After his studies of Classical Archaeology, Art History and Ancient History in Freiburg, Heidelberg, Cologne and Munich Michael worked as lecturer at different Universities. He was head of the Deutsches Evangelisches Insitut in Jerusalem between 2004-2005 and then became professor in Bern (SUI). Since 2008 Michael is archaeology professor and head of the institute at the University of Cologne. His research focus lies on urbanism, architecture, ancient economy and landscape archaeology. He runs excavations and surveys in Germany, Italy and Israel.