Research Directory

Research at the Institute of Archaeology covers fieldwork, laboratory analysis and conservation, artefact studies, and theoretical, synthetic, and analytical work across a range of perspectives.

The Institute has more than 60 research active staff, projects on five continents and in the Pacific. This is a directory of cross-cutting Institute research centres and networks as well as thematic research projects, highlighting the Institute's global research coverage. Further details of staff research may be found on their staff profile pages.

Research Centres

Centre for Applied Archaeology (CAA)

Centre for Critical Heritage Studies (CCHS)

International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology (ICCHA)

International Centre for Silk Roads Archaeology & Heritage

Research Networks

• Anthropocene Research Network (Co-ordinators: Dorian Fuller, Manuel Arroyo-Kalin)
• Archaeology - Heritage - Art (Co-ordinators: Ellen Pavey, Nastassja Simensky, Beverley Butler)
• Archaeology of Egypt and Sudan (Co-ordinators: Claudia Naeser, Anna Garnett)
• The Archaeology of Human Evolution (Co-ordinator: Matt Pope)
• Archaeomaterials Research Network (Co-ordinators: Patrick Quinn, Michael Charlton, Ian Freestone, Miljana Radivojevic)
• Conservation and Engagement: The Social and Political Impacts of Conservation (Co-ordinator: Renata Peters)
• The End of the Spectrum Towards an Archaeology of Marginality (Co-ordinators: Elisa Perego, Andrew Gardner, Andrew Reynolds)
• FIRE: Forum for Island Research and Experience (Co-ordinators: Sarah Forgesson, Jose J. Garay-Vazquez, Tim Williams, Dorian Fuller)
• Imperial Logistics: The Making of the Terracotta Army (Co-ordinator: Andrew Bevan)
• IoA History of Archaeology Network (Co-ordinator: Amara Thornton)
• Islamic Archaeology Network (Co-ordinator: Corisande Fenwick)
• Pacific Islands Research Network (Co-ordinator: Sue Hamilton) 
• Zooarchaeology Research Network (Louise Martin)

Research Themes

Staff research is clustered into the following thematic areas that provide an overarching intellectual framework for development.

• Human Evolution
• Domestication, Niche Construction and Agricultural Transformations
• Environmental Change, Sustainability and Cultural Adaptation
• Material Culture, Technology and Exchange
• Human Remains and Forensic Anthropology
• Civilization, Inequality and Political Organisation
• Ritual Practices, Organised Religion and Belief
• Innovation in Archaeological Methods, Theory, Science & Applied Archaeology
• Critical Heritage and Museum Studies