Björn Anderson is an archaeologist and art historian who works with the material and visual culture of western Asia.  His work explores questions of identity, memory, tradition, and idea exchange in complex multicultural environments.  His specialization is the ancient city of Petra and the Nabataean kingdom of Jordan, which flourished from the late Iron Age through the Roman Empire.  Anderson is co-director of the grant-funded Continuity and Transition in Southern Jordan archaeological project, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Center of Research in Amman, Jordan.  He has a secondary specialty in the art and architecture of the Achaemenid Empire of ancient Persia.

Anderson teaches a wide range of courses at the introductory level.  Advanced offerings include Early Greek Art, Art of the Roman Empire, Art of Ancient Mesopotamia and Iran, Greek Vase Painting, The Great Collision: The Middle East from Alexander to Islam, Celtic & Viking Art, and Digital Approaches to the Study of Art.

Anderson is engaged in digital approaches to the study of art and archaeology.  In particular, his work utilizes 3D modeling, photogrammetry, GIS, high-resolution RTK survey, and spatial analysis for both new research and documentation of historic sites.  He is a member of the advisory board for the University of Iowa’s Graduate Certificate in Public Digital Humanities and the UI Generative AI Faculty Community of Practice.

Anderson has published widely, especially in the specialist literature related to ancient Jordan and Iran. 

He is accepting graduate students at both the MA and PhD level.  Interested students are encouraged to contact him in advance to discuss their CV.

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