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Department of Archaeology

 
Read more at: ArchBiMod – Agent-Based Modelling to assess the quality and bias of the archaeological record

ArchBiMod – Agent-Based Modelling to assess the quality and bias of the archaeological record

Archaeological data is often biased and incomplete. This is a well-known issue for most archaeologists. Although studies of specific sites and small regions can have this into account, the effect of this problem increases exponentially as archaeologists expand their chronological and geographic frame, and try to answer questions related to general dynamics and broad human processes.


Read more at: Between the Local and the Global: A Multi-scalar Comparative Analysis of Urbanisation in Iron Age Greece, Etruria and Sicily

Between the Local and the Global: A Multi-scalar Comparative Analysis of Urbanisation in Iron Age Greece, Etruria and Sicily

The 10th-5th centuries BCE (the first centuries of the Iron Age) witnessed significant societal transformations across the Mediterranean. Populations grew in many regions, the first genuine economic integration of the basin occurred through maritime interaction and overseas settlement, and, for the first time, communities characterisable as urban and state-like are identifiable from the sea’s eastern littoral (where they had a deeper Bronze Age history) through to its Atlantic border.


Read more at: Globalization, Citizens, and Society in Antiquity: A Comparative Study of Egypt and Ugarit

Globalization, Citizens, and Society in Antiquity: A Comparative Study of Egypt and Ugarit

My project for the McDonald Institute investigates the interplay of institutional authorities, private citizens, localities, and global networks in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 16th-12th centuries BC), the first phase of globalization in world history. Globalization is not only an issue of connectivities and networks, but it also depends on the agency of individuals and social groups at the local level that generate alternative configurations of power, either in concert or in contrast with governments and institutional authorities.


Read more at: MedAfrica Project - Archaeological deep history and dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca.9600-700 BC

MedAfrica Project - Archaeological deep history and dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca.9600-700 BC

This project sets out to produce a comprehensive, problematised synthesis and interpretation of long-term social and economic dynamics along Mediterranean Africa during the Holocene (9600-700 BC).


Read more at: Navigating new economic networks in ancient Egypt

Navigating new economic networks in ancient Egypt

The project seeks to examine the economic and social relationships of ancient Egyptian tomb owners. Drawing upon both textual and archaeological sources, in particular the interplay between them, the project will analyse new quantifiable economic data from private rock-cut tombs during the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1069 BCE) in order to determine the economic impact these funerary monuments had on society. Utilising ‘Social Network Analysis’ the project will qualify the flow of resources that was invested in the building of the tombs.


Read more at: The Cambridge Heritage Science Hub Initiative (CHERISH)

The Cambridge Heritage Science Hub Initiative (CHERISH)

Cambridge is home to world-leading researchers across archaeological science, technical art history and heritage science, based at Department of Archaeology, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the Hamilton Kerr Institute, among others. There are multiple synergies across these institutions in terms of research methodologies, goals and ambitions in the field of technical and scientific investigation of works of art and archaeological objects.


Read more at: Tracking the Roadways Across Iranian Lands: A Geospatial Reconstruction of the Persian Royal Road(s) and the cross-cultural link between East and West during the Achaemenid Era (6th-4th century BCE)

Tracking the Roadways Across Iranian Lands: A Geospatial Reconstruction of the Persian Royal Road(s) and the cross-cultural link between East and West during the Achaemenid Era (6th-4th century BCE)

PersianTRAIL is a research project using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), and historical-archaeological data to reconstruct the Persian Royal Road (PRR), a key infrastructure of the Achaemenid Empire (6th–4th century BCE). The project examines factors like topography, resource distribution, economy, military logistics, and environmental constraints to understand the empire’s strategic planning.


Read more at: Training the next generation of archaeological scientists: Interdisciplinary studies of pre-modern Plasters and Ceramics from the eastern Mediterranean (PlaCe)

Training the next generation of archaeological scientists: Interdisciplinary studies of pre-modern Plasters and Ceramics from the eastern Mediterranean (PlaCe)

The PlaCe network is a high-profile partnership focused on the interdisciplinary study of pre-modern ceramics and plasters. This Innovative Training Network aims at training Early-Stage Researchers to conduct state-of-the-art, science-based research on the technology, use, and provenance of ceramics and plaster, integrating archaeological materials science with biomolecular archaeology. The geographic focus is the Eastern Mediterranean, but we are hoping to push methodological developments of significance in other regions.