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Department of Archaeology

 
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: Crop Production in the Levant and International Trade Exchange: investigating coprolites and crop plant remains from the 1st millennium CE Negev Highlands and Aravah Valley CroProLITE

Crop Production in the Levant and International Trade Exchange: investigating coprolites and crop plant remains from the 1st millennium CE Negev Highlands and Aravah Valley CroProLITE

This research employs archaeobotanical and biomolecular methods to reconstruct ancient agropastoral change over the first millennium CE in two microregions, the Aravah valley along the southern border of modern Israel-Jordan and the adjacent Negev Highlands. The region witnessed unprecedented agricultural developments during this period, alongside major socio-political, climatic, and environmental changes – including climate change and plague. Rich and well-preserved organic remains from rubbish dumps at nine archaeological sites will provide the basis for this study.


Read more at: FENSCAPES: Archaeology, Natural Heritage and Environmental Change

FENSCAPES: Archaeology, Natural Heritage and Environmental Change

This archaeology-led initiative focuses on the East Anglian Fens, an extraordinary landscape where exceptional preservation of organic artefacts and environmental evidence gives unparalleled insights into the last 5,000 years of communities, resources and habitats.


Read more at: Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments

Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments

The Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments (MAEASaM) project, funded by Arcadia charitable foundation, is documenting and compiling a trans-national inventory of Africa’s rich archaeological heritage, including many previously unidentified sites and monuments. Particular emphasis is being given to mapping and recording sites under threat, whether from urban growth, conflict, sea-level change or infrastructure development, among other adverse impacts.


Read more at: Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia

Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia

The Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia (MAHSA) project, now in its Phase 2, will continue to document the endangered archaeology and cultural heritage of the Indus River Basin and the surrounding areas and publish this information in an Open Access Arches geospatial database. Over the course of Phase 2, the project will expand its scope to include the Ganges River Basin, Baluchistan and the coastal areas of India and Pakistan.


Read more at: Social settlement Dynamics and environmental processes in pre-colonial Nigeria: growing the Igbo-Ukwu cultural landscape

Social settlement Dynamics and environmental processes in pre-colonial Nigeria: growing the Igbo-Ukwu cultural landscape

Igbo-Ukwu is a famous archaeological site in southeastern Nigeria. Excavated by Professor Thurstan Shaw in the 1960s, the site was settled over a thousand years ago. The materials from the site were unlike anything yet found in West Africa at the time. This discovery brought to our consciousness that Igbo-Ukwu represented a prosperous society that had established a complex social structure by the 9th century CE and had significantly interacted with the wider world through interregional and intercontinental exchange and trade.