Mark was the recipient of a 1994-1995 UNESCO/Hirayama International Silk
Roads Post-Doctoral Fellowship. This award has allowed him to start on a
materials characterization study of Sauromatian/Sarmatian glass and metalwork.
These two groups were nomads on the Russian steppes who controlled part
of the Silk Road during the first millennium BC. He traveled to Moscow last
November to work with archaeologists. at the Russian Academy of Science
on this project.
In addition to finishing the above mentioned project, he has received a
Stahl grant to do a metallurgical study of Hellenistic coinage in the Hearst
Museum. This research will be done over the 1995-96 academic year.
Dr. Hall's publications include a co-authored article in Al-Rafidan on Near
Eastern obsidians in the Hearst Museum's collection, an article on Irish
ironworking in Pertia, and a forthcoming article in the Journal of Mediterranean
Archaeology on the ox-hide ingot trade and metallurgical analyses.