People
Preston Thor Miracle
University Senior Lecturer
Office: 1.5, West Building.
Phone: +44 (0) 1223 333532
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 333503
Email: ptm21@cam.ac.uk
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Current Research Interests
My field and laboratory research in recent years has centred on five major themes. The first is human strategies and agency in the context of environmental and social changes from the end of the last ice age through the spread of farming in Southern Europe; this has been the focus of fieldwork in Istria, Croatia. The Pupicina cave project involved examining the nature and tempo of environmental changes across the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary, the timing and nature of human (re)colonization of the area, the social contexts of these changes, and the spread/adoption of food production. We have excavated over a dozen sites from nearly 50 prehistoric sites identified in survey; analyses have involved about 20 scholars.
A second theme is the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic body; this research is being conducted as part of the five-year, Cambridge-based, Leverhulme-funded project on Changing beliefs about the human body. This project includes a new synthesis of the emergence of the constructed body with the `Human Revolution', and the detailed analysis of body treatment and embodiment in three diachronic case studies: Natufian–PPNB, southern Scandinavia, Danube Gorges.
A third theme is Neandertal subsistence practices as revealed through zooarchaeological analyses. This zooarchaeological work has focussed on key Mousterian sites from Croatia, of which the most prominent is Krapina. Krapina has been central to discussions of morphological variability in Neandertals, their mortuary behaviour, and `cannibalism'. In my recent monograph on the faunal remains from the site, I focus on the competence of Neandertals in food procurement (including rhino hunting) as well as their behavioural flexibility.
The fourth theme is the social contexts of food preparation and consumption. This theme was relatively neglected by archaeologists until recently; I have approached it through zooarchaeology—specifically feasting in the Mesolithic.
The fifth theme is Palaeolithic art.
Current Research Projects
Reports on Recent Research Projects
Palaeolithic of Northern Bosnia, Joint Research Project with the Institute for Protection of Cultural-Historical and Natural Heritage of Republic of Srpska and Museum of the Republic of Srpska. Survey and testing of Palaeolithic sites (2006–) Excavations at Vela spila, Croatia. Joint Research Project with the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Cultural Centre of Vela Luka, Croatia (2010–)
Completed field research
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Settlement of the Northern Adriatic Region of Croatia. Joint Research Project with the Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula and Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences. (2003–2005). Pupicina Cave Project. Joint Research Project with the Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula and Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (2001–2002). Dynamic Environments and Hunter-Gatherer Strategies in the Late-Glacial Northern Adriatic Basin. Joint Research Project with the Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula, Institute of Anthropology, Zagreb University, and Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999–2000). Changing Paleoenvironments and Epipaleolithic Adaptations in the Northern Adriatic Basin. (1995–1998). Joint Research Project with the Department of Archaeology, Zagreb University, Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula and Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Current laboratory research
Analysis of faunal remains from Vela Spila, Korcula Island, Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic cave site in Dalmatia, Croatia. Analysis of faunal remains from Vindija Cave, Croatia. Analysis of faunal remains from Romuladova Cave, Croatia. Analysis of faunal remains from Mujina pecina, Middle Palaeolithic cave site in Dalmatia, Croatia. Analysis of faunal remains from Palaeolithic to Iron Age sites in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Fieldwork in 2009-2010
From 2010-11
Preston Miracle continued with ongoing projects
in the Balkans. In Bosnia-Herzegovina he directed
a second season of excavations at Rastuša Cave
in July 2011, focusing on the Middle Palaeolithic
layers. In Croatia he returned to the site of Vela Spila
on Korčula Island for a second excavation season
in September 2011 with the support of the British
Academy. Cambridge graduands and students are
well represented on the team and include: Becky
Farbstein, Christopher Stimpson and Cynthia Larbey.
This seasons work focused on two big transitions
- the PleistoceneHolocene (documented in one
trench) and the Mesolithic-Neolithic (documented
now in all three trenches). The 20102011 field
seasons will make an important contribution to our
knowledge of Mesolithic adaptations and the nature
and pace of the transition to farming in the region.
Fieldwork in 2010-2011
From 2009-10
Preston Miracle continued with ongoing projects
in the Balkans and India in 2009-2010. In Bosnia-
Herzegovina and with funding from the McDonald
Institute he directed two fieldwork seasons of the
project ‘Prehistoric Landscapes across the Sava’.
This project continues his earlier work in the region
with the important addition of Neolithic-Iron
Age expertise from Marc Vander Linden (Leicester
University) who directed the test-pitting and is
taking responsibility for the Late Prehistoric part
of the project. The spring field season focused
on site survey and test-pitting in the Vrbas Valley,
and provided material for Gary Marriners MPhil
dissertation (McBurney Lab) on geoarchaeology and
landscape change in the region. In the summer field
season the team excavated at Rastuša Cave, revealing
an important sequence of Middle Palaeolithic, Late
Upper Palaeolithic and Copper Age deposits. The
earliest component is associated with many cave
bear remains. In Croatia he returned to the site of
Vela Spila on Korčula Island (Croatia) to start new
excavations with the support of the British Academy.
Cantab graduands and students are well represented
on the team and include: Rachel Ballantyne, Becky
Farbstein, Chris Stimpson, Pia Spry-Marques, Suzie
Pilaar-Birch, Clare Rainsford and four undergraduates.
Work to date (ongoing at the time of writing) has
exposed important Early Bronze Age and Copper
Age deposits; Neolithic and Mesolithic deposits are
visible in the open sections currently being cleaned.
Preston made a third trip to India to finish analyses
of Pleistocene faunas from Cathedral and Charnal
House Caves. He continued with work on Middle and
Upper Palaeolithic faunal assemblages from Vindija,
Veternica and Romualdova Caves, Croatia.

![Preston Miracle [Photo of Preston Miracle]](82-ptm21.jpg)