Minaret of Jam Archaeological Project: Alison Gascoigne

Dr Alison L. Gascoigne, MJAP Co-Director

I am currently the holder of a British Academy post-doctoral research fellowship at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, working primarily on the archaeology of urbanism in the mediaeval Middle East. I joined MJAP in 2005 and am co-directing the 2007 season with David.

My primary field skill is the study of ceramics, and this is my role within MJAP. Little work has been done in recent times on Central Asian pottery, and I am undertaking a programme of petrographic analysis on some of the material from Jam. In addition, I am involved in the ethno-archaeological work of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation with the modern potters in Istalif, north of Kabul, researching and producing reproduction Timurid tiles. I have also worked as archaeological ceramicist on various projects in Egypt. These include the Old Cairo Groundwater Lowering Project, directed by Peter Sheehan, and the North Kharga Oasis Survey, directed by Dr Corinna Rossi and Dr Salima Ikram.

Photo: M Rugiadi

Afghanistan aside, most of my fieldwork has taken place in Egypt. In 2004, I directed a survey of the site of Tinnis, a mediaeval city and wealthy manufacturing centre, located on a island in Lake Manzala, which was abandoned during the Crusades. The following year, I undertook a survey of Ansina, a large and well preserved monastic town in Middle Egypt. My PhD, completed in 2002, involved surveys at the sites of Edfu, Zawyet al-Sultan and Khirbita. My aim has been to address the fact that many of Egypt’s archaeological sites have not been recorded in even the most basic way, despite the high number of excavations taking place throughout the country.

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