Amy Richardson
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+44 (0) 118 378 8747
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Senior Research Fellow
- Field and data manager for the MENTICA project.
Areas of interest
- Prehistory of Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean
- Culture, technology and exchange
- Materials analysis and provenance techniques.
Amy is Senior Research Fellow on the ERC-funded MENTICA project, working with Prof Roger Matthews and Dr Wendy Matthews on integrated community approaches to the Middle East Neolithic transition. Working at new sites in Iraq and Iran spanning the Epipalaeolithic to the Early Neolithic, Amy is primarily responsible for coordinating field recording methods and managing data flow to conduct network analysis on the results of the investigations.
Research centres and groups
Research projects
In collaboration with Professor Roger Matthews, the City Seals Project examines sealed clay documents and objects from ancient Mesopotamia. Combining pXRF analysis of clay tablets and sealings with iconographic and functional analysis, this project seeks to shed light on the bureaucratic practices of early urban societies.
Background
Amy completed her thesis at Reading in 2010, following which she spent four years working as Project Manager for the Central Zagros Archaeological Project. Her research examines prehistoric networks of exchange across Southwest Asia, through the analysis of clay and stone artefacts.
As Gerald Averay Wainwright Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford from 2015-2018, Amy developed a multi-pronged approach to understanding how networks of material exchange helped societies thrive. Drawing on scientific, materials-based approaches and current theoretical perspectives, this research explores how the interactions between people and materials shaped the social worlds of the Neolithic, through case studies in the Eastern Fertile Crescent.
Academic qualifications
- BA (Cardiff University)
- MA (University of Leicester)
- PhD (University of Reading).
Publications
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Matthews, R.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8316-4312
,
Matthews, W.
,
Raheem, K.
,
Mohammadifar, Y.
,
Aziz, K.
,
Motarjem, A.
,
Bendrey, R.
,
Richardson, A.
,
Elliott, S.
,
Whitlam, J.
,
Iversen, I.
,
Charles, M.
,
Bogaard, A.
,
Mudd, D.
,
Walsh, S.
(2020)
Long-term human environment interactions in the Neolithic of the central Zagros, 10,000-6000 BC.
In:
Eidem, J.
, (eds.)
Zagros Studies.
PIHANS
Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten
(130).
, Leiden.
pp.
5-18.
ISBN:
9789042940550
- Matthews, R. , Rasheed, Q. , Palmero Fernandez, M. , Fobbe, S. , Novacek, K. , Mohammed-Amin, R. , Muhl, S. , Richardson, A. (2020) Heritage and cultural healing: Iraq in a post-Daesh era. International Journal of Heritage Studies , 26 (2). pp. 120-141. ISSN: 1470-3610 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2019.1608585
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Matthews, R.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8316-4312
,
Matthews, W.
,
Raheem, K.
,
Richardson, A.
, eds.
(2020)
The Early Neolithic of the Eastern Fertile Crescent. Excavations at Bestansur and Shimshara, Iraqi Kurdistan.
Central Zagros Archaeological Project
, 2.
Oxbow
, Oxford.
pp
720.
ISBN:
9781789255263
- 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 , 50 (5). pp. 723-747. ISSN: 0043-8243 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2019.1592018
- Matthews, R. , Matthews, W. , Richardson, A. , Raheem, K. , Walsh, S. , Aziz, K. , Bendrey, R. , Whitlam, J. , Charles, M. , Bogaard, A. , Iversen, I. , Mudd, D. , Elliott, S. (2019) The early Neolithic of Iraqi Kurdistan: current research at Bestansur, Shahrizor Plain. Paleorient , 45 (2). ISSN: 0153-9345
- Richardson, A. (2019) Pre-pottery clay innovation in the Zagros foothills. Oxford Journal of Archaeology , 38 (1). pp. 2-17. ISSN: 1468-0092 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12155
- Matthews, R. , Richardson, A. , Maeda, O. (2018) “Behind all those stones”: activity and society in the pre-pottery Neolithic of the eastern Fertile Crescent. pp. 377-390.
- Richardson, A. (2017) Neolithic materials and materiality in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. In: Pereira, T. , Terradas, X. , Bicho, N. , (eds.) The Exploitation of Raw Materials in Prehistory: Sourcing, Processing and Distribution. Cambridge Scholars Publishing , Newcastle-upon-Tyne. pp. 506-519. ISBN: 9781443895972
- Matthews, R. and Richardson, A. (2017) Uruk and Ur in the city seal impressions, 3100-2750 BC: new evidence, new approaches.
- Richardson, A. (2014) Early clay technologies: studies in Early Neolithic clay usage from the Central Zagros. In: Bieliński, P. , Gawlikowski, M. , Koliński, R. , Ławecka, D. , Sołtysiak, A. , Wygnańska, Z. , (eds.) Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 30 April - 4 May 2012, University of Warsaw. , 1. Harrassowitz , Wiesbaden. pp. 41-53. ISBN: 9783447101752
- Richardson, A. (2013) In search of the Samnites: personal adornment in central Italy between 750-350 BC. BAR International Series , 2550. Archaeopress , Oxford. ISBN: 9781407311708