Role
Dr Jay Silverstein is the Module Leader for Forensic Bioarchaeology (FORE40002) and the Postgraduate Year Tutor for MSc students (FORE49111).
Dr Silverstein is the Director of the Tell Timai Archaeological project in Egypt.
Career overview
Dr Silverstein worked as a police officer in California for 10 years. While working as a police officer he completed his BA with Distinction in Anthropology at San Jose State University. He then left police work to pursue graduate studies at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) with a focus on military archaeology. He earned his MA and PhD in anthropology at PSU and then went to work with the US Government's effort to search for, recover, and identify missing soldiers from past wars. While working with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command/Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (JPAC/DPAA), Dr Silverstein led archaeological missions in diverse settings including Highland and Lowland Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, North and South Korea, Tarawa, the Solomon Islands, and Austria. While working with the US Government, he maintained his academic research through an affiliation with the PSU and the University of Hawaii and led archaeological investigations in Guatemala and Egypt. After 17 years with the US Government, Dr Silverstein accepted a position at an experimental university program, the School for Advanced Studies of the University of Tyumen in Russia. Due to the volatile political situation, he left Russia in 2022 and assumed his current position at NTU.
Research areas
Archaeology in Egypt
Dr Silverstein has served as a Director of the Tell Timai archaeological project since 2009 (https://www.telltimai.org/). The explorations here of the ancient city of Thmouis have led to numerous significant discoveries related to the Graeco-Roman eras of Egyptian history. His work has unearthed evidence of the renowned ancient Mendesian perfume industry, death and destruction associated with the Great Rebellion discussed on the Rosetta Stone, a lost temple of the Pharaoh Psammuthes, and he is currently working on evidence of iconoclasm and ideological transformation associated with the rise of Christianity in Late Roman Egypt.
Other Archaeology
Dr. Silverstein's first dig was at Sutton Hoo and this was followed by digs at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo and the Aztec frontier in Puebla Mexico. His doctoral research focused on the militarised frontier between the Aztec and Tarascan empires in Northern Guerrero. This was followed by a study of the earthworks of Tikal where he developed an interest in hydrology and ancient water management systems.
Forensic Investigations
Dr Silverstein remains active in the POW/MIA accounting community and is currently working to have the US Government acknowledge the identity of a set of remains from Pfc Charles McAllister who was killed in action in France in July 1918 while fighting with the US Army in WWI https://www.facebook.com/PFCCharlieMcAllister.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Dr. Silverstein received a national award from the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) and a Meritorious Civilian Service Award (DAMCS) for his leadership in the development and deployment of an Enterprise GIS dedicated to the search for approximately 80,000 missing US military personnel. His work with GIS and Remote Sensing continues as he explores new ways to apply the technologies to archaeological and forensic investigations.
3D Modelling
As 3D scanning is becoming ubiquitous in scientific investigations and documentation, Dr Silverstein is exploring the pragmatic application of the technology to the recording of forensic scenes and cultural heritage sites. He has been working with Matterport Inc.to explore new applications for the commercial hardware/software package.
Evolutionary Theory
Dr Silverstein is part of a growing body of scholars from diverse fields who find that the dominant interpretation of Evolutionary Theory remains locked in a Victorian and Logical Positivist paradigm that is inadequate if considered within a logical discourse on the emergence and future of life. Evolutionary Theory is better explained and more widely applicable if considered in terms of an Information Network Theory.
External activity
- Member of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (MCSFS)
- National Geographic Society Explorer
- Member of the American Research Center in Egypt
- A member of the Archaeological Institute of America
Publications
Archaeology in Egypt
Silverstein, J.E., Littman, R.J., 2022. Archaeological Correlates of the Rosetta Stone’s Great Revolt in the Nile Delta: Destruction at Tell Timai. Journal of Field Archaeology 1–19.
Silverstein, J.E., Littman, R.J., Bagdi, S.A., Eltalhawy, E.F., Mashaly, H.A., Hassan Mohamed, E., Gabr, M., 2022. A Nilometer from Graeco-Roman Thmouis: Hydrographical, Historical, and Ideo-Political Significance in Hellenistic Egypt. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 35, 56–84.
Littman, R.J., Silverstein, J., Goldsmith, D., Coughlin, S., Mashaly, H., 2021. Eau de Cleopatra: Mendesian Perfume and Tell Timai. Near Eastern Archaeology 84, 216–229.
Lorenzon, M., Chapman, S., Littman, R., Silverstein, J., 2013. 3D modeling and mud brick conservation at Tell Timai, Egypt. Presented at the Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies, November 11–13, pp. 1–11.
Lorenzon, M., Nitschke, J., Littman, R.J., Silverstein, J., 2020. Mudbricks, Construction Methods, and Stratigraphic Analysis: A Case Study at Tell Timai (Ancient Thmuis) in the Egyptian Delta. American Journal of Archaeology 124, 105.
Other Archaeology
Silverstein, J., 2017. This Land Is My Land: Identity and Conflict on the Western Frontier of the Aztec Empire, in: Frontiers of Colonialism. pp. 293–324.
Silverstein, J., 2001. Aztec Imperialism at Oztuma, Guerrero: Aztec—Chontal relations during the Late Postclassic and Early Colonial period. Ancient Mesoamerica 12, 31–48.
Silverstein, J., 2000. A Study of The Late Postclassic Aztec-Tarascan Frontier In Northern Guerrero, México: The Oztuma-Cutzamala Project (PhD). The Pennsylvania State University, State College.
Silverstein, J.E., Webster, D., Martinez, H., Soto, A., 2009. Rethinking the Great Earthwork of Tikal: A Hydraulic Hypothesis for the Classic Maya Polity. Ancient Mesoam 20, 45–58.
Connell, S., Silverstein, J., 2008. From Laos to Mesoamerica: Battlegrounds between Superpowers, in: Arkush, E.N., Allen, M.W. (Eds.), The Archaeology of Warfare: Prehistories of Raiding and Conquest. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL, pp. 394–433.
Medina Jaen, M., Peñaflores Ramirez, N., Silverstein, J., 2017. 28: The Ancient Hydraulic Catchment Systems of the Tepeaca-Acatzingo Archaeological Zone, Puebla, Mexico, in: Angelakis, A.N. (Ed.), Underground Aqueducts Handbook. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business, Boca Raton, pp. 475–487.
Forensic Investigations
Silverstein, J.E., 2023. The case of Pfc. Charles McAllister: The identification of an American First World War MIA. Human Remains and Violence 9, 70–90. https://doi.org/10.7227/HRV.9.1.5
Silverstein, J., 2007. Hill 209: The Last Stand of Operation Manchu, Korea, in: Scott, D., Babits, L., Haeckere, C. (Eds.), Fields of Conflict: Battlefield Archaeology from the Roman Empire to the Korean War Volume2. Praeger Security International, London, pp. 417–428.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Elfadaly, A., A. R. Abouarab, M., M. El Shabrawy, R.R., Mostafa, W., Wilson, P., Morhange, C., Silverstein, J., Lasaponara, R., 2019. Discovering Potential Settlement Areas Around Archaeological Tells Using the Integration between Historic Topographic Maps, Optical, and Radar Data in the Northern Nile Delta, Egypt. Remote Sensing 11, 3039.
Elfadaly, A., Shams, A.H., Elbehery, W., Elftatry, M., Wafa, O., Hiekl, A.M.A., Wilson, P., Silverstein, J., Abouarab, M.A.R., 2022. Revealing the paleolandscape features around the archaeological sites in the northern Nile Delta of Egypt using radar satellite imagery and GEE platform. Archaeological Prospection arp.1860.
Evolutionary Theory
Silverstein, J., 2021a. Redefining Evolution: Life Beyond the Limits of Neo-Darwinian Theory. Journal of Social Evolution & History.
Silverstein, J., 2021b. Darwinian Dogma, The Selfish Gene, and Thoughts on Post-Genetic Evolutionary Theory. Academia Letters.
Silverstein, J., 2021c. Panevolutionary Theory: Why we are wrong about Darwinian Theory. Academia Letters.
See Also:
Dr Silverstein's research aligns with the following US Goals:
