Staff profile

I am currently PDRA on an AHRC-funded project, Co-producing Tolerant Futures through Ancient Identities with Chiara Bonacchi (PI) and Richard Hingley (CI). This is a Follow-On from Iron Age and Roman heritages: exploring ancient identities in modern Britain which I worked on from 2016-19.

Over the last few years I have held various roles within the Department and the Antiquity Journal, and have also worked freelance copy editing for non-English speaking archaeology authors. Recent major copy-editing projects include the edited volumes 'Megaliths of the World' and 'The Rise of Metalwork in Eurasia'.

Prior to that I supported staff in the submission of grant applications; from 2014 to 2015 I worked with Richard Hingley and Rob Witcher on a Follow-On to the Tales of the Frontier Project; and from 2011 to 2013 I provided general research support to Chris Scarre (then HoD).

My own research centres around the use of stone in prehistoric Britain - including megaliths, stone tools and, primarily, rock art, particularly in Cumbria. I edit an informal newsletter, Rock Articles which aims to inspire and connect researchers, heritage managers, and enthusiasts with an interest in British rock art.

Before discovering a love of the past, I completed a degree in Biochemistry at Newcastle University and spent twelve years in pharmaceutical information management. I took up archaeology full-time in 2002, returning to full-time study for an MA (2004) and a PhD (2007) at Durham University. Alongside my doctoral research I worked on the Breaking Through Rock Art Recording project (2004). After my PhD I managed several community-based projects including the Northumberland and Durham Rock Art Project (EH-sponsored) and CSI: Rombalds Moor project in West Yorkshire, helping local people to record rock art for research and conservation, and subsequently, the Rock Art on Mobile Phones project at Newcastle University (ICCS), developing user-driven interpretative content for visitors to rock art sites.

• Megalithic monuments
• Neolithic stone axes
• British rock art
• Rock art recording and management
• Cumbrian prehistory
• Community archaeology
• Heritage management and interpretation
• Landscape archaeology

• Heritage Partnerships
• Prehistoric Worlds

• CSI: Rombalds Moor
• Rock Art on Mobile Phones
• Rock Articles
• Tales of the Frontier

Authored book

• Barnett, T., M. Ritchie & K. Sharpe. (2021). A Song in Stone. Exploring Scotland’s Neolithic Rock Art. Forestry and Land Scotland.
• Sharpe, K., Barnett, T. & Rushton S. (2008). The Prehistoric Rock Art of England: Recording, managing and enjoying our carved heritage. English Heritage, Northumberland County Council and Durham County Council.

Book review

• Sharpe, K. (2021). Vivien Deacon. 2020. The rock-art landscapes of Rombalds Moor, West Yorkshire: standing on holy ground. Oxford: Archaeopress; 978-1-7896-9459-8 ebook £16. Antiquity 95(382): 1091.
• Sharpe, K. (2015). Johan Ling. Elevated rock art: towards a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern Bohuslän, Sweden (Swedish Rock Art Research 2). 2014. Oxford & Havertown (PA): Oxbow. 978-1-78297-762-9. Antiquity 89(347): 1250.
• Sharpe, K. (2012). An animate landscape: rock art and the prehistory of Kilmartin, Argyll, Scotland by Andrew Meirion Jones, Davina Freedman, Blaze O’Connor, Hugo Lamdin Whymark, Richard Tipping and Aaron Watson. Oxford, Oxbow, Windgather Press, 2011. 356 pp, 153 figs listed, incl several b/w and colour photos, more photos unlisted, 55 tables, ISBN 978-1-905119-41-7 pb, £35/ €44. Current Archaeology
• Sharpe, K. (2005). Alfred Gell, Art and Agency: an Anthropological Theory. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998,271 pp., pbk, ISBN 0 19 828014 9). European Journal of Archaeology 7(2): 209-213.

Chapter in book

• Sharpe, K. (2021). Documenting English rock art: a review of the ‘big picture’. In New Light on the Neolithic of Northern England. Hey, G. & Frodsham, P. Oxbow Books. 73.
• Sharpe, K. (2014). Pride and Prejudice. The challenges of conserving and managing rock art in the landscape of Northern England through public participation. In Open-air rock-art conservation and management: state of the art and future perspectives Edited by. Darvill, T. & Fernandes, A.B.F.
• Galani A. Mazel, A. Maxwell, D. & Sharpe, K. (2013). Situating Cultural Technologies Outdoors: Empathy in the Design of Mobile Interpretation of Rock Art in Rural Britain. In Visual Heritage in the Digital Age. 183-204.
• Sharpe, K. (2012). Reading between the grooves. Regional variations in the style and deployment of ‘cup and ring’ marked stones across Britain and Ireland. In Visualising the Neolithic (Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers). Cochrane, A. & Jones, A. M. Oxbow Books. 47-63.
• Galani, A., Maxwell, D., Mazel, A. & Sharpe, K. (2011). Situating Cultural Technologies Outdoors: Designing for Mobile Interpretation of Rock Art in Rural Britain. In Museums and the Web 2011: Proceedings. Trant, J. & Bearman, D. Archives & Museum Informatics: Toronto.
• Sharpe, K. & Watson, A. (2010). Moving images: interpreting the Copt Howe petroglyphs. In Carving a Future for British Rock Art: New Directions for Research, Management and Presentation. Barnett, T. & Sharpe, K. Oxbow Books. 57-64.
• Sharpe. K. (2008). Rock Art and Rough Outs: Exploring the Sacred and Social Dimensions of Prehistoric Carvings in Cumbria. In Art as Metaphor: The Prehistoric Rock-Art of Britain. Nash, G., Mazel, A. & Waddington, C. Archaeopress.
• Sharpe, K. (2007). The Lady of the Lakes: Clare Isobel Fell and the role of local societies for women in archaeology. In Studies in Northern Prehistory. Essays in Memory of Clare Fell. Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Research Series. Cherry, P. Titus Wilson, Kendal.
• Díaz-Andreu, M. & Sharpe, K. (2005). Rock Art and Education: The British Experience. In The Valcamonica Symposiums 2001 and 2002. Rapport fran Riksantikcarieambetat 2004. Bertilsson, U. & McDermott, L. National Heritage Board of Sweden. 6.

Edited book

• Barnett, T. & Sharpe, K. (2010). Carving a Future for British Rock Art: New Directions for Research, Management and Presentation. Oxbow Books.

Journal Article

• Martínez-Sevilla, Francisco, Arqués, Meritxell, Jordana, Xavier, Malgosa, Assumpció, Lozano Rodríguez, José Antonio, Romero, Margarita Sánchez, Sharpe, Kate & Rus, Javier Carrasco (2020). Who painted that? The authorship of Schematic rock art at the Los Machos rockshelter in southern Iberia. Antiquity 94(377): 1133–1151.
• Sharpe, K.E. (2015). Connecting the dots. Cupules and communication in the English Lake District. Expression 9: 109-116.
• Mazel, A., Galani, A., Maxwell, D. & Sharpe, K. (2012). ‘I want to be provoked’ public involvement in the development of the Northumberland ‘Rock Art on Mobile Phones’ project. World Archaeology 44(4): 592-611.
• Barnett, Tertia, Chalmers, Alan, Díaz-Andreu, Margarita, Ellis, Gavin, Longhurst, Pete, Sharpe, Kate & Trinks, Immo (2005). 3D laser scanning for recording and monitoring rock art erosion. International newsletter on rock art 41: 25-29.