About the Site

First of all, thanks for visiting. This site is part adventure story, part expanded CV, part homage to science in archeology, part pedagogical philosophy, part outlet for intellectual passions, and all water love. This site will likely prove most useful to those with an interest in the evolution of the human-hydrologic relationship, healing water cults and water-centric social phenomenon from archaeological and historical contexts, and/or those who would like to know a bit more about Jonathan’s past and current scholarship, his teaching experience and outlook, and his outreach efforts.

Before you bother using any more bandwidth, it is important to make clear that this is a serious website geared towards a scientifically inclined audience. Although water cults and prophetic waters are discussed, Flood’s research is less interested in metaphysical phenomenon and more interested with hard geochemical facts. So before contacting Flood with water cult anecdotes or amazingly entertaining hydrologic hearsay, remember that he explores the realm of water-culture as a scientist—mainly as an aqueous geochemist—and is interested primarily in the proven or provable.

That out of the way, on with the show. If you’re interested in evolutionary trajectory of water management technology, from the earliest known hand-dug wells 12000 years ago to the water recycling system onboard the ISS, check out the Research Tab. Similarly, if you’re interested in how Ancient Greeks and Romans adapted to water quality decline caused by population increase and expansion of impervious surfaces, click the Research Tab. If you’re interested in becoming a teacher at any level, follow the Teaching Tab to read reports from the trenches of an early career professor and the guiding principals that continue to motivate him before each lecture. The Projects Tab will bring you to a descriptive list of archaeological projects, water chemistry labs, universities, and professional communities that make Flood’s scholarship possible. The Sacred Water Tab ferries you to a page of where the chemistry and characteristics of venerated water from Ireland, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, and beyond are explored.

Please feel free to contact Dr. Flood about scholarship, academic partnerships, archaeological projects, laboratory and water collection methodology, watershed outreach, and/or more about teaching. If you’re interested in helping add to the sacred water database, sampling equipment can be shipped to you.

Research

Dr. Flood’s research blends the fields of hydrology and archaeology to better understand the nature and evolution of the human-hydrologic relationship. From investigating Ancient Maya reservoirs to discovering buried rivers in Sicily, Flood’s research reveals how past societies have positiviely and negatively interacted with water resources. His hope is that lessons of the past will inform and influence better water decisions in the present.

Flood founded and co-directs a historical archaeological project that bridges past-and-present in an effort to dispel unfounded negative stereotypes of Appalachia. Flood also currently serves as hydrologist and geoarchaeologist on two major excavations in the Mediterranean (Mochlos & Morgantina). Learn more about how the past flows through his current scholarship.

Teaching

While working at the Greensboro Montessori School in the early 2000s, Jonathan realized the beauty and fulfillment in being an educator. His life changed from that moment onward. Helping others along their paths of self-discovery, instilling respect for all, and exciting a sense of wonder for the natural world are core goals in Jonathan’s pedagogy, whether it’s a lower elementary class or a graduate seminar. Since working with those awesome young folks at the Montessori school, Jonathan has had the honor of being in the inaugural class of Environmental Educators for the NC State Parks, directing archaeological field-schools, instructing undergraduate and graduate-level courses in hydrology and environmental sciences, and participating in numerous STEM outreach events. Find our more about his classes, outreach, and instructional philosophy.

Sacred Water

Long before Mendeleev’s Period Table, societies across the planet held a deep understanding of the unseen characteristics of specific spring, well, lake, and river water they interacted with. A combination of cultural perception and hard chemical reality led some water sources to be venerated as healing or noxious, as transformative or prophetic. With modern analytical geochemistry, Flood is revealing how remarkably sensitive past societies were to even the most subtle differences in water quality. He has collected and analyzed sacred waters from Greece, Turkey, Italy, Ireland, France, Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, the USA, and Canada. Flood is revealing that meaningful interaction with specific water chemistries is a beautifully discerning and transcending human behavior. Find out more and how you can join the adventure.

 Research Overview

Many-a-full-tides ago, a used copy of M.A.’s Meditations informed Jonathan that a person’s worth is no greater than the worth of their ambitions. That simple sentiment from long long ago instilled a commitment to investigate the relationship between humans and water resources they utilize/d in an effort to contribute meaningful scholarship and insight to society. Jonathan’s professional ambition is to contribute meaningfully to our collective understanding of the human-hydrologic relationship.

Human engagement with freshwater resources is at the core of Jonathan’s research. From his earlier published work investigating water management techniques employed by Minoan society on the cusp of their cultural vanguishment to his current endeavors deciphering the elemental chemistry of sacred waters, a deeper look into the pattern of human-hydrologic interaction is consistently forms the cognitive keystone and core aim. What is to be gained by teasing out patterns in human water management, mismanagement, and interaction? The value of looking back at life now past—even on the individual level—is that we become aware of the recurrent behaviors that prevent us from reaching our goals, and conversely are made cognizant of the habits and efforts that yield the most success, happiness, and harmony. Water mishaps of the past are to be learned from, even if forgotten and buried long long ago. Sensitivity to and appreciation for the subtle qualities in a simple cup of spring water is an activity etched into your DNA, even if many in modern America and Europe drink but do not taste.

Projects & Outreach

Greece

The same spell that enchanted Lord Byron, Goethe, Nero, Marcus Aurelius, and Phillip II struck Jonathan in 2004. Since 2005, he has worked on Archaeological Projects in the Hellenic World. From survey work with the Aspendos Project to being the field director of Mochlos Excavations, Jonathan has reveled in the rich realm of the ancient Hellenic Past. He is currently a Science Advisor for the Mochlos Excavations and publishes both the groundstone assemblage as well as the architectural stone of the settlement. Before and after the excavation seasons, Jonathan has traveled the mainland and the Aegean in search of healing waters and associated water-centric human phenomenon.

Sicily

Jonathan’s work in Sicily is primarily focused on the interior Greek town of Morgantina. With the director of the Contrada Agnese Project, Alex Walthall, Flood has investigated the question of how ancient cities adapted to water quality declines associated with population expansion. How did the past inhabitants of Morgantina cope with increasing human and animal waste streams a top the very aquifer they relied on for drinking water? We continue to struggle with this dynamic today. In addition to searching for ancient solutions to modern problems, he has initiated a large-scale project investigating anthropogenic soil loss in the interior of the island and the sweeping changes it caused to the physical hydrology of the island.

Appalachia

The same cycles of colonization, land mismanagement, and ecosystem recovery studied by Flood and colleagues in the Old World and the Maya Lowlands have also played out in Appalachia. Agriculture and deforestation, mining and industry have etched lasting scars into the soilscape and severely impacted water quality. Since 2016, Flood and students have completed numerous projects that directly benefit or enhance ecosystem recovery and mitigate many geochemical problems in the Central Appalachian Region. In 2019, Flood brought together Coal Operators, the BoM, FSU, and the City of Frostburg to formalize an MOU that permanently reroutes all yard-waste to reclaimed mine surfaces in the area to enhance soil development!!!

Teaching

In its marrow, teaching and its apparati—the university to kindergarten—is an endeavor to guide others to discover their own inner gifts and achieve the things they strive for. Sometimes it’s soft-skills, other times it’s an equation or hydrologic software package. And sometimes it’s a big dose of excitement about this living planet, or a cause to care about. Jonathan does not believe that the courses he instructs should be sisyphian tasks nor gauntlets to survive. Ideally the focused time passed in the classroom, lab, or field with student and professor are moments of mutually beneficial growth and synergistic inspiration. His courses are designed to inspire and impart tools needed for students to dig deeper and to search on their own.

Jonathan has worked in Primary, Elementary, Middle School classrooms and has designed and taught 8 different upper-level environmental science classes at the undergraduate and graduate level. He has designed new curriculum for environmental education with the State Parks of North Carolina and continues to seize every opportunity to participate in STEM outreach. Read more under the Teaching Tab.