About
Dr. Chris Motz is a Roman archaeologist and a specialist in digital technologies and methods. His work explores physical, social, and conceptual infrastructures—both those that guided ancient life and those that shape our engagement with the past.
With regard to the ancient world, he has written on the urban industry, water management, and drainage infrastructure of a sub-elite neighborhood in Pompeii, as well as on the networks of knowledge that underpinned the design, construction, and operation of workshops in the Roman fish-salting (food production) and fulling (cloth treatment) industries. Much of his work is rooted in nuanced analyses of complex data sets, which connects with his other primary focus: developing new and better ways—often digital ones—to record, analyze, publish, and preserve cultural heritage data.
At the Kelsey, he oversees the collections database, archives, and 3D capture project, and supports assorted other digital efforts. In the field, he currently serves as Head of Data for excavations at the coastal Punic/Roman city of Tharros, Sardinia (Tharros Archaeological Research Project) and at Pompeii’s Porta Stabia neighborhood (Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia). He has previously conducted fieldwork in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France, Greece, Turkey, and Belize.
