Marc, Knight Waelkens (Dutch pronunciation: [mɑr(ə)k ˈʋaːlkəns]; 12 April 1948 – 21 February 2021) was a professor emeritus of archaeology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
After having conducted research in places such as Bonn, Berlin, Washington D.C., Princeton, and Oberlin, Ohio, he went on to teach at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he was promoted to full professor in 1986.
The scale of the operation, covering a territory of 1,800 square kilometers, the duration of the excavations, the multidisciplinary approach, and the use of modern, innovative, and creative research and restoration methods, make this enterprise unique in the world.
In Sagalassos, scientists of several disciplines are set to work, including archaeologists, cartographers, geologists, geomorphologists, archaeozoologists, anthropologists, palaeobotanists, palynologists, ethnographers, and architects.
Indeed, Sagalassos is an archaeological pleasure ground because the site has remained relatively unscathed thanks to the meter-thick layer of sediment that covers it, and to its isolated location that has prevented large-scale ransacking.