies on archaeological sites. She has participated in archaeological prospection projects in Romania, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Wales. 

Current Research/Projects

Christine is also pursuing her doctorate at the University of Vienna, Austria, through the Initiative College for Archaeological Prospection (IC-ArchPro) program. As an Associated Fellow, Christine plans on developing her skills in both GIS and archaeological archaeological prospection by integrating geophysical data processing into a GIS environment through source code and scripting. She will use a high resolution data set form the case study Flavia Solva, A Roman town in Austria, to transfer GPR visualization and Interpretation tools into GIS.

Christine is currently collaborating with CAST on 3-D scanning projects in the southwest United States.  These efforts aim to identify the utility of high resolution 3-D imaging as a practical method of documentation for baseline preservation efforts of damaged and threatened architecture on archaeological sites as well as thorough cost-benefit analyses compared to traditional documentation.  In addition, she is involved in beta testing of CAST's geophysical software Archaeofusion and is pursuing opportunities for future updates to and maintainence of the NADAG site.

She is also involved in other international projects including multi-sensor data integration and 3-D data visualization for an Iron Age Hillfort in Northern Wales, and identifying prehistoric agricultural practices through combined soil analysis and magnetic susceptibility measurements in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile.