Staff Profile:Professor Roger Matthews

Name:

Professor Roger Matthews

Job Title:

Professor

Responsibilities:

• Departmental Director of Postgraduate Research Studies

Areas of Interest:

• Prehistory and early history of Iran, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia
• Early development of sedentism and farming in the Near East, especially in Iran and Iraq 
• Early complex societies and empires of the Near East
• Urbanisation and the development of bureaucracy and trade in Mesopotamia and Iran
• Techniques and approaches to archaeological excavation and survey
• History and philosophy of the discipline of archaeology in the Near East

Postgraduate supervision:

Roger currently supervises/co-supervises a number of postgraduate students:

• Matthew Bosomworth: Early to Mid Holocene climate and its impact on the development of the Neolithic in Iraq and Iran
• Maria Rabbani: Investigating human-environmental interrelationships and resilience in the Zagros region during the Neolithic period - a multi-proxy approach
• Mubariz Rabbani: The study of beads: trade, technology and adornment at Barikot, 4th century BC to 3rd century AD
• Lydia Bowler: a critical evaluation of the influence of environmental and geological factors on the Late Bronze Age collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean.
• Donna de Groene: Human-animal interactions in the Early Holocene of the eastern Fertile Crescent

Roger has extensive experience in supervising students through to PhD completion. He is happy to discuss doctoral research proposals covering any of his areas of interest. He is especially keen to hear from prospective students in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

Research groups / Centres:

Objects, Materials and People Research Cluster

Landscape, Climate and Lived Environment Research Cluster

Key facts:

Roger joined the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading in January 2011, after ten years at UCL Institute of Archaeology. From 1988 - 1995 he was Director of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, and from 1996 - 2001 he was Director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara.

His research interests have always been intertwined with extensive field activity. He served as Field Director at major projects including Çatalhöyük in Turkey (Neolithic project), Abu Salabikh in Iraq (Sumerian city) and Tell Brak in Syria (multi-period site). He has directed his own field projects at Jemdet Nasr in Iraq (proto-literate period) and a multi-period survey in north-central Turkey, Project Paphlagonia. All his field projects have been published. He has also published widely on many aspects of the ancient Near East.

Roger was Chairman of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, 2006-2012, a self-funding organisation which has been instrumental in multiple initiatives regarding the archaeology and cultural heritage of Iraq. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and a Peer Review College member of both the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council.

Roger is Academic Editor for the distinguished journal Anatolian Studies, and welcomes enquiries about potential submissions to the journal.

Since summer 2016 Roger has been President of RASHID International, where RASHID stands for Research, Assessment and Safeguarding the Heritage of Iraq in Danger, an international group of academics and others concerned to assist Iraqi colleagues with the major challenges they face in protecting their cultural heritage.

Current research projects:

Climate, environment and past societies of Iran

Supported by a British Academy International Partnership grant, Roger co-directs with Dr Mehran Maghsoudi and Dr Ghasem Azizi of Tehran University this investigation into the ancient climate of Iran, principally through analysis of lake core records from Hashilan Lake, Kermanshah, Iran.

Early administration in Mesopotamia – analysis of clay tablets and sealings

In collaboration with Dr Amy Richardson, Roger is leading on cutting-edge investigation of early writing and sealing in Mesopotamia, 3200-2400 BC. This research integrates Dr Richardson’s portable x-ray fluorescence analysis of clay artefacts with the content and context of inscribed tablets and sealings to generate innovative integrated interpretations of early administrative systems in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia.

Central Zagros Archaeological Project. A collaborative UK-Iran project investigating the Early Neolithic of western Iran through excavation of two mound sites, Sheikh-e Abad and Jani, in the Zagros mountains. This project was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council for four years from January 2011. It is also being supported by grants from the National Geographic Society, the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, the British Institute of Persian Studies, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Wainwright Fund for Near Eastern Archaeology. From October 2018, a new phase of this research is supported by a European Research Council Advance Grant entitled MENTICA Middle East Neolithic Transition: Integrated Community Approaches

Roger co-directs, with Wendy Matthews and Kamal Rasheed Raheem, ongoing excavations at the Early Neolithic site of Bestansur in Iraqi Kurdistan. Bestansur's importance is recognised by its status on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

ARCHIRAN - Ancient Iran: A Social Archaeology. Writing of a thematic diachronic study of the past of Iran, co-authored with Professor Hassan Fazeli Nashli from the University of Tehran.

Publications:

Y

Jump to: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008

Number of items: 32.

2019

• Matthews, R. and Richardson, A. (2019) Cultic resilience and inter-city engagement at the dawn of urban history: protohistoric Mesopotamia and the ‘city seals’, 3200-2750 BC. World Archaeology. ISSN 0043-8243 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2019.1592018 (In Press)

2018

• Whitlam, J., Bogaard, A., Matthews, R., Matthews, W., Mohammadifar, Y., Ilkhani, H. and Charles, M. (2018) Pre-agricultural plant management in the uplands of the central Zagros: the archaeobotanical evidence from Sheikh-e Abad. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 27 (6). pp. 817-831. ISSN 0939-6314 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-018-0675-x
• Walsh, S. and Matthews, R. (2018) Articulating the disarticulated: human remains from the Early Neolithic of the eastern Fertile Crescent (eastern Iraq and western Iran). In: Bickle, P. and Sibbeson, E. (eds.) Neolithic Bodies. Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers (15). Oxbow Books, Oxford. ISBN 9781785709012
• Matthews, R., Richardson, A. and Maeda, O. (2018) “Behind all those stones”: activity and society in the pre-pottery Neolithic of the eastern Fertile Crescent. In: 10 ICAANE, 25-29 April 2016, Vienna, pp. 377-390.
• Matthews, R. (2018) Peoples and Complex Societies of Ancient Southwest Asia. In: Scarre, C. (ed.) The Human Past. Thames and Hudson, London. ISBN 9780500294208

2017

• Matthews, R. and Richardson, A. (2017) Uruk and Ur in the city seal impressions, 3100-2750 BC: new evidence, new approaches. In: Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 63, 24-28 July 2017, Marburg, Germany.
• Flohr, P., Fleitmann, D., Zorita, E., Sadekov, A., Cheng, H., Bosomworth, M., Edwards, L., Matthews, W. and Matthews, R. (2017) Late Holocene droughts in the Fertile Crescent recorded in a speleothem from northern Iraq. Geophysical Research Letters, 44 (3). pp. 1528-1536. ISSN 1944-8007 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071786
• Matthews, R. and Matthews, W. (2017) A palace for the king of Eres? Evidence from the Early Dynastic City of Abu Salabikh, south Iraq. In: Heffron, Y., Stone, A. and Worthington, M. (eds.) At the dawn of history. Ancient Near Eastern studies in honour of J. N. Postgate. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, pp. 359-367. ISBN 9781575064710

2016

• Flohr, P., Fleitmann, D., Matthews, R., Matthews, W. and Black, S. (2016) Evidence of resilience to past climate change in Southwest Asia: early farming communities and the 9.2 and 8.2 ka events. Quaternary Science Reviews, 136. pp. 23-39. ISSN 0277-3791 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.06.022
• Bendrey, R., Whitlam, J., Elliott, S., Rauf Aziz, K., Matthews, R. and Matthews, W. (2016) 'Seasonal rhythms' of a rural Kurdish village: ethnozooarchaeological research in Bestansur, Iraq. In: Broderick, L. G. (ed.) People with Animals. Perspectives and Studies in Ethnozooarchaeology. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 42-56. ISBN 9781785702471
• Matthews, R., Matthews, W., Raheem, K. R. and Aziz, K. R. (2016) Current investigations into the early Neolithic of the Zagros foothills of Iraqi Kurdistan. In: Kopanias, K. and MacGinnis, J. (eds.) The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Adjacent Regions. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 219-228. ISBN 9781784913939

2013

• Matthews, R. (2013) ‘Archaische’ Städtsiegel aus Mesopotamien und Iran. In: Crüsemann, N., van Ess, M., Hilgert, M. and Salje, B. (eds.) Uruk 5000 Jahre Megacity. Publikation der Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen (58). Michael Imhof, Petersberg, pp. 146-147, 146-149. ISBN 9783865688446
• Matthews, R. and Nashli, H. F., eds. (2013) The Neolithisation of Iran: the formation of new societies. British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology and Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp272. ISBN 9781782971900
• Matthews, R. (2013) Writing (and reading) as material practice: the world of cuneiform culture as an arena for investigation. In: Piquette, K. and Whitehouse, R. (eds.) Writing as Material Practice: Substance, Surface and Medium. Ubiquity Press, London. doi: http://dx.doi.org//10.5334/bai
• Matthews, R., Matthews, W. and Mohamadifar , Y., eds. (2013) The earliest Neolithic of Iran: 2008 excavations at Sheikh-E Abad and Jani. CZAP Report , 1. British Institute of Persian Studies and Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp224. ISBN 9781782972235
• Matthews, R. (2013) The power of writing: administrative activity at Godin Tepe, central Zagros, in the later 4th millennium BC. In: Petrie, C. A. (ed.) Ancient Iran and its Neighbours. The British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monographs Series (III). Oxbow and British Institute of Persian Studies, Oxford. ISBN 9781782972273

2012

• Matthews, R. (2012) About the archaeological house: themes and directions. In: Parker, B. J. and Foster, C. P. (eds.) New Perspectives on Household Archaeology. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, pp. 559-566. ISBN 9781575062525

2011

• Matthews, R. (2011) A history of the pre-classical archaeology of Turkey. In: Steadman, S. R. and McMahon, G. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. Oxford Handbooks in Archaeology . Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 34-55. ISBN 9780195376142
• Seymour, M., Fletcher, A., Gascoigne, A., Glatz, C., Simpson, S. J., Taylor, H., Tubb, J., Chapman, R. , Herausgegeben von Matthews, R. and Curtis, J., eds. (2011) Proceedings of the international congress on the archaeology of the ancient Near East. Band 7. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. ISBN 9783447057035

2010

• Matthews, R. (2010) Dumanli Kale: a politicised landscape in late Bronze Age Anatolia. In: Singer, I. (ed.) ipamati kistamati pari tumatimis. Luwian and Hittite studies. Presented to J. David Hawkins on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology, Tel Aviv, Isreal, pp. 140-146. ISBN 9789652660268

2009

• Matthews, R. and Glatz, C., eds. (2009) At Empires' edge: Project Paphlagonia regional survey in north-Central turkey. British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, London, UK. ISBN 9781898249238
• Marsh, B., Roberts, N., Toprak, V., Matthews, R., Eastwood, W., Carolan, J., Arcasoy, A. and Lütfi Süzen , M. (2009) Contexts of human interaction: geology, geography, geomorphology and environment. In: Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (eds.) At Empires' edge. Project Paphlagonia regional survey in north-central Turkey. British Institute at Ankara, London, pp. 27-73. ISBN 9781898249238
• Matthews, R., Metcalfe, M. and Cottica, D. (2009) Landscapes with figures: Paphlagonia through the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, 330 BC-AD 1453. In: Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (eds.) At Empires' edge. Project Paphlagonia regional survey in north-central Turkey. British Institute at Ankara, London, pp. 173-226. ISBN 9781898249238
• Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (2009) People and place in Paphlagonia: trends and patterns in settlement through time. In: Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (eds.) At Empires' edge. Project Paphlagonia regional survey in north-central Turkey. British Institute at Ankara, London, pp. 239-249. ISBN 9781898249238
• Matthews, R. (2009) Project Paphlagonia: research issues, approaches and methods. In: Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (eds.) At Empires' edge. Project Paphlagonia regional survey in north-central Turkey. British Institute at Ankara, London, pp. 1-25. ISBN 9781898249238
• Matthews, R. (2009) Silent centuries: Paphlagonia from the Palaeolithic to the Early Bronze Age, 200,000-2000 BC. In: Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (eds.) At Empires' edge. Project Paphlagonia regional survey in north-central Turkey. British Institute at Ankara, London, pp. 75-105. ISBN 9781898249238
• Matthews, R. (2009) A dark age, grey ware and elusive empires: Paphlagonia through the Iron Age, 1200-330 BC. In: Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (eds.) At Empires' edge. Project Paphlagonia regional survey in north-central Turkey. British Institute at Ankara, London, pp. 149-171. ISBN 9781898249238
• Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (2009) The historical geography of north-central Anatolia in the Hittite period: texts and archaeology in concert. Anatolian Studies, 59. pp. 51-72. ISSN 0066-1546
• Glatz, C., Matthews, R. and Schachner, A. (2009) A landscape of conflict and control: Paphlagonia during the second millennium BC. In: Matthews, R. and Glatz, C. (eds.) At Empires' edge. Project Paphlagonia regional survey in north-central Turkey. British Institute at Ankara, London, pp. 107-147. ISBN 9781898249238

2008

• Matthews, R. (2008) Seals and sealing practices in Upper Mesopotamia and Iran in the Ubaid period. In: Bonatz, D., Czichon, R. M. and Kreppner, F. J. (eds.) Fundstellen. Gesammelte Schriften zur Archäologie und Geschichte Altvorderasiens ad honorem Hartmut Kühne. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 277-282. ISBN 9783447057707
• Matthews, R. (2008) Social and cultural transformation: the archaeology of transitional periods and dark ages. In: Kühne, H., Czichon, R. M. and Kreppner, F. J. (eds.) Proceedings of the 4th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 3-8. ISBN 9783447057578
• Al-Hussainy, A. and Matthews, R. (2008) The archaeological heritage of Iraq in historical perspective. Public Archaeology, 7 (2). pp. 91-100. ISSN 1465-5187 doi: https://doi.org/10.1179/175355308X329973

This list was generated on Wed Mar 20 11:19:14 2019 UTC.