Staff Profiles

Research Associate, Terraces as Sustainable Agricultural Environments (TerraSAgE)

Prior Positions

Lecturer, University of Vienna Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (2016-2019)

Postdoctoral Researcher, Prospecting Boundaries - University of Vienna (2016-2019)

Research Assistant (Doctoral Candidate) University of Vienna (2011-2015)

Education

PhD, Prehistory and Early History, Initiative College for Archaeological Prospection, University of Vienna, Austria (2016)

MA, Archaeological Computing, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

MA (Mag. Phil.), Archaeology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

ORCID Profile: Click Here

I am a landscape archaeologist with expertise in archaeological prospection, geospatial analysis and remote sensing data processing.In the spring of 2016 I received my Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. My dissertation, titled “in Visible Landscapes: Development of Novel Integrated Techniques for Remnant Land Use Detection and Characterisation”, focused on the development of new tools and analyses for semi-automated archaeological feature classification, image based-modelling, and identification and interpretation of archaeological information in historic and modern remote sensing data. My research interests are currently focused on understanding connections between social and environmental change in later pre- and early historic landscapes in the western Mediterranean, and along the Nile river in modern-day Sudan. 

Research Interests

• Landscape Archaeology
• Aerial Archaeology
• GIS and Spatial Analysis
• Remote Sensing & Geophysical Prospection
• Image-based Modelling

Geographic Focus

• Mediterranean Basin
• North Africa

Recent Collaborations

I have participated in a number of research projects in the American Southwest, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Italy, Sweden, Sudan, and Tunisia. 

TerraSAgE: Terraces as Sustainable Agricultural Environments

Prospecting Boundaries - Archaeology Along the Mazaro

Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition 

• Articles

  • Sevara C, Kinnaird T, El-Hassan A, Turner S. New Work on Landscapes of the Northern Dongola Reach. Sudan & Nubia 2023, 27, 86-106.
  • Srivastava A, Kinnaird T, Sevara C, Holcomb J, Turner S. Dating agricultural terraces in the Mediterranean using luminescence: recent progress and challenges. Land 2023, 12(3), 716.
  • Doneus M, Neubauer W, Filzwieser R, Sevara C. Stratigraphy from Topography II. The Practical Application of the Harris Matrix for the GIS-based Spatio-temporal Archaeological Interpretation of Topographical Data. Archaeologia Austriaca 2022, 106, 223-252.
  • Sevara C, Salisbury R, Totschnig R, Doneus M, Löcker K, Tusa S. New discoveries at Mokarta, a Bronze Age hilltop settlement in western Sicily. Antiquity 2020, 94(375), 686-704.
  • Minor E, Schellinger S, Sevara C, El-Hassan A, Ahmed S. Laying the groundwork: 2020 survey season and community outreach programme at the Kerma Period settlement site esSelim R4 in the Northern Dongola Reach. Sudan & Nubia 2020, 24, 100-111. In Press.
  • Turner S, Kinnaird T, Koparal E, Lekakis S, Sevara C. Landscape archaeology, sustainability and the necessity of change. World Archaeology 2020, 52(4), 589-606.
  • Sevara C, Salisbury RB, Doneus M, Draganits E, Totschnig R, Frazzetta C, Tusa S. A Landscape in Transitions: Guletta, a Multiperiod Settlement along the Mazaro River in Western Sicily. Journal of Field Archaeology 2020, 45(5), 334-354.
  • Sevara C, Wieser M, Doneus M, Pfeifer N. Relative Radiometric Calibration of Airborne LiDAR Data for Archaeological Applications. Remote Sensing 2019, 11(8), 1-23.
  • Sevara C, Verhoeven G, Doneus M, Draganits E. Surfaces from the Visual Past: Recovering High-Resolution Terrain Data from Historic Aerial Imagery for Multitemporal Landscape Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 2018, 25, 611-642.
  • Verhoeven G, Sevara C. Trying to Break New Ground in Aerial Archaeology. Remote Sensing 2016, 8(11), 918.
  • Sevara C, Pregesbauer M, Doneus M, Verhoeven G, Trinks I. Pixel versus object — A comparison of strategies for the semi-automated mapping of archaeological features using airborne laser scanning data. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 2016, 5, 485-498.
  • Sevara C. Capturing the Past for the Future: an Evaluation of the Effect of Geometric Scan Deformities on the Performance of Aerial Archival Media in Image-based Modelling Environments. Archaeological Prospection 2016, 23(4), 325-334.
  • Sevara C. Top Secret Topographies: Recovering Two and Three-Dimensional Archaeological Information from Historic Reconnaissance Datasets Using Image-Based Modelling Techniques. International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era 2013, 2(3), 395-418.

• Book Chapters

  • Sabatini S, Sevara C, Fera M, Kainz J, Schneidhofer P. Tales from the Beech Forest: Laser Scanning Project at Monte Cimino (Italy) Hillfort. In: Bergerbrant,S;Sabatini,S, ed. Counterpoint: Essays in Archaeology and Heritage Studies in Honour of Professor Kristian Kristiansen. Oxford: BAR, 2013, pp.679-684.
  • Artursson M, Bech J, Earle T, Fuköh D, Kolb M, Kristiansen K, Ling J, Mûhlenbock C, Prescott C, Sevara C, Tusa S, Uhner C, Vicze M. Settlement Structure and Organisation. In: Earle,T; Kristiansen,K, ed. Organizing Bronze Age Societies The Mediterranean, Central Europe, and Scandanavia Compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp.87-121.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Srivastava A, Kinnaird T, Turner S, Sevara C, Holcomb J, Lekakis S, Shillito LM. Agricultural terraces in the Mediterranean: a multidisciplinary approach to understanding human-landscape interactions. In: EGU General Assembly 2022. 2022, Vienna, Austria: European Geosciences Union (EGU).
  • Jetzinger D, Sevara C. Revisiting the Segesta and the Monreale Survey Sites - The Benefits and Possibilities of Digitising Analog Archaeological Spatial Data. In: 13th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection. 2019, Sligo, Ireland: Archaeopress.
  • Sevara C, Doneus M, Draganits E, Salisbury R, Frazzetta C, Jetzinger D, Schilk S, Tusa S. Innovating Archaeological Investigations in Mediterranean Landscapes: Contributions from the Prospecting Boundaries Project. In: 13th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection. 2019, Sligo, Ireland: Archaeopress.
  • Sevara C, Doneus M, Draganits E, Cusumano R, Frazzetta C, Palermo B, Pisciotta F, Stallone R, Totschnig R, Tusa S, Valenti A. Testing Boundaries: Integrated Prospection from Site to Landscape in Western Sicily. In: 12th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection. 2017, Bradford, United Kingdom: Archaeopress.
  • Trinks I, Wallner M, Kucera M, Verhoeven G, Torrejón Valdelomar J, Löcker K, Nau E, Sevara C, Aldrian L, Neubauer W, Klein M. Documenting Bronze Age Akrotiri on Thera Using Laser Scanning, Image-Based Modelling and Geophysical Prospection. In: The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. 2017, Nafplio, Greece: ISPRS.
  • Doneus M, Fornwagner U, Leim J, Sevara C. APIS - A Digital Inventory of Archaeological Heritage Based on Remote Sensing Data. In: ICOMOS/ISPRS International Scientific Committee on Heritage Documentation (CIPA) 26th International CIPA Symposium – Digital Workflows for Heritage Conservation. 2017, Ottawa, Canada: ISPRS.
  • Sevara C, Pregesbauer M. Archaeological Feature Classification: An Object-Oriented Approach. In: GEOBIA 2014, Αdvancements, trends and challenges, 5th Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis Conference. 2014, Thessaloniki, Greece: Aristotle University.
  • Sevara C, Goldhahn J. Image-Based Modeling of the Present Past: Building 3D Models of Archaeological Environments from Digital Photographs. In: Digital Media and it's Applications in Cultural Heritage. 2011, Amman, Jordan: CSAAR Press.
  • Stenborg P, Tornberg J, Ling J, Söderström M, Sevara C, Thuvander L. Piloting Time-Tours: Experiences from the Development and Implementation of a Computer Based Exhibition in West Sweden. In: CAA 2010: XXXVIII Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. 2010, Granada, Spain.
  • Stenborg P, Tornberg J, Ling J, Söderström M, Thuvander L, Sevara C. Digital Time-Travels: Communicating Historical GIS and TGIS-Information in Museum Environments. In: GIS in the Humanities and Social Sciences International Conference — Innovating — Collaborating — Sharing. 2009, Taipei, Taiwan: Academia Sinica.
  • Thuvander L, Stenborg P, Ling J, Sevara C, Södorström M, Tornberg J. From the ice age to the present – an audiovisual and tactile model of the Göta River Valley in Western Sweden. In: 14th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia. 2008, Limassol,Cyprus: Archaeolingua.

• Report

  • Herring P, Turner S, Sevara C. The Historic Landscape: Assessing Opportunity for Change. Historic England, 2022. Research Report Series 69/2022.