Mary Anne MURRAY B.A., M.Sc., Ph.D.

• AHRC Research Fellow

Research Interests:

• Near Eastern and North African settlement archaeology

• The Pyramid builder's settlement at the Giza pyramids, Egypt

• The integration of archaeological data with bioarchaeological, textual, artistic, ethnographic, geomorphological & experimental evidence to investigate ancient agricultural practices and agrarian landscapes of these regions

• Quantitative methods in archaeobotanical research

• The social context and material culture of ancient Egyptian food and wine production and processing

• Aceramic Neolithic agro-pastoralists in Cyprus and the establishment of a recognised Cypriot Pre-pottery Neolithic B (Cypro-PPNB) phase on the island

• The development of agriculture in West Africa (particularly Senegal and Mali)

Current Research:

• Director of Archaeological Science at the settlement of the Giza Pyramid builders, Egypt, directed by Mark Lehner, Harvard University/University of Chicago. In charge of archaeological science, material culture and also the archaeobotany for this extensive Old Kingdom workmen’s settlement, which includes areas of food production, storage and other facilities associated with the Pyramid complex.
  
  
• “Reassessing ancient Egyptian crops, crop husbandry and the agrarian landscape” (2003-2006) - an AHRB Research Fellowship (in collaboration with Professor Peter Ucko). The project aims to provide a well-integrated reassessment of the diversity, distribution and use of Egyptian crops, methods of crop husbandry and the ancient agrarian landscape through integration of archaeological science and the Egyptological evidence for the ancient perceptions of these subjects.
  
  
• Previous work as a field archaeologist and/or archaeobotanist includes projects based in Egypt (Giza, Memphis, Saqqara, Abydos, Valley of the Kings, Aswan), Cyprus (Mylouthkia, Mosphilia, Ayious Savvas, Souskiou-Vathykarkas, Nicosia), Senegal, Mali, Syria, Lebanon, Ecuador, Chile, Liechtenstein, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Caribbean (St. Eustatius, St Martin, Anguilla) and the USA (Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, New Mexico, Florida Keys).
  
  
• Co-organiser (with Dr. Dorian Q Fuller) of the 5th International Workshop for African Archaeobotany here at the Institute on 2-5 July 2006.
  

Selected Publications:

Murray, M.A., In prep. Assessing Ancient Egypt’s agriculture and agrarian landscape: the contribution of a new database. In D.Q Fuller and M.A. Murray (eds.) African Flora, Past Cultures and Archaeobotany. San Francisco: Left Coast Press.

Murray, M.A., Fuller, D.Q, In prep. Archaeobotanies of gathering in Africa: an introduction In D.Q. Fuller and M.A. Murray (eds.) African Flora, Past Cultures and Archaeobotany. San Francisco: Left Coast Press.

Murray, M. A. and Nixon, S. In prep. Early Islamic Essouk: Agriculture and trade in the Tuareg region of the Malian Sahara. In D. Q Fuller and M.A. Murray (eds.) African Flora, Past Cultures and Archaeobotany. San Francisco: Left Coast Press.

Fuller, D.Q. and Murray, M.A. In prep. The archaeobotany of complex societies in Africa: an overview. In D.Q. Fuller and M.A. Murray (eds.) African Flora, Past Cultures and Archaeobotany. San Francisco: Left Coast Press.

Fuller, D Q, Murray, M.A., Pelling, R. In prep. Neolithic archaeobotany in Northern and Central Africa: Progress and prospects. In D.Q. Fuller and M.A. Murray (eds.) African Flora, Past Cultures and Archaeobotany. San Francisco: Left Coast Press.

Murray, M. A. In press. Questions of continuity: Fodder and fuel use in Bronze Age Egypt. In A. Fairbairn and E.Weiss (eds.) Ethnobotanist of distant pasts: Archaeological and ethnobotanical studies in honour of Gordon Hillman. Oxford: Oxbow Press.

Murray, M. A., D. Q. Fuller and C. Cappeza. 2007. Crop production on the Senegal River in the early first millennium AD: archaeobotanical results from Cubalel. In Fields of change: Progress in African Archaeobotany. (ed. R. Cappers). Groningen Archaeological Studies. Groningen: Barkhuis & Groningen University Library.

Murray, M. A. 2006. The botanical remains - Gallery III.4. In Giza Reports: Giza Plateau Mapping Project. Volume 1. Project History, Survey, Ceramics and Main Street and Gallery III.4 Operations. M. Lehner and W.Wetterstrom (eds.). Boston: AERA.

Murray, M. A. 2006. The botanical remains - Main Street. In Giza Reports: Giza Plateau Mapping Project. Volume 1. Project History, Survey, Ceramics and Main Street and Gallery III.4 Operations. M. Lehner and W.Wetterstrom (eds.). Boston: AERA.

Murray, M. A. 2005, Feeding the town: new evidence from the complex of the Giza pyramid builders. General Anthropology Vol. 11, No. 1, 1-8.

Murray, M.A. 2005. Provisions for the pyramid builders: New evidence from the ancient Egyptian site of Giza. Archaeology International 2004/2005: 38-42.

Murray, M. A. 2003. Archaeobotanical remains from the Aceramic Neolithic wells (ca. 9000 BP). In The Colonisation and Settlement of Cyprus: Investigations at Kissonerga-Mylouthkia 1977-1996. Lemba Archaeological Project, Cyprus. Vol. III.1. (ed. E. Peltenburg). Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology LXX (4): 59-72.

Nesbitt, M., Colledge, S. and Murray M.A. 2003. The organisation and databasing of seed reference collections. Environmental Archaeology 8(1): 77-84.

Peltenburg, E., Croft, P., Jackson, A., McCartney, C., and Murray, M. A. 2002. Well established colonists: Mylouthkia 1 and the Cypro-Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. In The Earliest Prehistory of Cyprus: From Colonization to Exploitation (ed. S. Swiny). Boston: American School of Oriental Research.

Wetterstrom, W., and Murray, M. A. 2001. Ancient Egyptian agriculture. In The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt (Chief ed. D. B. Redford). New York: Oxford University Press: 37-44.

Peltenburg, E., Colledge, S., Croft, P., Jackson, A., McCartney, C., and Murray, M. A. 2001. Neolithic dispersals from the Levantine Corridor: A Mediterranean perspective. Levant 33: 35-64.

Murray, M. A. 2000. Cereal production and processing. In Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. (eds. P. Nicholson and I. Shaw). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 505-536.

Murray, M. A. 2000. Fruits, vegetables, pulses and condiments. In Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. (eds. P. Nicholson and I. Shaw). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 609-655.

Murray, M. A. 2000. Viticulture and wine production. In Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. (eds. P. Nicholson and I. Shaw). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 577-608.

Peltenburg, E., Colledge, S., Croft, P., Jackson, A., McCartney, C., and Murray, M. A. 2000. Agro-pastoralist colonisation of Cyprus in the 10th millennium BP: initial assessments. Antiquity 74(286): 844-853.

Rupp, D., Murray, M. A., Reese, D.S. 2000. Prastio-Agios Savvas tis Karonis Monastery (Pafos District, Cyprus): Tentative conclusions and 1992-1995 ecofact analysis. Echos du Monde Classique/Classical Views 44 (19): 255-300.

Williams, T. (ed.) with Monk, M., Murray, M. A. and Rackham, J. 1999. Preliminary results of the environmental sampling undertaken on the Souks excavation (BEY006) Beirut. Berytus XLIII: 211-220.

Murray, M. A. 1999. Wine production and consumption in ancient Egypt. In The Exploitation of Plant Resources in Ancient Africa. (ed. M. van der Veen). New York: Plenum Press, pp 149-69.

Murray, M. A. 1998. Archaeobotanical remains. In Excavations at Kissonerga-Mosphilia, 1979-1992. Vol. II.1A (Part 1). Lemba Archaeological Project, Cyprus. (ed. E. Peltenburg). Jonsered: Paul Åström, pp. 215-223.

Murray, M. A. 1998. Archaeobotanical remains: Discussion. In Excavations at Kissonerga-Mosphilia, 1979-1992. Vol. II.1B (Part 2). Lemba Archaeological Project, Cyprus. (ed. E. Peltenburg). Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, pp. 317-37.

Murray, M. A. 1996. Archaeobotanical remains, 1995. In Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria 1995: Preliminary Report by E. Peltenburg, D. Bolger, S. Campbell, M. A. Murray and R. Tipping. Levant XXVIII: 20-1.

Murray, M. A. 1995. Archaeobotanical remains, Jerablus-Tahtani, 1994 - Tomb 302. In Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria, 1992-4: Preliminary Report by E. Peltenburg, S. Campbell, P. Croft, D. Lunt, M. A. Murray and M.E. Watts. Levant XXVII: 24-5.

Croft, P. and Murray, M.A. 1994. Research Report: Analysis of the Organic Remains from the Chalcolithic Settlement at Kissonerga-Mosphilia, Cyprus. Levant XXVI (1994): 233.

Murray, M. A. 1994. Rich Refuse from Memphis. Egyptian Archaeology 4: 34-5.

Murray, M. A. 1993 Recent archaeobotanical research at the site of ancient Memphis. In Biological Anthropology and the Study of Ancient Egypt. (eds. V. Davies and R. Walker). London: British Museum Press, pp 165-8.

Giddy, L., and Jeffreys, D. 1993. “Memphis 1992” with a contribution “Archaeobotany” by Murray, M. A. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 79: 12.

Giddy, L. and Jeffreys, D.1992. “Memphis 1991” with a contribution “Archaeobotany” by Murray, M. A. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 78: 6.

Murray, M. A. 1991. The plant remains. In A Ceremonial Area at Kissonerga. Lemba Archaeological Project. Vol. II.2. (ed. E. Peltenburg). Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology. Vol. LXX: 72.

Giddy, L., and Jeffreys, D. 1991. “Memphis 1990” with a contribution “Archaeobotany” by Murray, M. A. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 77: 5.

Giddy, L., Jeffreys, D. and Málek, J. 1990. “Memphis 1989” with a contribution “Archaeobotany” by Murray, M. A. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 76: 14.

Educational Background:

• B.A. - University of Rhode Island
• M.Sc. - Institute of Archaeology, University College London
• Ph.D - Institute of Archaeology, University College London
  

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