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Staff Research Interests
Our department consists of many staff with a wide range of research interests. If you're interested in applying for a research degree and want to ensure that you would be able to pursue your interests with the support of world-leading supervision, you can find the details of potential supervisors here.
Name
Research Interests
Dr Kamal Badreshany
Ceramic Analysis, Ceramic Petrography, and the Application of Materials Science in Archaeology
Archaeological Science
Human Interaction and Environmental Impact on Ancient Landscapes
The Social and Economic Development of Early States
Prehistoric Levant
3-D Digital Imaging and Printing
Dr Mary Brooks
Cultural significance of heritage and museums, conservation and conservation’s contribution to the making of meaning
Material Things: Early Modern English Embroidery as Art, Social Practice and Material Culture
Material Things: Innovation, Fibres and War: the Agency of Regenerated Protein Fibres
Educational methodologies for teaching and learning in professional education in heritage and conservation sectors
Sacred material culture, especially vestments and ecclesiastical textiles
Professor Mike Church
Environmental archaeology of the North Atlantic islands including the Western Isles of Scotland, Faroes, Iceland and Greenland
Geochronological applications, specifically radiocarbon dating and tephrochronology, in the North Atlantic islands
Mineral magnetic applications on archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sites
Geomorphology and palaeolimnology in relation to the human / environment interaction in the North Atlantic islands
Archaeobotany of Scotland and the North Atlantic islands
Experimental archaeobotany
UNESCO Professor Robin Coningham
Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage
Later Prehistory and Early Historic archaeology of Southern Asia (from Iran to Myanmar)
Urbanisation
Archaeological visibility of Buddhism
Caste and the development of craft specialisation
Politics, identity and archaeology
International cultural resource management
UNESCO and World Heritage
Post-disaster archaeology
Post-conflict archaeology
Sustainable pilgrimage
Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea Trade
Dr Marta Diaz-Guardamino
Late prehistoric archaeology in western Europe (Neolithic to early Iron Age)
Archaeologies of mobility (people, animals, things, knowledge)
Biographical approaches to landscape, monuments, and material culture
Prehistoric art in Europe
Archaeological visualization (digital imaging, archaeological representation)
Dr Catherine M. Draycott
Art under the Achaemenid Empire
Food and drink economy in Iron Age/Achaemenid/Classical Anatolia, or Achaemenid Empire
Iconographic programmes of fourth century Lycian tombs (requires German)
Iconographic programmes of Thracian painted tombs
Drinking culture in Anatolia
Hellenistic and Roman Lycia (requires German)
Archaic and fifth century BC Crete
The Eastern Mediterranean Basin’s connectivity in the Classical period
Dr Eva Fernandez-Dominguez
Human population genetics (ancient DNA and modern DNA): genetic diversity, migration, kinship
Animal population genetics (ancient DNA and modern DNA): genetic diversity, migration
Technical developments for ancient and forensic DNA work (sampling, extraction, genotyping)
Dr Qian Gao
The inter-relationships between the understanding, use, conservation and management of heritage and museums.
The dynamics between “Eastern” and “Western” heritage expertise in international cooperation.
The integration between “humanistic” and “scientific” approaches in heritage and museum studies.
Social value and authenticity in heritage.
Cultural heritage for inclusive growth in China and beyond.
Community participation in heritage and museums.
UNESCO World Heritage.
Heritage tourism.
Rock art and rock carvings in southwest China.
Dr Daniel Gaudio
Skeletal Trauma Analysis
Forensic Anthropology
Palaeopathology
Taphonomy
Professor Chris Gerrard
Common rights and resources
Historic earthen architecture
The western Atlantic seaboard in the Middle Ages
Medieval disasters and responses
Historic irrigation and water
Landscape archaeology
Medieval artefacts
Archaeological resource management
Templars and Hospitallers
Medieval rural settlement
Dr Rui Gomes Coelho
Historical archaeology
Archaeology of the contemporary past
Colonialism
Decolonisation
Conflict archaeology
Slavery and forced labour
Plantationocene
African diaspora
Politics of heritage
Critical heritage studies
Sensorial archaeology
Decolonial practices
Visual culture
Community archaeology
Professor Rebecca Gowland
Health and demography in the Roman world
The inter-relationship between the physical body and social identity
Skeletal ageing and age as an aspect of social identity
Care and disability in the past
The infant/mother nexus in anthropology and archaeology
Childhood health in the past and present
Human identification in forensic contexts
The history of malaria in England
Dr Pam Graves
Dunbar Scottish Soldiers Project
Medieval and post-medieval urban and religious archaeology
Religious architecture
Religious and urban identities
Window glass
North-east England, Scotland and North Sea rim in the medieval and post-medieval periods
Iconoclasm
Archaeology of the body
Dr Derek Kennet
Islamic archaeology
Arabian archaeology
Sasanian archaeology
Archaeology of Trade and Economy
Early Historic South Asia
Indian Ocean Trade
Chinese Trade Ceramics
Medieval South Asia
Dr Dan Lawrence
Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
Landscape Archaeology
GIS and Remote Sensing
Urbanisation and the emergence of complex societies
Long term human-environment interaction
Professor Anna Leone
Roman and Byzantine pottery
Topography of Rome
Archaeology in North Africa
Roman, Byzantine Sicily
Roman Economy
Late Antique urbanism in North Africa and the near East
Professor Karen Milek
Geoarchaeology, including soil survey, archaeological soil micromorphology, geochemistry, magnetic techniques, and lipid biomarkers
Early medieval period, especially the Viking Age, in: Scandinavia, the North Atlantic Region, NW Siberia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Isle of Man
19th and early 20th century in: Scotland, the North Atlantic Region, and Canada
Excavation and environmental sampling methods
Ground-truthing of remote sensing anomalies, including multi-spectral satellite imagery
Microrefuse analysis
Space syntax analysis in archaeology
Human-environment-animal interactions
Social archaeology of houses, farmsteads, and transhumant/nomadic pastoralist sites
Migrations and invasions and relationships between incomers and indigenous peoples
Impacts of culture contact on material culture, especially residential architecture and objects used in everyday life
Ethnoarchaeology and ethno-historic archaeology, especially to help develop new methodologies for the interpretation of activity areas
Experimental archaeology
Dr Andrew R. Millard
Bayesian statistical methods in archaeology, including dating, isotope analysis and predictive modelling
Developing new approaches to Bayesian chronology building for application to any dating methods
Statistics in human osteology, including age estimation
Chemical and biochemical methods in archaeology
Elemental and isotopic analysis of bones and teeth to investigate diet and migration, including weaning
Bone diagenesis
Chronology of hominid evolution
Professor Janet Montgomery
Isotopic and trace element studies of diet and residential mobility in modern and archaeological humans and animals
Fundamental and developmental aspects of isotope and trace element systems in bone, teeth and the environment
Professor Paul Pettitt
Archaeology of the European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic
The origins and early evolution of human visual culture; Palaeolithic art
Evolutionary thanatology and early evolution of human mortuary activity
Palaeolithic chronometry
Neanderthal extinction and the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition
Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Britain
Dr David Petts
Early medieval Britain, particularly northern England and Scotland
Early medieval Christianity
Early medieval to contemporary maritime cultural landscape
Post-medieval religion, ritual and belief
20th century archaeology
Professor Graham Philip
Archaeology of the Ancient Middle East (Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Cyprus, Israel, Palestinian territories) from the Neolithic to the Iron Age
Artefact studies, especially ceramics and metalwork
Landscape archaeology, including settlement studies and remote sensing
Funerary archaeology
Dr Max Price
Zooarchaeology
Political Economy
Animal Domestication
Complex Societies
Ancient Near East
Human-Animal Relations
Dr Benjamin Roberts
Neolithic, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age archaeology of Britain and western Europe
Origins and early development of metal
Cultural connections spanning Europe, North Africa and Asia c. 5000–500 BC
Archaeology, Museums and Popular Communication
Professor Sarah Semple
Religion, belief and popular practices in pre-Christian and Conversion Period Europe
The archaeology of governance and power in North West Europe
Death and burial in early medieval Britain
Church archaeology and monasticism
Material culture, memory and commemoration
Landscape archaeology
Professor Robin Skeates
Cave archaeology
Archaeological theory
Prehistory of the central Mediterranean
Material culture studies
Artefact studies
Visual culture
Prehistoric art
Museum studies
Archaeological collecting
Heritage studies
Public archaeology
Ethics
Cultural representation
Politics of the past
Sensual culture studies
Professor Mark White
Quaternary studies
Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Britain & Europe
History of Palaeolithic Archaeology
Palaeolithic Stone Tools
Dr Emily Williams
The conservation of waterlogged organics
The impacts of portable fire extinguishers on cultural heritage
African American tombstones and cemeteries
Tombstone carving and production
Deterioration processes in archaeological materials
Disaster response and preparedness
Collections management
Dr Penny Wilson
Egyptian settlement archaeology, especially in the Delta region
Material culture, pottery and artefact studies
Egyptian Late Period to Late Antique history and archaeology
Egyptian Religious practice and hieroglyphic texts
Dr Robert Witcher
Ancient Mediterranean agriculture
Ancient globalisations
Archaeology of pre-Roman and Roman Italy
Archaeology in historical fiction
Archaeological computing
Archaeological publishing
Cultural heritage
Geographical Information Systems
Landscape archaeology - field survey, methods and theories
Mediterranean archaeology
Modelling techniques
Roman economy
Roman frontiers, especially Hadrian’s Wall
Roman rural settlement
Roman urbanism
Dr Ran Zhang
Social and economic development of the historical period of China
Maritime activities in Medieval Eurasia
Analysis methodologies, ceramic chronology, and the application of quantitative methods in archaeology
Chinese archaeology
Value studies in archaeology
Visual culture, fine arts, and art appreciation (ceramics)
Museum artefact studies