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Department of Archaeology

 

Biography

I obtained a BA in Asian History at the University of Bologna before moving to the UK in 2006 to pursue an MSc in GIS and Spatial Analyses in Archaeology and a PhD in Archaeology at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. After completing my doctorate in 2013, I worked as a Research Associate at UCL and as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellow at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. In 2016, I joined the Department of Archaeology in Cambridge as a McDonald Institute Anniversary Research Fellow. I was subsequently appointed lecturer in Computational Analysis of Long-Term Human Cultural and Biological Dynamics. 

 

Research

My research interest focuses primarily on the application and development of quantitative methods in archaeology and anthropology. I apply these techniques to tackle a variety of research themes, including the study of long-term changes in settlement patterns, the reconstruction of prehistoric population dynamics, and the statistical inference of cultural transmission modes using archaeological data. I am particularly interested in the theoretical and methodological cross-fertilization between biology and archaeology within a cultural evolutionary framework and the interplay between population dynamics, migration, and cultural change.

I am currently the prinicipal investigator of the ERC-funded ENCOUNTER Project.

  • Statistical Inference
  • Cultural Evolution
  • Human settlement and landscape ecology
  • Prehistoric Demography
  • Japanese Prehistory

I am also one of the main developers of rcarbon and creator/developer of the nimbleCarbon and baorista R packages.

Information for Prospective Postgraduate Students

I am interested in supervising and working with PhD students who share similar methodological, theoretical, and contextual questions that I have. Whilst these broadly cover the application and development of quantitative & computational methods, cultural evolutionary research, and Japanese archaeology, I strongly recommend prospective applicants read my profile and outputs and think about specific topics that can be of shared interest. I need to know why you want to work with me specifically and that you are not just interested in having a Cambridge degree. If you are just planning to apply standard statistical and computational methods, I could potentially be part of the advisory team, but you will need to find a primary supervisor to cover the theoretical and contextual aspects of your project. I expect candidates to have a solid background in statistical inference and good computer coding skills in R, Python, or similar. If you are primarily interested in working on Japanese archaeology, I will expect some degree of linguistic proficiency that demonstrates that you are able to read and extract information from publications in Japanese. 

 

 

 

 

Key Publications

Key publications: 

See this my personal webpage for complete list of publications and access to pdf/codes.  

Selected publications

[1] Crema, E.R., (2022). Statistical Inference of Prehistoric Demography from Frequency Distributions of Radiocarbon Dates: A Review and a Guide for the Perplexed. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-022-09559-5
[2] Crema, E.R., Shoda, S., (2021). A Bayesian approach for fitting and comparing demographic growth models of radiocarbon dates: A case study on the Jomon-Yayoi transition in Kyushu (Japan), Plos One, 16(5): e0251695.
[3] Crema, E.R., Kobayashi, K., (2020). A multi-proxy inference of Jōmon population dynamics using bayesian phase models, residential data, and summed probability distribution of 14C dates. Journal of Archaeological Science, 117, 105136.
[4] Crema, E.R., Kandler, A., Shennan, S., (2016) Revealing patterns of cultural transmission from frequency data: equilibrium and non-equilibrium assumptions. Scientific Reports 6, 39122.
[5] Crema E.R. (2014). A simulation model of fission-fusion dynamics and long-term settlement change. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory , 21, 385-404.
[6] Crema, E.R. Kerig, T., Shennan, S. (2014). Culture, Space, and Metapopulation: a simulation-based study for evaluating signals of blending and branching in archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science, 43, 289-298.
[7] Crema E.R. (2013). Cycles of change in Jomon settlement: a case study from Eastern Tokyo Bay. Antiquity, 87, 1169-1181

 

 

 

Teaching and Supervisions

Teaching: 

I am the coordinator of the following courses:

I also occasionally participate in the teaching of the following courses:

  • A2 Archaeology in Action
  • B1 Humans in Biological Perspective
  • G02 Core Archaeology
  • Digital Skills for Dissertation
Research supervision: 

I am currently supervising the following PhD students:

Students with recent PhD Completion

Other Professional Activities

I am an associate editor of the Journal of Archaeological Science and Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology and editorial board member of the Japanese Journal of Archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports and Journal of Open Archaeology Data;

I peer-reviewed for American AntiquityAnimal Behavior, Antiquity; Anthropological and Archaeological Sciences; Current Anthropology; Environmental Archaeology; Frontiers in Digital Archaeology; Humanities and Social Sciences CommunicationsJournal of Anthropological ArchaeologyJournal of Archaeological Science; Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports; Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory; Journal of Quaternary Science​,  Nature CommunicationsNature: Scientific Reports; Nature Human Behaviour, Open Quaternary; Papers of the Institute of Archaeology; PLOS ONE; Proceedings of the Computer Applications in Archaeology ConferenceQuaternary International; Radiocarbon, Science AdvancesTheoretical Population BiologyTrends in Ecology & Evolution; World Archaeology; the National Science Foundation, and edited volumes for Ubiquity Press and Springer.  

Job Titles

Associate Professor in Computational Analysis of Long-Term Human Cultural and Biological Dynamics

General Info

Takes PhD students
Not available for consultancy
Research Expertise / Fields of study: 
Archaeological Theory
Computational and Quantitative Archaeology
Cultural Evolution

Contact Details

Office G.5, Courtyard Building
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Downing Street
erc62 [at] cam.ac.uk
Cambridge
CB2 3ER
01223 (3)39335

Affiliations

Person keywords: 
Cultural Evolution
Statistics
Computer Simulations
Archaeological Theory
Settlement Pattern
Spatial Analysis
Demography
Japanese Prehistory
Origins and Spread of Farming
Subjects: 
Archaeological Science
Archaeology
Biological Anthropology
Themes: 
Science, Technology and Innovation
Human Evolutionary Studies
Geographical areas: 
East Asia
Periods of interest: 
Neolithic
Other Prehistory
Palaeolithic/Mesolithic