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Department of Archaeology

 
Read more at: "Small performances": investigating the typographic punches of John Baskerville (1707-75) through heritage science and practice-based research

"Small performances": investigating the typographic punches of John Baskerville (1707-75) through heritage science and practice-based research

At the intersection among the arts, science, and technology, printing is widely recognised as the invention of the millennium. However, and in spite of a resurgence of traditional typographic methods among artists and craftspeople, letterpress equipment and technology face an uncertain future.


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: Bodies Matter: A Comparative Approach to Colonial Borderlands

Bodies Matter: A Comparative Approach to Colonial Borderlands

‘BODIES MATTER’ focuses on the material culture of bodies (and the self) in colonial borderlands by comparing three frontiers at various periods and geographies: the Spanish Empire’s southern borderland in the Americas in the AD 16th-19th century, the Punic western Mediterranean in the 6th-2nd century BC, and the Islamic-Christian Ethiopian frontier between the AD 10th and 15th century.


Read more at: EHSCAN-Exploring Early Holocene Saharan Cultural Adaptation and Social Networks through socio-ecological inferential modelling

EHSCAN-Exploring Early Holocene Saharan Cultural Adaptation and Social Networks through socio-ecological inferential modelling

EHSCAN is a Horizon-MSCA-2022-PF scheme Fellowship Funded by UKRI and hosted by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. 


Read more at: Kani Shaie Archaeological Project (KSAP)

Kani Shaie Archaeological Project (KSAP)

The Kani Shaie Archaeological Project is a collaboration between the University of Cambridge, the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and the Sulaymaniyah Directorate of Antiquities. Since 2013, the project organises excavations at the site of Kani Shaie near the town of Bazyan in Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan.


Read more at: Landscape Historical Ecology and Archaeology of Ancient Pastoral Societies in Kenya

Landscape Historical Ecology and Archaeology of Ancient Pastoral Societies in Kenya

Around 1,200 years ago, archaeological evidence suggests pre-existing pastoralist societies that had been present in some parts of eastern Africa since c. 5,000 BP experience significant cultural and economic change. Materials signs of these include the uptake of iron smelting technologies, new ceramic styles, and changes in food production. In the following centuries, the region also experienced several significant shifts in climate, alternating between periods of increased rainfall and extended droughts.


Read more at: Reinvigorating Scandinavian Research in African Archaeology

Reinvigorating Scandinavian Research in African Archaeology

As part of the international campaign to salvage sites threatened by construction of the second Aswan High Dam in southern Egypt, coordinated by UNESCO, researchers from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland collaborated on a series of archaeological campaigns between 1960 and 1964. Known as the Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Nubia, or SJE, this work generated a wealth of data and prompt publication of nine major excavation reports.


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: 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.


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