Staff Profile:Dr Robert Hosfield

Name:

Dr Rob Hosfield

Job Title:

Associate Professor

Responsibilities:

Undergraduate Programme Director (Joint Honours degrees & Examinations)

School Technology-Enhanced Learning Advisor (STELA)

Lead for Diet, Health and the Life Course Research Cluster

Areas of Interest:

• British and Western European Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology
• Pleistocene fluvial landscapes
• Experimental archaeology & site formation processes
• GIS applications in Palaeolithic and prehistoric archaeology

Postgraduate supervision

Rob currently supervises/co-supervises five research students:

• Li-Chi Chiang: Neolithic lithic technology in North Taiwan
• Sam Nicholson: Going global: Palaeoclimate of Arabia and Human Evolution. (with Prof. Dominik Fleitmann & Dr Alistair Pike, Southampton University)
• Rebecca Scott: Fire and Shelter in the Lower Palaeolithic: Absence of evidence or evidence of absence? (with Prof Martin Bell and Prof Linda Hurcombe, University of Exeter)
• Adam Turner: Mesolithic artefacts and use wear in wetlands (with Prof Martin Bell and Prof Linda Hurcombe, University of Exeter)
• Murat Ozturan: Differences in Flaking Technologies and Volume Management in Large Cutting Tools and Core & Flake Assemblages in Britain and North-West Europe in MIS 11 and 9 (with Prof Steve Mithen)

Rob is happy to discuss proposals for future postgraduate research in any areas of Palaeolithic archaeology, in particular: Lower and/or Middle Palaeolithic hominin behaviour and lithic technology, GIS applications, and
experimental archaeology (esp. focusing on tool use or lithic assemblage taphonomy). For further information, please contact Dr Hosfield.

Research groups / Centres:

Diet, Health and the Life Course Research Cluster

Objects, Materials and People Research Cluster

Landscape, Climate and Lived Environment Research Cluster

Key Facts:

Rob teaches the Palaeolithic archaeology of Europe, global human origins, lithics, GIS and statistics for archaeologists (and was awarded a University Teaching Fellowship in 2018

Rob is currently co-leading (with Dr Rob Batchelor, Dr Hannah Fluck and Dr Chris Green) a Historic England-funded project, Curating the Palaeolithic, the goal of which is to produce clear and accessible new guidance documents that will advise curators, Local Planning Authorities, consultants and contractors in the management of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic resource.

Rob recently completed, with Dr James Cole (Brighton University), an AHRC Network project: Coping with climate: the legacy of H. heidelbergensis. This AHRC-funded research network addressed two fundamental evolutionary questions: firstly, what were the ‘globalising’ adaptations of Homo heidelbergensis and other early European hominin species (Homo antecessor and perhaps also Homo erectus), which existed prior to the Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens? Secondly, how have those ‘globalising’ adaptations contributed to the evolution of later species’ abilities (i.e. Homo sapiens and the Neanderthals) to manage climatic and environmental challenges (both past and present)? The project's workshop has led to a virtual special issue in Quaternary Science Review. The project also produced some Palaeolithic (early prehistory) resources for schools: http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/copingwithclimate/resources-for-schools/

In recent years Rob has completed new papers on handaxe variability ('Less of a bird's song than a hard rock ensemble') with James Cole and John McNabb, and the chronology of the Lower Palaeolithic occupation of Europe, with James Cole. His new book exploring the European early Palaeolithic from the perspective of a 'year in the life' is currently in press. Rob’s other significant recent publications are a paper on the challenges of Palaeolithic survival in mid-latitudes (Hosfield 2016), a site monograph on the British Lower Palaeolithic site of Broom (Hosfield & Green 2013), and an edited volume in honour of Prof. Clive Gamble (Coward et al. 2015).

Rob’s other projects have included:

• The Archaeological Potential of Secondary Contexts Project (funded by English Heritage through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund),
• The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain Project also funded by English Heritage through the ALSF.
• The Afon Ystwyth Experimental Archaeology Project renewed work in 2018 led to a recent paper with my ex-PhD student Dr Wei Chu (Chu & Hosfield 2020)
• Research with Dr Nick Ashton (British Museum) exploring the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of the Solent river system.

He has also published papers on the early Middle Pleistocene archaeology of Britain, the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of the Solent (with Dr Nick Ashton of the British Museum), British Palaeolithic settlement histories (with Dr Ashton and Dr Simon Lewis, Queen Mary’s, University of London), the handaxe assemblage from the British Lower Palaeolithic site of Broom (with Dr Jenni Chambers), antiquarians and the Palaeolithic record, social learning and craft skills, and the interpretation of Palaeolithic assemblages from fluvial contexts.

Where copyright permits you can find post-print copies of my publications at: http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90000911.html

He has been a Committee Member of the Lithic Studies Society , and has served as a council member of the Prehistoric Society (2005-2008).

Rob was involved with the South West Archaeological Research Framework (SWARF), acting as the period convenor for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, and has also contributed to the Solent-Thames Archaeological Research Framework (the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of Berkshire; Wenban-Smith et al. 2014) and the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Terrestrial Minerals Resource Assessment.

Publications:

Y

Jump to: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

Number of items: 48.

2020

• Chu, W. and Hosfield, R. (2020) Lithic artifact assemblage transport and micro-wear modification in a fluvial setting: a radio frequency identification tag experiment. Geoarchaeology. ISSN 1520-6548 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21788
• Nicholson, S. L., Pike, A. W. G., Hosfield, R., Roberts, N., Sahy, D., Woodhead, J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R. L., Affolter, S., Leuenberger, M., Burns, S. J., Matter, A. and Fleitmann, D. (2020) Pluvial periods in Southern Arabia over the last 1.1 million-years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 229. 106112. ISSN 0277-3791
• Hosfield, R. (2020) The earliest Europeans – a year in the life: seasonal survival strategies in the Lower Palaeolithic. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp416. ISBN 9781785707612 (In Press)

2019

• Simmonds, M., Hosfield, R., Branch, N. and Black, S. (2019) From findspot to site: a spatial examination of the Mesolithic resource in Surrey. Surrey Archaeological Collections, 102. pp. 43-69. ISSN 0309-7803

2018

• Hosfield, R. and Cole, J. (2018) Early hominins in north-west Europe: a punctuated long chronology? Quaternary Science Reviews, 190. pp. 148-160. ISSN 0277-3791 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.04.026
• Hosfield, R., Cole, J. and McNabb, J. (2018) Less of a bird’s song than a hard rock ensemble. Evolutionary Anthropology, 27 (1). pp. 9-20. ISSN 1520-6505 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21551

2017

• Hosfield, R. (2017) The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Periods. Archaeological Journal, 174 (S1). pp. 10-11. ISSN 2373-2288 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2017.1300851

2016

• Davis, R. J., Hatch, M., Ashton, N., Hosfield, R. and Lewis, S. G. (2016) The Palaeolithic record of Warsash, Hampshire, UK: implications for late Lower and early Middle Palaeolithic occupation history of Southern Britain. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 127 (5). pp. 558-574. ISSN 0016-7878 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2016.09.005
• Hosfield, R. (2016) Walking in a winter wonderland? Strategies for Early and Middle Pleistocene survival in mid-latitude Europe. Current Anthropology, 57 (5). pp. 653-682. ISSN 0011-3204 doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/688579

2015

• Chu, W., Thompson, C. and Hosfield, R. (2015) Micro-abrasion of flint artefacts by mobile sediments: a taphonomic approach. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 7 (1). pp. 3-11. ISSN 1866-9565 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-013-0157-0
• Coward, F., Hosfield, R., Pope, M. and Wenban-Smith, F., eds. (2015) Settlement, society and cognition in human evolution: landscapes in mind. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 9781107026889
• Hosfield, R., White, K. and Drake, N. (2015) Middle Stone Age and Early Holocene archaeology in Central Sudan: the Wadi Muqadam geoarchaeological survey. Sudan & Nubia, 19. pp. 16-29. ISSN 1369-5770

2014

• Wenban-Smith, F., Hardaker, T., Hosfield, R., Loader, R., Silva, B., Wilkinson, K., Bridgland, D. and Cramp, K. (2014) The Lower/Middle Palaeolithic resource assessment. In: Hey, G. and Hind, J. (eds.) Solent-Thames: Research Framework for the Historic Environment: Resource Assessments and Research Agendas. Oxford Wessex monograph (6). Oxford Archaeology, Oxford, pp. 21-51. ISBN 9780957467217
• Wenban-Smith, F., Hardaker, T., Hosfield, R., Loader, R., Silva, B. and Wilkinson, K. (2014) The Lower/Middle Palaeolithic: research agenda. In: Hey, G. and Hind, J. (eds.) Solent-Thames: Research Framework for the Historic Environment: Resource Assessments and Research Agendas. Oxford Wessex monograph (6). Oxford Archaeology, Oxford, pp. 53-59. ISBN 9780957467217

2013

• Hosfield, R. (2013) Flake tools and handaxes at High Lodge: patterns in size and shape? Lithics: Journal of the Lithic Studies Society, 34. pp. 23-33. ISSN 0262-7817
• Hosfield, R. and Green, C. P., eds. (2013) Quaternary history and palaeolithic archaeology in the Axe Valley at Broom, South West England. Oxbow, Oxford. ISBN 9781842175200

2012

• McNabb, J., Hosfield, R., Dearling, K., Barker, D., Strutt, K., Cole, J., Bates, M. and Toms, P. (2012) Recent work at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Corfe Mullen, Dorset, England. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 78. pp. 35-50. ISSN 0079-797X doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0079497X00027092

2011

• Hosfield, R. (2011) The British Lower Palaeolithic of the early Middle Pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30 (11-12). pp. 1486-1510. ISSN 0277-3791 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.026
• Hosfield, R. T. (2011) Rolling stones: understanding river-rolled Paleolithic artifact assemblages. In: Brown, A. G., Basell, L. S. and Butzer, K. W. (eds.) Geoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability. Special Papers (476). Geological Society of America, Boulder, pp. 37-52. ISBN 9780813724768 doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/2011.2476(04)
• Basell, L. S., Brown, A. G., Hosfield, R. T. and Toms, P. S. (2011) The geoarchaeology of Palaeolithic rivers of South-west Britain. In: Brown, A. G., Basell, L. S. and Butzer, K. W. (eds.) Geoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability. Special Papers (476). Geological Society of America, Boulder, pp. 23-36. ISBN 9780813724768 doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/2011.2476(03)
• Hosfield, R. (2011) New sites, new techniques, new understandings: 50 years of Palaeolithic-Mesolithic research in Wessex. In: Whimster, R. (ed.) The New antiquarians: 50 years of archaeological innovations in Wessex. Research Report (166). Council for Britsih Archaeology, York, pp. 15-31. ISBN 9781902771854
• Ashton, N., Lewis, S. and Hosfield, R. (2011) Mapping the human record: population change in Britain during the Early Palaeolithic. In: Ashton, N., Lewis, S. and Stringer, C. (eds.) The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 39-51. ISBN 9780444535979
• Hosfield, R., Green, C. , Toms, P., Scourse, J., Scaife, R. and Chambers, J. (2011) The Middle Pleistocene deposits and archaeology at Broom. In: Basell, L. S., Brown, A.G. and Toms, P. (eds.) The Quaternary of the Exe Valley and adjoining areas. Field Guides. Quaternary Research Association, London, pp. 103-127.

2010

• Ashton, N. and Hosfield, R. (2010) Mapping the human record in the British early Palaeolithic: evidence from the Solent River system. Journal of Quaternary Science, 25 (5). pp. 737-753. ISSN 0267-8179 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1350
• Brown, A. G., Basell, L. S., Toms, P. S., Bennett, J. A., Hosfield, R. T. and Scrivener, R. C. (2010) Later Pleistocene evolution of the Exe valley: a chronostratigraphic model of terrace formation and its implications for Palaeolithic archaeology. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29 (7-8). pp. 897-912. ISSN 0277-3791 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.12.007

2009

• Hosfield, R. T. (2009) Modes of transmission and material culture patterns in craft skills. In: Shennan, S. (ed.) Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution. Origins of Human Behavior and Culture, 2. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 45-60. ISBN 9780520255999
• Hosfield, R. and Chambers, J. C. (2009) Genuine diversity? The Broom biface assemblage. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 75. pp. 65-100. ISSN 0079-497X
• Hosfield, R. T., Wenban-Smith, F. F. and Pope, M.I., eds. (2009) Great prehistorians: 150 years of palaeolithic research, 1859-2009. Lithics Special Volume, 30. Lithic Studies Society, London, pp222.
• Hosfield, R. T., Wenban-Smith, F. F. and Grant, M. J. (2009) Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology of the Solent Basin and western Sussex region: an overview. In: Briant, R., Bates, M., Hosfield, R. T. and Wenban-Smith, F.F. (eds.) The Quaternary of the Solent Basin and West Sussex Raised Beaches. Field Guides. Quaternary Research Association, London, pp. 42-59.
• McNabb, J. and Hosfield, R. T. (2009) Re-investigations of Lower Palaeolithic archaeology and deposits at Corfe Mullen. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 130. pp. 195-198. ISSN 0070 7112
• Hosfield, R. T. (2009) The unsung heroes. Lithics, 30. pp. 185-200. ISSN 0262-7817

2008

• Toms, P.S., Brown, A.G., Basell, L.S. and Hosfield, R.T., (2008) Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain: Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating of Residual Deposits of the Proto-Axe, Exe, Otter, and Doniford. Research Department Report Series No. 2-2008. English Heritage, London.
• Brown, A.G., Hosfield, R.T., Basell, L.S., Toms, P., Hounsell, S. and Young, R., (2008) The Palaeolithic Rivers of Southwest Britain. ADS, York.
• Hosfield, R.T., Straker, V., Gardiner, P., Brown, A.G., Davies, P., Fyfe, R., Jones, J. and Tinsley, H. (2008) Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. In: Webster, C.J. (ed.) The Archaeology of South West England. South West Archaeological Research Framework: Resource Assessment and ResearchAgenda. Somerset County Council, Taunton, pp. 23-62. ISBN 978-0-86183-392-4
• Hosfield, R.T. (2008) Stability or flexibility? Handaxes and hominins in the Lower Palaeolithic. In: Papagianni, D., Maschner, H. and Layton, R. (eds.) Time and Change: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives on the Long Term. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 15-36. ISBN 9781842173206

2007

• Machin, A. J., Hosfield, R. T. and Mithen, S. J. (2007) Why are some handaxes symmetrical? Testing the influence of handaxe morphology on butchery effectiveness. Journal of Archaeological Science, 34 (6). pp. 883-893. ISSN 0305-4403 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.09.008
• Hosfield, R., Chambers, J. C. and Toms, P., (2007) The Archaeological Potential of Secondary Contexts (ALSF Project Number 3361). ADS, York.
• Hosfield, R. (2007) Terrestrial implications for the maritime geoarchaeological resource: A view from the Lower Palaeolithic. Journal of Maritime Archaeology, 2 (1). pp. 4-23. ISSN 1557-2285 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-007-9013-7

2006

• Hosfield, R. T., Brown, A. G., Basell, L. S. and Hounsell, S. (2006) Beyond the caves: the Palaeolithic rivers of south-west Britain. Geoscience in South West England, 11 (3). pp. 183-190. ISSN 0566-3954
• Machin, A.J., Hosfield, R.T. and Mithen, S.J., (2006) Quantifying the Functional Utility of Handaxe Symmetry: an experimental butchery approach. ADS, York.

2005

• Hosfield, R.T. (2005) Individuals among palimpsest data: fluvial landscapes in Southern England. In: Gamble, C.S. and Porr, M. (eds.) The Individual Hominid in Context: archaeological investigations of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic landscapes, locales and artefacts. Routledge (Taylor & Francis), Abingdon, pp. 220-243.
• Toms, P., Hosfield, R.T., Chambers, J.C., Green, C.P. and Marshall, P., (2005) Optical dating of the Broom Palaeolithic sites, Devon & Dorset. Centre for Archaeology Report 16/2005. English Heritage, London.
• Hosfield, R.T., Brown, A.G., Basell, L. and Hounsell, S. (2005) The Palaeolithic rivers of south-west Britain. PAST: The Newsletter of the Prehistoric Society, 51. pp. 12-14.
• Hosfield, R. T. and Chambers, J. C. (2005) Pleistocene geochronologies for fluvial sedimentary sequences: an archaeologist's perspective. Journal of Quaternary Science, 20 (3). pp. 285-296. ISSN 0267-8179 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.909
• Hosfield, R.T. and Chambers, J.C. (2005) River gravels and flakes: new experiments in site formation, stone tool transportation and transformation. In: Fansa, M. (ed.) Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa, Bilanz 2004. Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg, pp. 57-74.
• Machin, A.J., Hosfield, R.T. and Mithen, S.J. (2005) Testing the functional utility of handaxe symmetry: fallow deer butchery with replica handaxes. Lithics: the Journal of the Lithic Studies Society, 26. pp. 23-37.

2004

• Hosfield, R.T. and Chambers, J.C. (2004) Experimental archaeology on the Afon Ystwyth, Wales, UK. Antiquity, 78 (299). ISSN 0003-598X

2003

• Hosfield, R.T. and Chambers, J.C. (2003) Flake modifications during fluvial transportation: three cautionary tales. Lithics, 24. pp. 57-65.

This list was generated on Sat Apr 4 18:23:02 2020 UTC.

Earlier Publications

Journal Articles

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. (2003) Recent Research at the Broom Lower Palaeolithic Site. Antiquity 77 (297): http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/hosfield/hosfield.html.

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. (2002) The Lower Palaeolithic site of Broom: geoarchaeological implications of optical dating. Lithics: The Newsletter of the Lithic Studies Society 23: 33-42.

Book Sections

Hosfield, R.T. (2002) Quantifying the British Palaeolithic: Regional Data and Hominid Adaptations. In D.W. Wheatley, G.P. Earl & S. Poppy (ed's)Contemporary themes in Archaeological Computing: 37-46. Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton Monograph No. 3. Oxbow Books, Oxford.

Hosfield, R.T. (2001) The Lower Palaeolithic of the Solent: site formation and interpretive frameworks. In F.F. Wenban-Smith & R.T. Hosfield (ed's) Palaeolithic Archaeology of the Solent River: 85-97. Lithic Studies Society Occasional Paper 7. Lithic Studies Society, London.

Hosfield, R.T. (2001) Approaching a Wider Spatio-Temporal View: Modelling the Terrace Gravel Assemblages. In K.J. Fewster & M. Zvelebil (eds.) Ethnoarchaeology and Hunter-Gatherers: Pictures at an Exhibition: 127-141. British Archaeological Reports (International Series) 955. Archaeopress: Oxford.

Books

Wenban-Smith, F.F. & Hosfield, R.T. (ed's). (2001) Palaeolithic Archaeology of the Solent River. Lithic Studies Society Occasional Paper 7. Lithic Studies Society, London.

Qualifications:

BA, MSc (Archaeological Science: Archaeological Computing), PhD (Southampton)