Mofta AHMED

(CB)

Aspects of economic stability on the Tarhuna plateau during the Roman period
I am studying the Tarhuna plateau of Northern-West of Libya during the Roman period. The research aims to gain a greater understanding of economic activity, in particular olive oil presses and pottery production, land-use and settlement patterns by using an integrated approach, based on archaeological materials, landscape survey and the GIS data. The study aims to employ some kind of applications of the GIS to examine archaeological site locations, site features, and spatial patterns relationship.

Gala ARGENT

(DL)

Symbolism and ritual practice: The horse in the mountain communities of Southern Siberia in the first millennium BC
This study explores representations of the horse in a variety of archaeological contexts and media, including burials, portable art and rock art.

Stan BERRYMAN

(DL)

Site organisation and function: dynamics of prehistoric settlement along the coast of Northern San Diego County
After nearly 100 years of study, the prehistoric context of coastal southern California is still in its formative stages. This particularly is true along the northern coast of San Diego County. This thesis will question the standing assumption that there is a change from the Archaic Stage to Late Prehistoric Stage that can be identified archaeologically. This question of an Archaic Stage/Late Prehistoric Stage transition will be looked at within a landscape perspective using data derived from intensive archaeological studies of the 125,000 acre MCB Camp Pendleton.

Andrew BIRLEY

(DL)

The nature and function of occupation and activity immediately outside the walls of Roman military bases in northern Britain
The study will focus on the Northern Frontier of Roman Britain, and in particular the material evidence from the sites of Vindolanda, Housesteads, Corbridge and South Shields. Vindolanda will be the primary research site, due to the extensive excavation that has taken place within its extra-mural area.

Melissa EDGAR

(CB)

Status and social reproduction in the Later Iron Age: the deposition of fibulae in Northern France
The objective of my research is to study the changes in social organisation in Northern France during the Later Iron Age (late 4th/early 3rd century BC until approximately 30-20 BC), so that I may determine whether settlement in the region was becoming universally hierarchical. In order to note differences in social organisation, I aim to study the variation in the deposition of fibulae. Previously, studies of fibulae have focused on their presence at oppida and sanctuaries; however, in the later Iron Age they are increasingly present at a wide range of sites. This study intends to look at the variation in the deposition of fibulae at settlements and cemeteries, as well as oppida and sanctuaries.

Julia FARLEY

(CB)

At the edge of empire: the exchange and deposition of Iron Age metalwork in the East Midlands
This project will investigate the social significance of metalwork in the East Midlands, considering the changing nature of production, exchange and deposition as the local economy collided with that of the Classical world towards the end of the Iron Age. In particular, this study will focus on the functions of Iron Age coinage and its role in social, political and economic changes. The distinctive evidence from the East Midlands provides a powerful counterpoint to the strong Roman ties of the well-studied south-east. Drawing these strands together will deepen our understanding of indigenous responses to colonial contact, illuminating the mechanisms of change at the very edge of empire.

Mireya GONZALEZ RODRIGUEZ

(CB)

Death is another country: landscapes of the dead in Fazzan, Libya
My research will target issues related to funerary practices and beliefs of the Late Pastoral and Garamantian societies of the Fazzan, Libya, linked to ideas of cultural identity and ethnicity.

Rod HEIZMANN

(DL)

Hunter-gatherer settlement and land use in the Central Canadian Rockies, AD 800-1800
The Central Canadian Rocky Mountains is a region of rocky peaks and narrow, mainly forested valleys. This study applies hunter-gatherer theories to test models of human utilisation based on ethnographic and archaeological data. The study examines how human groups utilised the region and evaluates human impacts in a mountain ecology.

Matilda HOLMES

(DL)

Food and status in Saxon and Scandinavian burhs
An archaeozoological study of the provisioning of Saxon and Scandinavian burhs and their interaction with the hinterland. This project will also investigate zoning of these proto urban settlements to attempt to understand their role as seats of the elite prior to the Norman Conquest.

Alex KIRKISH

(DL)

Protohistoric cultural adjustments in Native California
I am primarily interested in demonstrating the interplay of settlement patterns, bead exchange systems and European pandemic diseases in protohistoric Native California.

Renata MACDOUGAL

(DL)

The dead kept present: evidence for a continued bond between the living and the dead
Defining the relationship of family members to their deceased in ancient Mesopotamia involves seeking archaeological evidence for funerary ritual as well as care for the dead long after their transformation to etemmu, spirit or ghost. Despite traditional portrayals of this relationship as involving apotropaic ritual in defense from hostile ghosts, modern death studies and ethnographical research suggest remembrance and drawing the deceased family member into current memory to be a more actual occurrence. This study endeavors to clarify the real lasting bond the ancient Mesopotamian family created with their deceased and examine the nature of the evidence for remembrance and ritual associated with incorporating the dead into the living descendant line.

Bruno MEZEC

(DL)

Late Medieval urbanism in Brandenburg
The post reunification period has witnessed a huge increase in urban fieldwork in the new federal German states, but the value of this contract archaeology in terms of understanding urban origins and change is not yet clear. My research will attempt to address this question in relation to Brandenburg and in particular to a selection of eleven 'lesser towns' in west Lower Lausatia. It will primarily be concerned with characterising excavation reports in terms of accuracy, honesty, historic relevance, competence etc., and explore the consequences of institutional structures and operational practice on data status, particularly in relation to espoused aims (urban origins and change).

David MOGAN

(DL)

Transylvanian Saxon Fortified Churches from the 13th to the 16th Centuries. The history and archaeology of the Saxon Rural Church in Romania: roles and identities
My doctoral thesis concentrates on placing the Saxon Fortified Church of Transylvania in their rural context from the 13th to the 16th Century, using the counties of Sibiu and Brasov containing some 162 and 73 specific Saxon settlement sites respectively. Selected fortified churches, as specific case studies, will be placed in their landscape and then evaluated with the intent to widen knowledge of the region by investigating the roles and identities of the Saxon Fortified Church.

Phil NEWMAN

(DL)

Tin and copper mining on Dartmoor, Devon (UK) c.1700-1914: an archaeological and historical survey
An investigation into change and the development of metal mines on Dartmoor, Devon, UK, in the period after AD 1700, following the development of underground mining. The research examines the changes to technology which are evident through archaeological evidence, as well as perceptual attitudes towards the landscape and its mineralogical potential, in the context of its mining traditions, as derived from contemporary texts.

Kate NICHOLSON

(CB)

The archaeobotanical evidence for Iron Age and Roman arable practice in East Anglia
Agricultural production (arable and pastoral) was the occupation of the majority of the population throughout the Iron Age and Roman period. Because of its centrality to everyday practice and subsistence needs, it was also the economic base of British societies in these periods and a major factor in their social and political organisation. Any variation in crop species, crop processing, growing environment or cultivation practice will be interpreted with reference to the wider archaeological record of the region.

Holly PARTON

(DL) 

The mills of Olymbos: economic and social change within a traditional community
My research is based in the village of Olymbos on the island of Karpathos in Greece. I am looking at all the different types of milling that used to take place in the past; timeframe last two hundred years and earlier where records permit. I am carrying out a study of the windmills, watermills, olivemills, handmills, diesel mills and electric mills. I am concentrating mainly on the production of flour, but also olive oil. My main aim is to examine what role all these mills played in the social and economic fabric of the society in the past. I am also looking at when and why they stopped working and what role they play today as the village has more tourists who are attracted by the preservation of many old traditions.

Paige PEYTON

(DL)

Ghost towns of the American West: common and unique factors contributing to their failure
This research focuses on ghost towns of the American West. The research will analyse why late 19th/early 20th century pioneer communities either survived or collapsed. The primary site investigated will be Newhouse, a small mining community in southwestern Utah, that was very active for about 20 years. In 1920, the town essentially vanished. Research will include a comparison of Newhouse with similar communities in the region.

Nick RAY

(CB)

Beyond Pompeii: market and consumption in an ancient economy
My work focuses on patterns of private consumption behaviour evidenced through material culture at the household level in Pompeii. Using concepts grounded in recent economic terms, questions can be asked of existing archaeological data regarding what was consumed in the ancient world, enabling subsequent application to wider economic issues.

Margo SCHWARDEN

(DL)

Landscapes of maritime complexity: prehistoric shell work sites of the Ten Thousand Islands, Florida
My work focuses on prehistoric shell midden island sites located within the Ten Thousand Islands, Florida. These sites include massive shell mound complexes, called shell work sites, that comprise some of the largest and most complicated prehistoric shell constructions in the world. This thesis aims to define the archaeological characteristics of shell work sites within the Ten Thousand Islands region, including their spatial patterns, function, geographic extent, and temporal affiliation.

Gavin SPEED

(CB)

Towns in the dark? Archaeologies of urbanism from late Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England
Did towns fail after Rome in Britain? Were these ruinous shells really neglected by Early Saxon settlers and leaders? Certainly, the traditional view of urban decline and desertion needs serious and through reassessment, since increasing archaeological evidence now indicates levels of continued occupation, with major changes in the use of urban space. By using selected case studies across England, the research builds upon my professional and academic experience, to explore, question, and analyse, the locations and usage of urban space during this dramatic period of change.

Martin STERRY

(CB)

Evolving States? Identity and social change in the landscapes of central Adriatic Italy: 5th-1st centuries BC
My research centres on the examination and re-analysis of populations and settlements in a crucial period of change in central east Italy with the emergence of states and the expansion of Roman imperial power. In particular, I seek to consider the interactions that people had with different places and groups, in terms of farming, movement, religion (beliefs and burial) and exchange. Central to this approach is studying the inherent variability in the data in terms of the pottery forms, fabrics, relationships and associations found in and between survey scatters, which will enable me to present properly intimate images of peoples in their contexts.

Beverley STRAUBE

(DL)

Surprises from the soil: unexpected objects from Jamestown and what they reveal about life in England’s first colony
This study will use the vast quantity of closely dated artifacts from recent excavations of James Fort in Jamestown, Virginia, to elucidate aspects of life in the early colony that are not fully understood by the historical documents. Three thematic groupings of material culture - economics, religion and exotica - will be considered within the social and cultural context of Jamestown and in comparison with evidence from other early New World sites and contemporary sites in England and Ireland.

Patricia TINKLER

(CB) 

Medieval ceramics in the East Midlands: questions of production and distribution, with special reference to the kilns and pottery of Burley Hill, Quarndon, Derbyshire
My research aims to produce a database of all of the recorded medieval kilns in the East Midlands, AD 1100-1500, and consider aspects of  pottery production including working skills and practices. It will go on to look in detail at the distribution of selected wares, their transport and trading.

Andy TULLETT

(CB)

Community - finding the middle ground in studies of later prehistoric social organisation
Later prehistory is currently juxtaposed between micro narratives of the household, studying settlements and meta narratives of power based upon bronze exchange or hillforts. Whilst it would be fair to say that theories based upon the household are in the ascendant, they restrict our ability to explain broader social changes or the large-scale development of the landscape during this time. This study focuses on social interaction in central southern England from the Middle Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age. Utilising community studies and social networking theory it explores how social interaction lead to the key landscape features: field systems, linear earthworks, middens and hilltop enclosures.

Stephanie VANN

(CB)

Development and application of a methodology for recording animal palaeopathological data
In recent years the impact of animal disease on human societies has had an extremely high profile, with the spread of diseases such as BSE and foot and mouth amongst animal populations, as well as the transmission of diseases such as HIV, Ebola and SARS from animal to human populations. The social and economic impact of such illnesses has been profound. It is the intent of this project to design, develop and implement a methodology to better understand the impact of animal disease.

Robert WANNER

(CB) 

Communities in Northwest Transylvania from the First through Fifth Centuries
My research attempts to re-synthesise and study settlement data from an important frontier zone in present Salaj and Cluj counties, and investigate human relationships, interaction and change over the course of five centuries. By doing this I hope to identify some of the effects that fortification and urbanisation of North-west Transylvania had on existing communities and the landscape; to identify relationships which end, begin, and cross the frontier zone; and to initiate a more balanced approach to studying the effect of the Roman Empire in this area.

Ian WEST

(CB)

Light satanic mills? The impact of artificial lighting in early factories
The changes brought by lessening man's dependence on daylight have been largely ignored by historians and archaeologists. This project examines the physical and social effects resulting from the introduction of artificial lighting into factories in the early 19th century.

Jack WILLIAMS

(DL) 

The ethics of archaeologists embedded in military structures during armed conflict
Archaeology is no stranger to human conflict. For example, Greek and Roman warfare often resulted in the sacking of cities, with all property (public, private, temple) being taken as booty and the population exterminated (men killed, women and children sold into slavery etc.). Aside from the personal danger risked by an archaeologist in a hostile region, archaeologists may be thrust into deep and divisive cultural embattlements. The goal of my research is to develop a conceptual and pragmatic virtue-based ethical construct that may guide an archaeologist and archaeology policy through the thicket raised by modern human conflict.

Mumtaz YATOO

(DL)

Spread of early historic cultures in North West Baramulla: settlement pattern and material culture
My thesis is an investigation of settlement history in the Baramulla district of Kashmir in India. Previous study has shown a potential chronological gap in its archaeological record. This chronological gap is Iron Age which spans the period 1000 BC to 100 AD in the region. The aim of this research project is to determine whether this gap in settlement is a real or apparent phenomenon, and in doing so, consider issues of continuity and discontinuity.

Muhammad ZAHIR

(CB) 

The Gandharan Grave Culture of North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan: the people and their identities through material culture
The Gandhara Grave Culture (GGC) in North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan remains largely unknown and unexplored. GGC sites have been mostly recorded in the valleys of Peshawar, Swat and Dir, District Chitral, and Mohmand and Bajaur Tribal Agencies. It is dated from 16th to 2nd century BC. Past studies have identified the people of GGC, mainly with invading and migrating people.The objective of my PhD research is to test the existing models of identities of these people through the re-examination and analysis of the material culture and come up with new models of identities of GGC people.