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North East Research Group

A research group of the Department of Archaeology.

The immensely rich archaeology of the North of England is the basis for several Departmental research projects of international significance. We also maximise the research potential of archaeological fieldwork carried out in a commercial context, notably by Archaeological Services, the Department’s commercial arm.
What makes the archaeology of the region so special? At its heart are two World Heritage Sites (Durham Cathedral and Hadrian’s Wall) and a third candidate, the twin monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow, home of the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede. At an earlier period, Durham was close to the Roman frontier and our focus on Roman archaeology in the region centres on major excavations at Binchester Roman fort, and on ongoing studies of Hadrian’s Wall including the recent Tales from the Frontier project. Older still is the important corpus of prehistoric rock art, one of the richest within Britain, complemented by the impressive suite of prehistoric monuments including the important Neolithic ritual enclosure at Marne Barracks, Catterick (North Yorkshire).
The Department’s strong engagement in early medieval Northumbria is marked by continuing interest in Wearmouth and Jarrow and by new excavations at the Bamburgh Bowl-Hole Anglian Cemetery. The Department is also home to the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, with forthcoming volumes on West Yorkshire and Lancashire. The later medieval period is represented by studies of the Durham cathedral complex and the archaeology of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Durham Archaeology seeks to involve local communities in these projects wherever possible, and the Binchester excavations, for example, are jointly organized with Durham County Council.

Staff

Academic Staff

Archaeological Services Durham University

Emeritus Staff

Prof Rosemary Cramp

Research Student

Publications by staff in this group

Books: authored

Hingley, Richard (2012). Hadrian's Wall: A Life. Oxford Oxford University Press.
Petts, David (2011). Pagan and Christian. Bloomsbury Academic.
Hingley, Richard (2010). O Imperialismo Romano: Novas Perspectivas a Partir da Bretanha. Sao Paulo: Anna Bulme.
Hingley, Richard. (2008). The Recovery of Roman Britain 1586 to 1910: A Colony so Fertile. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Books: edited

Petts, D & Turner, S (2012). Early Medieval Northumbria: Kingdoms and Communities AD450-1100. Brepols.
Lewis, H. & Semple, S. J. (2010). Perspectives in Landscape Archaeology. BAR International Series 2103. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
Carver, M.O.H., Sanmark, A. & Semple, S.J. (2010). Signals of Belief. Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited. Oxford: Oxbow.

Journal papers: academic

Hingley, R., Witcher, R.E. & Nesbitt, C. (2012). Life of an Ancient Monument: Hadrian's Wall in History. Antiquity 86(333): 760-771.
Hingley, Richard. & Hartis, Rich. (2011). Contextualizing Hadrian's Wall: The Wall as 'Debatable Lands'. Frontiers in the Roman World 13: 79-96.
Hingley, Richard (2011). Globalization and the Roman Empire: The Geneaology of Empire. Semata: Ciencias Sociais e Humanidades 23: 99-113.
Hingley, Richard (2011). Living Landscape: reading Hadrian's Wall. Landscapes 12(2): 41-62.
Bailiff, IK, Blain, S, Graves, CP, Gurling, T & Semple, S (2010). Uses and recycling of brick in medieval and Tudor English buildings: insights from the application of luminescence dating and new avenues for further research. The Archaeological Journal 167: 165-196.
Hingley, Richard. (2010). ‘The most ancient Boundary between England and Scotland’ Genealogies of the Roman Wall(s). Classical Reception Journal 2(1): 25-43.
Witcher, R.E., Tolia-Kelly, D.P. & Hingley, R. (2010). Archaeologies of Landscape. Excavating the Materialities of Hadrian's Wall. Journal of Material Culture 15(1): 105-128.
Graves, CP (2009). Building a new Jerusalem the Meaning of a Group of Merchant Houses in Seventeenth-Century Newcastle upon Tyne, England. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 13(4): 385-408.
Hingley, Richard. (2009). Esoteric Knowledge: ancient bronze artefacts from Iron Age contexts. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75: 143-166.
Petts, D (2009). Coastal landscapes and early Christianity in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria. Estonian Journal of Archaeology 13(2): 79-95.
Graves, CP (2008). From an Archaeology of Iconoclasm to an Anthropology of the Body Images, Punishment and Personhood in England, 1500-1660. Current Anthropology 49(1): 35-57.
Hingley, Richard. & Nesbitt, Claire. (2008). A Wall for all times. British Archaeology September/October 2008: 44-49.
Hingley, Richard. (2008). Not so Romanized? Tradition, reinvention or discovery in the study of Roman Britain. World Archaeology 40(3): 427-443.
Semple, S.J. (2008). Polities and Princes AD 400-800: New Perspectives on the Funerary Landscape of the South Saxon Kingdom. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 27(4): 407-429

Articles: magazine

Sanmark, A. & Semple, S. J. (2009). tingsplatsen vid anundshog. Popular Arkeologi 4: 13-14.

Books: sections

Hingley, Richard (2012). "A place that the lover of antiquity will visit with great delight": from Caer Segonte to Calleva Atrebatum. In Silchester and the study of Romano-British Urbanism. Fulford, Michael Journal of Roman Archaeology. Supplementary Series 90: 23-40.
Hingley, Richard (2012). Comment: processing the past. In Matters of Scale: Processes and courses of events in the past and the present. Burström, Nanouschka M. & Fahlander, Fredrik PAG. Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 56, 2012: 185-196.
Hingley, Richard (2012). Commentary: inheriting Roman Places. In Making Roman Places, past and present. Totten, Darian Marie & Lafrenz Samules, Kathryn Journal of Roman Archaeology. Supplementary Series No. 89: 171-176.
Hingley, Richard (2012). Explotation and Assimilation: The Western Roman Empire from Augustus to Trajan. In A Companion to Roman Imperialism. Hoyos, Dexter Brill. History of Warfare, Volum 81: 265-276.
Petts, D & Turner, S (2012). Introduction: Northumbrian Communities. In Early medieval Northumbria: Kingdoms and Communities AD450-1100. Petts, D & Turner, S Brepols. 1-14.
Hingley, Richard (2011). Iron Age Knowledge: Pre-Roman Peoples and Myths of Origin. In Atlantic Europe in the First Millennium BC: crossing the divide. Moore, T. & Armada, X-L. Oxford University Press. 617-637.
Hingley, Richard (2011). Rome: Imperial and Local Religions. In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion. Insoll, Timothy Oxford Oxford University Press. 745-757.
Hewitt, Richard, Brightman, James, Mason, David, Petts, David, Radford, Sally, Vyner, Blaise & Waddington, Clive (2011). . In An Archaeological Assessment of County Durham: The Aggregate Producing Areas. Durham County Council; Archaeological Research Services.
Rogers, Adam. & Hingley, Richard. (2010). Edward Gibbon and Francis Haverfield: The Traditions of Imperial Decline. In Classics & Imperialism in the British Empire. Bradley, Mark. Oxford.: Oxford University Press. 189-209.
Hingley, Richard. (2010). Tales of the Frontier: diasporas on Hadrian's wall. In Roman Diasporas: Archaeological Approaches to Mobility and Diversity in the Roman Empire. Eckardt, Hella. Portsmouth, Rhode Island, USA: Journal of Roman Archaeology. 227-243.
Hingley, Richard. (2009). Cultural Diversity and Unity: Empire and Rome. In Material Culture and Social Identities in the Ancient World. Hales, Shelly. & Hodos, Tamar. Cambridge.: Cambridge University Press. 54-75.
Hingely, Richard (2009). Foreword. In Pegswood Moor, Morpeth: A later Iron Age and Romano-British Farmstead Settlement. Proctor, Jennifer Pre-Construct Archaeology. vii.
Petts, D. (2009). Variation in the British burial rite: AD400-700. In Mortuary Practices and social identities in the Middle Ages. Sayer, Duncan & Williams, Howard Exeter: University of Exeter Press. 207-221.
Graves, CP (2008). Architectural fragments. In Finds from the Well at St Paul-in-the-Bail, Lincoln. Mann, J Oxford: Lincoln Archaeological Studies, Oxbow Books. 9: 20-22.
Hingley, Richard. (2008). Hadrian's Wall in Theory: Pursuing new agendas. In Understanding Hadrian's Wall papers from a conference held at South Shields, 3rd-5th November, 2006, to mark the publication of the 14th edition of the Handbook of the Roman Wall. Bidwell, Paul. Kendal: Arbeia Society. 25-28.
Hingley, Richard. (2008). Romans and Natives in Britain. In Rome and the Barbarians: The birth of a new world. Torino: Skira. 112-115.

Journal papers: online

Graves, P & Rollason, L (2010). The Medieval Prior's Chapel at Durham: its development and use. Monastic Research Bulletin 16: 24-41.

Book chapters: online

McOmish, J.M. & Petts, D. (2008). Fey Field, Whithorn: Excavations by David Pollock and Amanda Clarke. In The Archaeology of York Web Series. York: York Archaeological Trust.