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Department of Archaeology

 

Biography

After studying Prehistoric Archaeology and Biology at the Universities of Marburg and Tübingen (Germany), I obtained my doctorate in Archaeological Sciences from the University of Tübingen in 2018. The following year I joined the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow. Until my appointment at Cambridge in January 2024, I continued my postdoctoral research at Oxford on a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship.

Research

My research focuses on various aspects of human-environment interactions, plant-based subsistence strategies and domestication. Besides archaeobotanical research on prehistoric sites in southwest Asia and Europe (mostly Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Age) I employ plant functional ecology to better understand past agro-ecological processes and their link to human subsistence practices and socio-economic dynamics. I also have a strong interest in archaeological and ecological theory related to domestication studies and non-human agency.

Key Publications

Key publications: 

 

2023

Weide, A., Hodgson, J.G., Whitlam, J. et al. Reply to: Can a functional ecological model reliably reveal the nature of early plant management in southwest Asia? Nature Plants

2022

Weide, A., Green, L., Hodgson, J.G., Douché, C., Tengberg, M., Whitlam, J., Dovrat, G., Osem, Y., Bogaard, A. A new functional ecological model reveals the nature of early plant management in southwest Asia. Nature Plants 8, 623–634

2021   

Weide, A. Towards a Socio-Economic Model for Southwest Asian Cereal Domestication, Agronomy 11:2432

Weide, A., Hodgson, J.G., Leschner, H., Dovrat, G., Whitlam, J., Manela, N., Melamed, Y., Osem, Y., Bogaard, A. The association of arable weeds with modern wild cereal habitats: implications for reconstructing the origins of plant cultivation in the Levant. Environmental Archaeology, 1-16

Weide, A., Arranz-Otaegui, A., Schmidt, A.F., Kim, H., Charles, M., Zeidi, M., Darabi, H., Richter, T., Conard, N.J. Identification of the Triticoid type grains from archaeobotanical assemblages in southwest Asia as Heteranthelium piliferum (Banks & Sol.) Hochst. (Poaceae). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 30, 657–674

Bogaard, A., Allaby, R., Arbuckle, B.S., Bendrey, R., Crowley, S. Cucchi, T., Denham, T., Frantz, L., Fuller, D., Gilbert, T., Karlsson, E., Manin, A., Marshall, F., Mueller, N., Peters, J., Stépanoff, C., Weide, A., Larson, G. Reconsidering domestication from a process archaeology perspective, World Archaeology 53, 56–77

2018   

Weide, A., Riehl, S., Zeidi, M., Conard, N.J., A systematic review of wild grass exploitation in relation to emerging cereal cultivation throughout the Epipalaeolithic and aceramic Neolithic of the Fertile Crescent. PLoS ONE 13(1): e0189811

2017   

Weide, A., Riehl, S., Zeidi, M., Conard, N.J., Reconstructing subsistence practices: taphonomic constraints and the interpretation of wild plant remains at aceramic Neolithic Chogha Golan, Iran. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 26, 487–504

2015   

Weide, A., Riehl, S., Zeidi, M., Conard, N.J., Using new morphological criteria to identify domesticated emmer wheat at the aceramic Neolithic site of Chogha Golan (Iran). Journal of Archaeological Science 57, 109–118

Weide, A., On the Identification of Domesticated Emmer Wheat, Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum (Poaceae), in the Aceramic Neolithic of the Fertile Crescent. Archäologische Informationen 38, 381–42

 

Other publications: 

 

2023   

Hodgson, J., et al. A Functional Trait Database of Arable Weeds from Eurasia and North Africa. University of Oxford.

Whitlam, J., Weide, A. Introduction to the special issue on ‘Plant use and management during the emergence of farming in Southwest Asia: recent insights and new approaches’. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 32, 431–434

2020   

Hald, J., Marinova, E., Weide, A., Seeblick garantiert: Eine Ackerbausiedlung am westlichen Bodensee aus dem 5. Jahrtausend v.Chr. (“A farmer’s village from the 5th millenium BCE”). Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg 4, 241–244

Müller-Karpe, A., Müller-Karpe, V., Süssenguth, R., Weide, A., Untersuchungen in Kayalıpınar 2019 (“Excavations at Kayalıpınar 2019“). Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orientgesellschaft 152, 191-236

2014   

Weide, A., Die ältere Hallstattzeit im „Marburger Raum“ – Bericht über Keramikfunde aus einem Grubenkomplex bei Weimar-Niederweimar, Kr. Marburg-Biedenkopf, und ihre regionale sowie überregionale Einordnung (“The early Hallstatt period around Marburg – Reporting a ceramic assemblage from Weimar-Niederweimar and its superregional significance”). Fundberichte aus Hessen 51/52, 105–152

Teaching and Supervisions

Teaching: 

I coordinate the modules Introduction to Archaeological Science (A21) and Archaeobotany (AS6) and contribute to various other courses, including Archaeology in Action (A2), Archaeological Theory and Practice I (A10) and The Past in the Present (A10).

Research supervision: 

I am open to supervise postgraduate students who are interested in questions around past plant use, agriculture, palaeoecology and methodological aspects of plant macro-remain analysis.

Other Professional Activities

Founding member and co-coordinator of the Research Group Early Plant Management and Domestication in Southwest Asia (a subgroup of the IWGP – International Work Group on Palaeoethnobotany)

Co-editor of special issues on topics including early plant management, domestication, and biodiversity in the journals Vegetation History and Archaeobotany and Archaeometry.

Job Titles

Assistant Professor in Environmental Archaeology

General Info

Takes PhD students
Not available for consultancy
Research Expertise / Fields of study: 
Socio-Politics of the Past
Archaeological Theory
Computational and Quantitative Archaeology
Cultural Evolution
Field Methods
Environmental Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, and Landscape studies
Archaeobotany

Contact Details

Department of Archaeology, West Building, Room 1.3
Office phone: 01223 (3)33533

Affiliations

Subjects: 
Archaeological Science
Archaeology
Themes: 
Science, Technology and Innovation
Environment, Landscapes and Settlement
Geographical areas: 
Europe
Mediterranean
Mesopotamia and the Near East
Middle East / North Africa
Periods of interest: 
Copper/Bronze Age
Iron Age
Neolithic
Other Prehistory