Dr Micaela Sinibaldi is an archaeologist specialising in the archaeology and material culture of the Islamic and Crusader periods in the Middle East. After obtaining a PhD from Cardiff University with a thesis on the Crusader period in the Lordship of Transjordan, she has held post-doctoral positions at Humboldt-Universität and Freie Universität, Berlin and at the Council for British Research in the Levant and she has served as acting Deputy Director at the Kenyon Institute in Jerusalem (Council for British Research in the Levant). With K. Lewis, J. Thompson and B. Major she has co-edited Crusader Landscapes in the Medieval Levant. The Archaeology and History of the Latin East, University of Wales Press (2016).
Micaela is also the Director of the Islamic Baydha Project. With the generous support of the Barakat Trust, the Islamic Baydha Project has carried on seven fieldwork and study seasons at the site of Baydha, Petra region, in Jordan. The project has focused on the excavation of a village of the Middle/Late Islamic period, including the first two mosques ever identified and fully excavated in the Petra region. The project is part of a broader project, the Late Petra Project, which investigates the later periods of settlement in the Petra valley and region and has revised the notion that these areas were largely abandoned during most of the Islamic period. The Islamic Baydha Project is a project of archaeological investigations, training in archaeological fieldwork, conservation and community engagement. The newly launched website can be seen here:
https://islamicbaydhaproject.wixsite.com/islamicbaydhaproject
Micaela is currently a Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University, Department of Archaeology, and a Visiting Professor of archaeology at Shanghai International Studies University, Institute for the Global History of Civilizations.Besides her scholarly and archaeological fieldwork activities, her experience and research interests include leading projects of training in archaeological fieldwork and of community engagement, curatorial work for international exhibitions and involvement in cultural heritage management.
