Professor Dessel specializes in the history and archaeology of the eastern Mediterranean and the ancient Near East. His research focuses on the rise of social complexity, urban-rural dynamics in the Bronze and Iron Ages, and ethnicity in the ancient world. He has participated in excavations in Israel, Turkey, Egypt and North America. He has directed the excavation of two village sites, Tell el-Wawiyat and Tell ‘Ein Zippori, in the Lower Galilee of Israel. Currently, is the co-filed director at the site of Tell Tayinat in Turkey. He recent book, Lahav I. Pottery and Politics The Halif Terrace Site 101 and Egypt in the Fourth Millennium B.C.E. is a study of the Early Bronze Age I ceramic material from the Halif Terrace in Israel. He has also published on Chalcolithic chronology, Chalcolithic cult, the problem of publication in Near Eastern archaeology. He is currently working on vernacular architectural traditions of the Iron Age Levant.