News
The next Archaeology research seminar of this term will be held on Thursday 9 February at 5pm in the Sorby Room.
Dr. Paul Pettitt from Sheffield University will be giving the seminar on 'The evolution of hominin mortuary activity from ape to Upper Palaeolithic'.
[07/02/2012]
Registration for the Rags and Riches one day conference is now open
This one day conference at the University of Reading aims to bring together archaeologists, anthropologists and others from related disciplines to discuss current issues of methodology, theory and interpretation of dress and dress accessories. 21 April 2012 Read about the conference
[01/02/2012]
RUined, the University's Archaeology Society first event this year will be a talk by Aleks Pluskowski
Aleks Pluskowski will present 'The Ecology of Crusading: The Environmental Impact of Conquest, Colonisation and Religious Conversion in the Medieval Baltic' which will be about his project in the Baltic. This will be held in Palmer G06 at 5pm with a wine reception and a light buffet afterwards in the Archaeology Atrium. See the project web site.
[25/01/2012]
Two Undergraduate Research Opportunity Programme placements awarded to Archaeological projects
The two placements are for the projects 'The ecology of crusading: isotype analysis and faunal remains' and 'Silchester excavation visitor survey'.
Placements are open to undergraduate students who will be entering their final year of study in October 2012. Find out more on the UROP web site.
[25/01/2012]
Application for the Silchester Field School is now open
The excavations will take place between 2 July and 12 August and is open to all. Read about the Field School
[04/01/2012]
Leslie Rimell (BA Archaeology) celebrates academic success in the 2011 Chancellor's Awards.
The event, hosted by Chancellor Sir John Madejski, celebrated those students who achieved the highest results in their subject at the end of either their first or second year of study. Read the press release
[14/12/2011]
Archaeology research seminar Thursday 8 December at 17:00 in the Sorby Room, Wager Building
Dr Rob Batchelor (University of Reading) will speak on the topic 'Secrets of the Gardens: findings from a new Roman site along London's Walbrook Valley'. All are welcome Download the flyer (PDF 126KB)
[07/12/2011]
Professor Mike Fulford has been awarded a 0.5M Leverhulme grant spread over 4 years for Evaluation of PPG16 grey literature and the rural settlement of Roman Britain
The grant will fund 3 fulltime post-docs at Reading and two part-time RAs with the Co-I, Professor Julian Richards, at York. The grant also involves a collaboration with industry, The Cotswold Archaeological Trust and its CE, our Visiting Research Fellow Neil Holbrook, which will attract further funding from English Heritage towards the project.
PPG 16 (Planning Policy 16), implemented in 1990, embedded the principle of developers paying for the mitigation of any damage, or loss to the archaeological heritage, that might result from their proposals by means of preservation by record. As a consequence, a great deal of excavation has been carried out on the archaeology of Roman Britain, particularly on the rural settlement of England, but the majority of that work has not been published (the grey literature) and is archived in local authority Historic Environment Records. The aim of the Leverhulme project is to research both unpublished and published sources to write a new account of the rural settlement of Roman Britain. The results will be published on an interactive web-site in collaboration with the Archaeology Data Service, University of York and in a book-length study. Read about Mike
[07/12/2011]
Hella Eckardt has been awarded an AHRC Follow-on-Funding grant worth 62k for a 10 month project to develop the impact of a recent AHRC-funded research project (Diasporas in Roman Britain 2007-2009).
The original research showed significant mobility and diversity amongst Romano-British urban populations, suggesting that up to a third of sampled individuals were not 'local'. It also demonstrated that women and children migrated; this is in contrast to the popular perception that it is mainly adult males (soldiers and administrators) who moved across the Roman Empire.
This Follow-on-Funding project will promote these findings to children aged 7-14 as well as their teachers and parents through a website and educational materials, working with the Runnymede Trust (a race equality charity), a childrens author (Caroline Lawrence) and a visual artist (Aaron Watson. Read more about Diaspora Communities in Roman Britain
[30/11/2011]
Archaeology research seminar 1 December 17:00 in the Sorby Room
Dr Melinda Zeder from Smithsonian Museum will present 'New perspectives on Near Eastern agricultural origins'
[30/11/2011]
Archaeology research seminar Monday 14 November 17:00 in the Sorby Room.
Dr Julio Escalona of CSICUCL will speak on the topic 'The recording of boundaries in early medieval Castile' See the flyer
[10/11/2011]
Archaeology research seminar this week: Thursday 10 November 17:00 in the Sorby Room.
Speaker: Dr Peter Guest, Cardiff, title: Excavations at Caerleon.
[08/11/2011]
Professor Richard Bradley to deliver a prestigious lecture at the British Academy - Wednesday 9 November 2011, 6.00pm to 7.15pm
Richard Bradley will deliver the Albert Reckitt Archaeological Lecture lecture entitled 'The Idea of Order: Circular Architecture in Prehistoric Europe'. Open to all. Read about the lecture.
[27/10/2011]
Double Dissertation Prize Success for Archaeology Graduates
Congratulations to two of Archaeology's recent graduates who were awarded prestigious dissertation prizes last week.
Nicola Bray (BA Archaeology 2011) won the inaugural Dissertation Prize of the Prehistoric Society for her dissertation 'The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption and hominin interaction at the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition'. Benn Penny-Mason (BSc Archaeology 2011) was awarded the Association for Environmental Archaeology's John Evans Prize for his dissertation 'Evaluating the application of faecal pollen analysis to archaeological and forensic science: an experimental approach'. Benn had previously won the departmental Prize for Best Undergraduate Dissertation.
[25/10/2011]
Archaeology research seminar - Thursday 20 October
Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (Director of the Herculaneum Conservation Project) will speak on the topic 'Herculaneum: between conservation and archaeology' at 5pm in Room 27, HUMSS
Prof. Wallace-Hadrill, now Master at Sidney Sussex, Cambridge, was formerly Professor of Classics at Reading (1987-2009) and Director of the British School at Rome (1995-2009). The lecture will be followed by a wine reception in the atrium of the Archaeology Building.
[12/10/2011]
Anna Boozer has been successful in winning a British Academy International Partnership Scheme Award.
This will fund MAP: The Meroe Archival Project over three years.
The project will help to develop Archaeology at the University of Khartoum through re-examining past research at the Royal City of Meroe, Sudan. The project will be co-directed by Dr Anna Boozer and Prof Intisar Elzein (University of Khartoum). Dr Tabarak Ballal (ICRC, Reading), together with additional staff members in the Department of Archaeology, will help achieve the development goals of the project through training and other outreach activities. Read about Anna
[02/08/2011]
Silchester supports MS sufferers
An archaeology graduate from Reading, Clark French, who has multiple sclerosis himself organised a recent DIG4MS day at the Silchester excavation. A range of activities were organised for visitors affected by MS to learn about the site and participate in some of the on-site activities. Read about the Silchester excavations
[22/07/2011]
Professor Roger Mathews to co-author a book provisionally entitled Ancient Iran: a Social Archaeology with Dr Hassan Fazeli of Tehran University
A FP7 Marie Curie Incoming International Fellowship will enable Dr Fazeli to spend two years with us, starting in September 2011.
The grant also includes a sum of Euros 15,000 awarded to Tehran University to enable translation of the book, which will be published by Routledge, from English to Farsi. While at the University of Reading, Dr Fazeli will be helping with teaching and seminars as well as contributing generally to the academic life of the Department of Archaeology, the School and the University.
[20/07/2011]
Professor Richard Bradley has been awarded the Europa Prize of the Prehistoric Society
The Europa Prize is awarded 'in recognition of prehistorians who have made a lifelong contribution to European Prehistory'.
The award is given from the bequest of the late Professor Sir Grahame Clark, president of the Prehistoric Society from 1958 to 1962. Associated with the prize is an annual Europa Lecture, which will be given by Richard. The lecture, entitled 'Houses of commons, houses of lords: domestic dwellings and monumental architecture in prehistoric Europe', will be given at a day-conference which is likely to be in Reading in May 2012. Read more about Richard
[31/05/2011]
Bursary available for MA Medieval Archaeology
A bursary of 1000 is available for homeEU students taking up places on the MA Medieval Archaeology at the University of Reading.
The bursary is open to full-time students enrolling for October 2011 and will be awarded to the homeEC applicant who demonstrates the most outstanding academic record and is offered and accepts a place on the MA.
[24/05/2011]
Funding awarded for osteology study
Dr Mary Lewis, from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading, has just been awarded £230,000 Leverhulme funding to investigate the health of adolescents.
This project focuses on the children that worked and died in late medieval London and compares their health to local adolescents from a market town in an attempt to define the experience of the medieval apprentice. Read the press release.
[10/05/2011]
Dr Robin Bendrey contributes to BBC2 history programme
Robin appeared on BBC2s A History of Celtic Britain on Thursday 14th April discussing the evidence for horse riding in Celtic warfare. The programme will be available on BBC iPlayer until Thursday 5th May. Robin is currently a researcher for the project Sedentism and Resource Management in the Neolithic of Western Iran (CZAP). Read more about CZAP
[15/04/2011]
Dr Gundula Mueldner wins Faculty Output Prize for the best research output in Science.
Gundula was awarded the prize for a study which used chemical analyses of bone and teeth to reconstruct the diet and geographical origins of The Headless Romans', as they were dubbed by the press on their excavation in 2004. Read about the awards
[29/03/2011]
One-day symposium 9 June 2011 at Glastonbury Abbey: 'Rediscovering Glastonbury Abbey: excavations 1908 to 1979'
This symposium will present the initial findings of the analysis of historic excavation records and recent surveys and is aimed at professional and amateur archaeologists and local communities who have an interest in Glastonbury Abbey. The symposium is generously supported by the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society.
Now in its second year, the analysis of the archive of excavations which took place from 1908 to 1979 is being undertaken by the Archaeology Department, funded by the AHRC and supported by Glastonbury Abbey. The project will significantly enhance understanding of Glastonbury Abbey and its central role in British monasticism. Read about Glastonbury Abbey and request details about the symposium.
[01/03/2011]
Three grants awarded to school staff in the British Academy Small Grant competition
The projects with their investigator are: Gundula Mueldner, 'Animal husbandry in the intertidal zone: a stable isotope approach to changing subsistence strategies in the Belgian Coastal Plain'; Richard Bradley, 'The Hill of Tuach excavation project'; Gabor Thomas, 'Reconstructing Early Medieval Monasteries: A View from Anglo-Saxon Kent'
These grants are important in pump-priming research. Read about research in Archaeology
[22/02/2011]
Professor Roberta Gilchrist to deliver Dalrymple Lectures
Professor Roberta Gilchrist will deliver the Dalrymple Lectures on European Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, March 14th-17th 2011, on the theme of the Medieval Life Course.
[21/02/2011]
Professor Steven Mithen and Professor Martin Bell reveal secrets of stone age society in new BBC programme
A major new BBC series, A History of Ancient Britain is featuring the University of Reading's ground-breaking research on the life of the hunter-gatherer. The series begins in the ice age and recounts the 'epic story of how our land and its people came to be over thousands of years of ancient history'. Read the full press release
[17/02/2011]
Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology joins the Department of Archaeology
We are pleased to welcome Professor Roger Matthews who joined us this month. As Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology, Roger, assisted by Dr Wendy Matthews and a team of 4 researchers, will be leading the 1 million, 4 year project Sedentism and Resource Management in the Neolithic of Western Iran. Read more about the research
[27/01/2011]
Queens award for archaeologist
Professor Bill Finlayson, Visiting Professor in Archaeology, was awarded an OBE in the New Years Honours list, for services to international relations. Bill is also the Director of the British Council for Research in the Levant, Amman, Jordan.
[27/01/2011]
Reading Professor recognised in the New Year Honours
Professor Michael Fulford, Professor of Archaeology and Director of the Silchester Town Life Project, received a CBE in the New Year Honours announced on 31 December 2010.
Professor Fulford has been recognised for services to scholarship. He chairs the University's Committee for the Museum of English Rural Life, the Committee for Museums, Archives and Collections, and the Forum for Rural Research. His principal research interests are in Roman archaeology, particularly in the fields of urbanism, economy, material culture, technology and trade. Read more about Professor Fulford
[04/01/2011]