About Us
What drives our curiosity is the story that a map can tell. Neatline was founded in 2016 by a group of archaeologists looking to escape from academia and find a new way to connect with the past. While based in San Francisco, Neatline does not have a retail storefront, and at any given time team members may be found in Italy, Portugal, or Denmark. That said, if you find yourself in the Bay Area, please do not hesitate to contact us and if we are there we will happily show you our maps.
Michael Jennings
OWNER
Michael Jennings received his Ph.D. with honors in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago. His dissertation — “Beyond the Walls of Jericho: Khirbet al-Mafjar and the Signature Landscapes of the Jericho Plain” — explored the relationship between landscape and settlement in Jericho from the Hasmonean to early Islamic periods. An interest in urbanism and urbanization has led Michael to investigate cities throughout the Mediterranean and Near East. Michael is an expert in both Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and traditional topographic survey and has recently served on the board of the Center for Digital Archaeology at UC Berkeley and the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.
Cecilia Malaguti
HEAD OF RESTORATION
Neatline’s head of restoration and art historical advisor is Cecilia Malaguti. After a background in classical studies at the Universitá di Bologna, Cecilia completed her thesis — “Lo scavo del Podere Chiavichetta (Classe), campagna 2001: analisi e informatizzazione del dato archeologico” — which developed a GIS platform for the mapping of archaeological evidence at the Byzantine port of Ravenna. Cecilia has over twenty years of experience as a field archaeologist, materials expert, and topographer, working at excavations in Italy and throughout the Mediterranean. She has trained as a professional paper restorer and book binder in both Italy and California. Above all, she loves cats.
Kristoffer Damgaard
CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER
Kristoffer Damgaard is Neatline’s Chief Research Officer. He, too, comes from a background in archaeology, having earned his Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) with a dissertation about ports and maritime commercial networks in the early Middle Ages. At Neatline, Kristoffer’s job is primarily to research our acquisitions and to write about his discoveries. A romantic at heart, Kristoffer is deeply fascinated by the voyages of exploration that lie behind the compilation of almost any map. As an archaeologist, he has written extensively on many historical issues, and we feel that he is a master in extracting the hidden (his)stories embedded in a great map. With a background in academia, Kristoffer has been sharing his passion for history with people of all ages for more than twenty years. Kristoffer serves on a range of different boards, including that of the Red Sea Institute for Anthropological Research. He also works as a curator for a large private collection of modern art.
