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Research

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Landscapes of Complex Society Research Group

A research group of the Department of Archaeology.

This research group deals with landscapes ranging from south Asia to western Europe. Research projects are linked by a common interest in understanding landscapes as they relate to the growth and impact of ancient complex societies.

Current Major Research Themes

Landscape Signatures and Settlement

The recognition of settlement and landscape features and the analysis and interpretation of long-term change is a core element of the Durham approach to archaeological landscapes. This has been extensively developed in the Middle East, through projects using a combination of remote sensing and ground survey to identify archaeological features, and thus map the changing scale and nature of human activity in the landscape. The AHRC-funded Fragile Crescent Project is charting the rise and fall of Bronze Age urban centres within the Fertile Crescent in a way that is comparable with the so-called heartland of urban development in southern Mesopotamia, while Graham Philip's work around Homs in western Syria has identified related, but previously unrecognized, dimensions of human activity in stony upland regions. Robin Coningham's work at Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka)  is shaping our understanding of low density urbanism, and is now invesigating the role played by hinterland communities in the development of the urban centre. An AHRC grant recently awarded to Dr John Chapman will support his investigation of precocious urban settlements in the Ukraine, currently a missing chapter in the story of world urbanism. These very large sites while clearly of ‘urban' size, are seemingly devoid of the traits usually associated with complex urban societies.

Landscape Dynamics

Robin Coningham's investigations of geoarchaeology and settlement in the Tehran Plain (Iran) and Penny Wilson's work in the western Nile Delta, are addressing the interrelationships between environment, human activity and the creation and modification of landscapes. These projects explore the nature of urban: rural distinction at different times and places, and the impact of technology such as water management, and the role of routes and patterns of connectivity. Work on the landscapes of Medieval Britain includes Chris Gerrard's Shapwick Project which has combined historical data with intensive survey.

Landscapes of Empires

The scale of landscape studies is well-suited to the investigation of extensive ancient empires. Rob Witcher’s research in the intensively settled landscapes of Roman Italy is generating a new understanding of the nature of activity in the hinterland of Rome, while Derek Kennet’s research projects at Kush in Ras al-Khaimah and Kadhima in Kuwait are exploring the interrelationships between settlement, landscape and the economy in the Gulf from the Sassanian Empire through the Early Islamic period.

Frontiers

Work on frontiers is an increasingly important part of the group’s activities and has been explored through the work of Richard Hingley and Rob Witcher through the AHRC-funded Tales of the Frontier Project which seeks to reinterpret Hadrian’s Wall. This work is being followed up by a cross-disciplinary focus on the Materiality of Frontiers through the ‘Life of the Frontier’ project . Complementary work on the Gorgan Wall, at the frontier of the Sassanian Empire in northeast Iran, is being conducted by Tony Wilkinson jointly with the University of Edinburgh and the ICHTO in Iran.

Religious Landscapes

Robin Coningham is examining the nature of monastic landscapes in South Asia, and is using archaeological evidence to supplement and question, current text-based accounts of the past. Anna Leone’s work focuses on the transformation of both urban and rural landscapes in North Africa in periods of transition from Paganism into Christianity and from Christian into Muslim religious traditions. It looks specifically on the impact of these religious changes and on the reinterpretation of material culture and spaces, while David Petts is using geophysical survey to understand the organization of the island settlement and monastic community of Lindisfarne in North-East England.

Research students

The group includes a large group of PhD students, and we welcome enquiries about potential research projects at post-graduate and post-doctoral levels.  Interested scholars should contact the relevant people within the research group in the first instance.

Staff

Academic Staff

Research Staff

Research Student

From other departments

Publications by staff in this group

Books: authored

Books: edited

Conference papers

Edited works: contributions

Journal papers: academic

Journal papers: popular

  • Wilkinson, Tony, J. & Peltenburg, Edgar (2010). Carchemish in Context: Surveys in the Hinterland of a Major Iron Age City. CBRL Bulletin 5: 11-20.

Books: sections

  • Beck, Anthony R. & Philip, Graham (2013). The Archaeological Exploitation of Declassified Satellite Photography in Semi-arid Environments. In Archaeology from Historical Aerial and Satellite Archives. Hanson, William S. & Oltean, Ioana, A. Springer. 261-278.
  • Leone, A. & Moussa, F. (2012). Roman North Africa and Sahara. In Oxford handbook of African Archaeology. Lane, P. & Michell, P. Oxford University Press. 1.
  • Witcher, R.E. & Craven, M. (2012). ‘Much That Has Long Been Hidden’ Reconstructing the Survey Methodology. In Veii. The Historical Topography of the Ancient City. A Restudy of John Ward-Perkins’s Survey. Cascino, R., Di Giuseppe, H. & Patterson, H.L. London: British School at Rome. 9-24.
  • Witcher, R.E. (2012). 'That From A Long Way Off Look Like Farms': The Classification of Roman Rural Sites. In Comparative Issues in the Archaeology of the Roman Rural Landscape. Site Classification Between Survey, Excavation and Historical Categories. Attema, P.A.J. & Schörner, G. Journal of Roman Archaeology. JRA Supplementary Series 88: 11-30.
  • Bradbury, J & Philip, G (2011). The World Beyond Tells: Pre-classical activity in the basalt landscape of the Homs region, Syria. In Pierres levées, stèles anthropomorphes et dolmens. Standing stones, anthropomorphic stelae and dolmens. Steimer-Herbert, T. & Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux (Lyon, France) Oxford: Archaeopress. 2317: 169-180.
  • Wilson, Penelope. (2011). Settlement Connections in the Canopic Region. In Alexandria and the North-Western Delta. Robinson, Duncan. & Wilson, Andrew. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology. 111-126.
  • Edwards, D.N., Mattingly D.J., Daniels, C.M., with contributions from, Dore, J.N. & Leone, A. (2010). Excavations and survey at Tinda, al Khara'iq and Ikhlif Escarpment Settlements. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly, D.J. London: The Society for Libyan Studies. 3.
  • Mattingly, D.J., HAwthorne, J., Daniels, C.M., With contributions from, Dore, J.N., Leone, A. & Cole, F. (2010). Excavations at the Classic Garamantian Settlement of Saniat Jibril. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly D.J. London: The Society for Lybian Studies. 3.
  • Edwards, D.N., Mattingly, D.J., Daniels, C.M., with contributions from, Dore, J.N. & Leone, A. (2010). Excavations of other Garamantian Cemeteries and Burials. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly, D.J. London: The Society for Libyan Studies. 3.
  • Mattingly, D.J., Hawthorne, J., Daniels, C.M., with contributions from, Dore, J.N., Leone, A., Kenrick, Ph. & Tagart, C. (2010). The Garamantian Cemetery of Saniat Bin Huwaydi. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly D.J. London: The Society for Libyan Studies. 3.
  • Hawthorne,J., Mattingly,D.J., Daniels, C.M., with contributions from, Barnett, T., Dore, J.N. & Leone, A. (2010). Zinkekra: an Early Garamantian Escarpement Settlement and Associated Sites. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly, D.J. London: The Society for Libyan Studies. 3: 19-84.
  • Wilkinson, T.J. (2010). Environment and Long-Term Population Trends in Southwest Arabia. In The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. Petraglia, M.D. & Rose, J.I. Dordrecht: Springer, Science. 51-66.
  • Gerrard, C M (2009). The Society for Medieval Archaeology: The early years (1956-1962). In Reflections: 50 Years of Medieval Archaeology, 1957-2007. Gilchrist, R & Reynolds, A Maney Publishing. 30: 23-46.
  • Gerrard, C.M. (2009). The study of the deserted medieval village: Caldecote in context. In Caldecote. The development and desertion of a Hertfordshire village. Beresford, G. Leeds: Society for Medieval Archaeology. 28: 1-20.
  • Gerrard, C M (2009). Tribes and territories: 50 years of Medieval Archaeology in Britain. In Reflections. 50 Years of Medieval Archaeology. Gilchrist, R & Reynolds, A Leeds: Society for Medieval Archaeology. 79-112.
  • Wilkinson, T.J. (2009). Foreword. In Arabia Felix: An Exploration of the Archaeological History of Yemen. Alessandro de Maigret London: Stacey International. 9-20.
  • Wilkinson, T.J. (2009). Political landscapes and states in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant. In States and Landscape,. Redman, C. & Falconer, S. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 152-62
  • Wilkinson, T.J. (2008). Human dimensions of environmental change in the ancient Near East. In Proceedings of the 4th International Congress of the Ancient Near East (Berlin). Kuhne,H., Czichon, R.M. & Kreppner, F.J. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. Vol. 1: The Reconstruction of the Environment: 3-18.

Edited works: conference proceedings

Essays in edited volumes

  • Coningham, R.A.E. (2013). The Archaeology of Early Buddhism. In Oxford Bibliographies in Buddhism. Payne,Richard Oxford University Press. 1-35.
  • Wilkinson,Tony, J. , Rekavandi, Hamid Omrani Hopper, Kristen, Priestman, Seth Roustaei, Kourosh & Galiatsatos, Nikolaos (2013). The Landscapes of the Gorgān Wall. In Persia’s Imperial Power In Late Antiquity: Sasanian Frontier Walls, Forts And Landscapes Of Northern Iran (The Joint Fieldwork Project On The Great Wall Of Gorgān, The Wall Of Tammīsheh And Other Sites In The Frontier Zone: 2005-2009). Sauer, Eberhard, W., Rekavandi,Hamid Omrani Wilkinson, Tony J. & Nokandeh, Jebrael Oxford: Oxbow Books. 24-132.
  • Chapman, John (2012). The negotiation of place value in the landscape. In The construction of value in the ancient world. Papadopoulos, John K. & Urton, Gary UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. 66 - 89.
  • Coningham, R.A.E. (2012). Frank Raymond Allchin(1923-2010). In Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy. Oxford University Press. IX: 3-23.
  • Coningham, R.A.E. & Gunawardhana, P. (2012). Looting or Rededication? Buddhism and the Expropriation of Relics. In Appropriating the Past: Philosophical Perspectives on the Practice of Archaeology. Scarre, G. & Coningham, Cambridge University Press. 281-294.
  • Wilkinson, Tony & J. (2012). Earth and Water: The Land of Iran. In Ancient Iran from the Air. Stronach, David & Mousavi, Ali Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt. 12-27.
  • Coningham, R.A.E. (2011). Buddhism. In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion. Insoll, T. Oxford University Press. 934-947.
  • Gillmore, G.K., Stevens, T. Buylaert, J.P. Coningham, R.A.E., Batt, C. Fazeli, H. Young, R. & Maghsoudi, M. (2011). Geoarchaeology and the value of multidisciplinary palaeo-environmental approaches: a case study from the Tehran Plain, Iran. In Human Interactions with the Geosphere: The Geoarchaeological Perspective. Wilson, L. The Geological Society of London. 352: 49-67.
  • Wilkinson, Tony, J. & Deckers, K. (2011). Tell Brak’s Loess Section in Area TC. In Holocene Landscapes through Time in the Fertile Crescent. Deckers, K. Brepols: Turnhout. 28: 107-110
  • Young, R.L. & Coningham, R.A.E. (2010). From Village to State: Modelling Food Consumption and Ideological Change at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. In Essays in Archaeology. Gunawardhana, P., Adikari, G. & Coningham, R.A.E. Colombo: Neptune Publishers. 81-92.
  • Schmidt, A. & Coningham, R.A.E. (2010). Geophysical Investigations of World Heritage Sites in South Asia. In Essays in Archaeology. Gunawardhana, P., Adikari, G. & Coningham, R.A.E. Colombo: Neptune Publishers. 285-290.
  • Coningham, R.A.E., Acharya, K.P., Schmidt, A. & Bidari, B. (2010). Searching for Kapilavastu. In Essays in Archaeology. Gunawardhana, P., Adikari, G. & Coningham, R.A.E. Colombo: Neptune Publishers. 55-66.
  • Wilkinson, Tony J (2010). Empire and Environment in the Northern Fertile Crescent. In Landscapes and Societies - Selected Cases. Martini I.P. & Chesworth, W. Dordrecht: Springer. 135-151.
  • Wilkinson, Tony J. (2010). The Tell: Social Archaeology and Territorial Space. In The Development of Pre-state Communities in the Ancient Near East: Studies in Honour of Edgar Peltenburg. Bolger, Diane & Maguire, Louise Oxbow, Oxford. 55-62
  • Coningham, R.A.E. & Manuel, M.J. (2009). The Early Empires of South Asia. In The Great Empires of the Ancient World. Harrison, T. Thames and Hudson. 226-249.
  • Kennet, D. (2009). Transformations in late Sasanian and Early Islamic Eastern Arabia: the evidence from Kush. In L’Arabie à la veille de l’Islam, bilan clinique. Orient & Méditerranée No. 3. Schiettecatte, J. & Robin, C. Paris: De Boccard. 135-161.
  • Wilkinson, Tony & J. (2009). The Hinterland (of Siraf). In Siraf: History, Topography and Environment. Whitehouse, David Oxbow. 54-76
  • Coningham, R.A.E. & Coningham, S.E. (2008). Chandragupta Maurya. In Great military leaders and their campaigns. Black, J. London: Thames and Hudson.
  • Coningham, R.A.E. & Manuel, M.J. (2008). Warfare in ancient South Asia. In The ancient world at war. de Souza, P. London.: Thames and Hudson. 229-242.
  • Gerrard, C. M. (2008). Adventures in a post-medieval landscape: a rural case study from Shapwick, England. In Constructing post-medieval archaeology in Italy: a new agenda. Gelichi, S & Librenti, M Florence: Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio. 75-96.
  • Gerrard, C.M. & Dauber, R. (2008). Building Biographies: Graffiti, Architecture and People at the Hospitaller Preceptory at Ambel (Zaragoza), Spain. In The Military Orders. Volume 4. On Land and by Sea. Upton-Ward, J. Aldershot: Ashgate. 235-250.
  • Kennet, D. (2008). Sasanian Coins from ‘Uman and Bahrayn. In Current Research in Sasanian Archaeology, Art & History. BAR International Series 1810:. Kennet, D. & Luft, P. Oxford.: 55-64.
  • Wilson, Penelope. & Gilbert, Gregory. (2008). Trading Relations with the Eastern Mediterranean. In Moving Across the Boders: Foreign Relations, Religion and Cultural Interactions in the Ancient Mediterranean. Kousoulis, P. & Magliveras, K. Leuven: Peeters. 249-265.