Soil Science & Geomorphology

Mathias Bellat

Address:

Eberhard Karls University Tübingen
Soil Science and Geomorphology
Rümelinstraße 19-23
D-72070 Tübingen

Office: Westbau W302

Contact:

+49(0)7071-29-74-081

mathias.bellatspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de

Consulting hours:

by arrangement

Function: Doctoral student

ResearchGate:      ORCID:     Academia: https://uni-tuebingen.academia.edu/MathiasBellat

Research Topics:

  • Archaeological sciences
  • Machine Learning in Archaeology
  • Geoarchaeology
  • Remote sensing
  • NIR-MIR for soil sciences
  • Micromorphology in archaeology

Regions:

  • Iraqi Kurdistan
  • Southern Caucasus
  • Yvelines (France)

Projects: 

  • ANR project: ARABIANCAIRNS. An integrated approach to protohistoric monumental tombs in the Arabian Peninsula.
  • SFB 1070 ResourceCultures, phase 3, “B07 - A hunt for raw materials? Spatial Models in the Resource Cultures of the Northern Mesopotamian Periphery?
  • ANR-DFG project: From Kura-Araxes to Early Kurgans. Tracing 3rd millennium social and cultural changes in the Kura river valley (Georgia and Azerbaijan). Environment, food, chronology

CV:
27th July 1998 in Paris (France)

Work Experience:

Since 09/2021PhD. student at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany
Since 2019Director of archaeological excavation at "Prieuré des Moulineaux", Yvelines, France

Education:

Since 09/2021PhD. student at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany
2019 - 2021Studies Of Ecology Biodiversity and Evolution [M.Sc.], Speciality Quaternary, Prehistory and Bioarchaeology at Museum National d’Histoire Naturel (France)
Master-Thesis : “The micromorphology contribution to the study of construction technics and their diffusion during Neolithic, the case of Mentesh Tepe (Middle Kura valley, Azerbaijan)”
09/2020 -  03/2021Erasmus at Frei Universität Berlin in the Ancient Near East Studies Department, Berlin, Germany
2016 - 2019Studies of Geography [B.Sc.] at Sorbonne University (France)
2016 - 2019Studies of Archaeology and Art History [B.Sc.] at Sorbonne University (France)

Internships:
02/2020 to 06/2020: Micromorphology at AgroParisTech, INRAP, Dr. Cécilia Cammas, Thiverval-Grignon, France.

Memberships:

Field Experience:

  • MPKI mission, Piramagroon Suleyemaniah, Kurdistan, Iraq (archaeological and geomorphological survey), since 2025
  • Selevani plain, Kurdistan Iraq (Soil survey) since 2022
  • Prieuré des Moulineaux, France (Archaeological Excavation) 2019 - 2023
  • Qaraçinar Azerbaijan (Archaeological Excavation) 2021 - 2022
  • Kütltepe Azerbaijan (Archaeological excavation and survey) 2021
  • Dinard, France (Costal geography) 2019
  • Argos, Greece (Geoarchaeological prospect) 2019
  • Orange, France (Archaeological Excavation) 2018
  • Bessan, France (Archaeological Excavation) 2017 - 2018
  • Murviel-Lèz-Montpellier, France (Archaeological Excavation) 2018
  • Olonzac, France (Archaeological Excavation) 2017

Teaching (since 2022):

M.Sc.

  • Exercises: "Soils and Geomorphology" (GEO 77)

B.Sc.

  • Exercises: "Geography of the environment, Geosystem (Sorbonne University)".
  • Exercises: "Introduction to R (GEO25)".

Supervision

  • M.Sc. Thibaut Guiet, together with T., Beuzen-Waller (Perpigan, France) on "Où sont situées les nécropoles de la période Hafit en Arabie ? Apport de la géomatique pour l'identification de modes d'occupation du territoire à l'échelle régionale", (2023-2025).
  • M.Sc. Edward C. Leland, together with M., Bartelheim, T., Scholten (Tübingen, Germany) on "Computational Answers to Theoretical Debates, A MaxEnt Framework for Addressing Argaric Assumptions", (2023-2024).
  • M.Sc. Annaelle Genneret, together with V. Capazzoli and A. Nissen, in Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris, France) on "Traces médiévales et moderne du bâti au prieuré des Moulineaux", (2021 - 2022)

Formation

  • Thin sections fabrication for doctoral and PostDoc students (OMEA, Lyon), (2023)

Publications

2025

2025:

  • Bellat, M., Zebari, M., Glissman, B., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Kakhani, N., Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi, R., Kohsravani, P., Brifany, B., Pfälzner, P., & Scholten, T. (2025). Soil information and soil property maps for the Kurdistan region, Dohuk governorate (Iraq). Earth System Science Data. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-418

  • Bellat, M., Zebari, M., Glissmann, B., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Kakhani, N., Kohsravani, P., Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi, R., Brifkany, B., Pfälzner, P., & Scholten, T. (2025). Soil information in Kurdistan region, Dohuk governorate (Iraq) (Version 1.1.0) [Data set]. University of Tübingen. https://doi.org/10.57754/FDAT.e2k10-sf01

  • Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., Brifkany, B., & Scholten, T. (2025). Digital soil mapping predicted on mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy measurements in North-Western Kurdistan region, Iraq (netCDF and GeoTIFF files) V2.0 (p. 28 data points) [Text/tab-separated-values]. PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.984082

  •  Bellat, M., Hatton, A., & Orellana Figueroa, J. D. (2025). Humans, are you there? Comparative approach of two distinguishable methods for human installation detection: Automatic structure detection and archaeological predictive models. CAA 52nd: Digital Horizon (CAA2025). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17095617

 

2024

2024: 

  • Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., Brifkany, B., & Scholten, T. (2024). Soil bulk density and soil depth from on-site observations in the North-Western Kurdistan region, Iraq (p. 363 data points) [Text/tab-separated-values]. PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.973714
     
  • Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., Brifkany, B., & Scholten, T. (2024). Soil properties in the North-Western Kurdistan region, Iraq, derived from laboratory measurements (p. 2636 data points) [Text/tab-separated-values]. PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.973701
     
  • Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., Brifkany, B., & Scholten, T. (2024). Soil properties predicted on mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy measurements in North-Western Kurdistan region, Iraq (p. 585944 data points) [Text/tab-separated-values]. PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.973700

  • Bellat, M., Tennie, C., Jonathan. S. Reeves, Figueroa, J. D. O., Scholten, T., & Ruhollah Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi. (2024). Supplementary Information for Machine Learning Applications in Archaeological Practices: A Review [Data set]. OSF. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/RUPGY

     

2023

2023:

  • Bellat, M., Baudouin, E., Cammas, C., Lyonnet, B. (2023): New insights into the Neolithic architecture of the Southern Caucasus: A micromorphological case-study from Mentesh Tepe (middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan). In: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Jg. 49, S. 103971. doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103971

Conference Contributions and Proceedings:

2025

  • Bellat, M. (2025): Paleosol models with machine learning approach: study in Iraqi Kurdistan and soils influence on settlement patterns from 3000 to 500 B.C., Modeling the Past to Anticipate the Future, Paris 04 - 05 December 2025 [Talk].

  • Bellat, M., Beuzen-Waller, T., Forti, L. (2025): Geoarcheology in Southwest Asia: specificities, current applications and perspectives, ICAANE 2025, Lyon 02 - 06 Juin 2025 [Workshop organiser and talk].

  • Bellat, M., Leland, E., Glissmann, B., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., & Scholten, T. (2025). Soil influence on settlement patterns in Northern Kurdistan region (Iraq): Impact of soil quality indexes and other environmental covariates on archaeological predictive models in a semi-arid environment. CAA 2025 “Digital Horizons”, Athènes, Greece. [Talk].

  • Hatton, A., Bellat, M., Figueroa, J. D. O., Reeves, J. S., Tennie, C., Groucutt, H. S., & Scholten, T. (2025). Humans are you there? Comparative approach of two distinguishable methods for human installation detection: automatic structure detection and archaeological predictive models. CAA 2025 “Digital Horizons”, Athenes, Greece. [Talk].

  • Orellana Figueroa, J., Bellat, M., Reeves, J., Tennie, C., & Scholten, T. (2025). Image Data for Neural Networks: Insights from Existing Archaeology Research. CAA 2025 “Digital Horizons”, Athenes, Greece. [Session chair and talks].

  • Orellana Figueroa, J., Bellat, M., Reeves, J., Taghizadeh, R., Scholten, T., & Tennie, C. (2025). An Overview of Machine Learning Applications in Archaeological Research. Kiel Conference 2025, Kiel, Germany. [Talk].

  • Bellat, M., & Gravier, J. (2025). L’organisation internationale Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology et le chapitre français. CAA-FR, Nanterre (Université Paris Nanterre), France. [Conference organiser and poster].

  • Bellat, M. (2025). Isolé mais pas esseulé: Pratiques individuelles et communautés de pratiquants de L’archéologie computationnelle (apprentissage automatisé). CAA-FR, Nanterre (Université Paris Nanterre), France. [Conference organiser and presentation].

2024

Bellat, M., Taghizadeh, R., Scholten, T.: (2024): Fail and try again: Return on topic modelling apply to archaeological scientific literature, CAA 2024, Auckland 08 - 12 April 2024 [Session chair and poster].

Bellat, M., Scholten, T.: (2024): Automated features detection in archaeology: Standardisation in the area of "big data", CAA 2024, Auckland 08 - 12 April 2024 [Session chair and talk].

2023

Bellat, M., Baudouin, E., Cammas, C. (2023): Cross views on a Neolithic Building occupations levels in the Southern Caucasus: field observations and micromorphological study at Mentesh Type (Azerbaijan). Reading the soil in archaeology: field practice and interdisciplinary perspectives, 29 Nov. – 1 Dec. 2023, Tours, Inrap [Talk].

Bellat, M., Litzenberg, R., Rebentish A., Conard, A., Floss, H., Scholten, T. (2023): ResourceCultures a new tool for understanding the development and expansion of resource uses and access through time, 29th EAA Annual Meeting, Belfast 30 August - 2 September 2023, Session 560, Investigating past human mobilities through natural resources exploitation: latest results and developments [Session co-hoster and talk].

Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Taghizadeh, R., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., Scholten, T. (2023): From site observation to regional interpretation, the influence of multi-scalar approach on soil properties and their archaeological implication: Kurdistan (Iraq), XXI INQUA Congress 2023, 13-20 July 2023 [Talk].

Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Taghizadeh, R., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., Scholten, T. (2023): Can soil information add value for the archaeological predictive model?, ICAANE 2023, Copenhagen 22-26 May 2023, [Talk].

Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Taghizadeh, R., Rentschler, T., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., Scholten, T. (2023): Spatial soil information as a proxy for archaeological predictive modelling in arid regions: the Selevani plain example (Kurdistan, Iraq), CAA 2023, Amsterdam 03 - 06 April 2023 [Poster]

2022

Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Rentschler, T., Schmidt, K., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner, P., Scholten, T. (2022): Unraveling archaeological settlement, landscape, and resource use patterns with machine learning in Kurdistan (Iraq), EGU 2022, Vienna 23-27 May 2022, [Conference talk].

Bellat, M., Glissmann, B., Rentschler T., Sconzo, P., Pfälzner,  P., Scholten, T. (2022): What does matter? Machine Learning models to define archaeological patterns of site occupations and resource use in Kurdistan (Iraq) through a diachronic approach, Q13 International conference, Strasbourg 14 - 18 Mars 2022, [Poster].

2021

Bellat, M., Baudouin, E., Cammas, C. (2021): A Matter of Scale! Field Observations and Micromorphological Analyses on Earthen Materials at Mentesh Tepe (Azerbaijan) in the Neolithic Period, EAA 2021 – Kiel, Session 496, A world of clay I, 10 September 2021 [Talk].