Arvin Raj Mathur

MSc. Archaeological Science.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

BA Anthropology

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Areas of Research Interest

Indus Tradition (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan): Trade and economy, agriculture, social organization, cuisine, diversity

Umm an-Nar culture (Oman, UAE): Trade and economy, links to South Asia, pottery and cuisines

Organic residue analysis: Food lipids from pottery, GC-MS, isotopes, GC-Orbitrap, identification of cuisines

Ceramic petrography: identifying patterns of ceramic paste production, thin-section preparation and analysis

Analytical chemistry: separation science, mass spectrometry, lipidomics, natural products, organic geochemistry, food chemistry

Mineralogy: mineralogy and chemistry of clays and ceramic materials, mineral characterization and provenance

Areas of General Interest

The archaeology of Iran and Afghanistan: social organization, pottery use and cuisines in the Helmand Tradition

The archaeology of Central Asia: social organization, state formation, pottery use

The archaeology of northern and Central Europe: organic residue analysis, ceramic vessel use, cuisine in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

The archaeology of the Vinca culture, Serbia: chronology and ceramic production

Biomolecular archaeology: Py-GC-MS applications, paleoproteomics and other applications of organic mass spectrometry to archaeology

Languages and cultures: South Asian languages and cultures

Languages: English (Native), Urdu (fluent), Hindi (fluent), German (fluent), Arabic (upper intermediate), Spanish (basic), Persian (basic)

List of published and non-published works

Domani, Paula, Arvin Raj Mathur and Silvia Amicone. Petrographic and typological study of pottery from Begash, Kazakhstan (in progress).

Amicone, Silvia, Arvin Raj Mathur, Rengasamy Deepthi Pavithra, Neda Mirković-

Marić,, Ivana Pantović, and Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković. “Beneath the surface: exploring variability in pottery paste recipes within Vinča culture, Serbia.” Quaternary International (in press).

Mathur, Arvin. Biomolecular investigations of pottery use and cuisine during Periods 1 and 2 at Harappa, Pakistan. Unpublished MSc. Thesis, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 2020.

“Cuisine and urbanization in the Indus Tradition: preliminary results of organic residue analysis at Harappa.” The Foundations of South Asian Cuisine: Indus Foodways in Urban and Rural Settlements Panel, Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, Oct. 18, 2019.

Desai, Meghna and Arvin Raj Mathur. “Medieval Trade Routes in the Kadapa Basin: A Study of Chitvel Taluka” Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 5 (2017): 343-356.

Favorite part about CSA

Opportunities to meet scholars, weekly talks, South Asian studies courses

Hobbies

Tourism, digital art, yoga, running