Institute of Archaeology - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The UCL Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of the Social & Historical Sciences Faculty of University College London (UCL)

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is one of the largest departments of archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

in the world, with over 80 members of academic staff and 500 students. UCL Institute of Archaeology is recognised as a global leading institute in the field of archaeology, which is constantly rated within top 3 in the UK. Its academic strengths include general (world) archaeology and archaeological science

Archaeological science

Archaeological science, also known as archaeometry, consists of the application of scientific techniques to the analysis of archaeological materials. Archaeometry is now considered its own scientific field. The UK's Natural and Environmental Research Council provides funding for archaeometry...

, alongside museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

, heritage

Cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

and archaeological site management

Archaeological site

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...

, and conservation studies.

The Institute's building takes up the north side of Gordon Square

Gordon Square

Gordon Square is in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London, England . It was developed by Thomas Cubitt in the 1820s, as one of a pair with Tavistock Square, which is a block away and has the same dimensions...

, just east of UCL's main Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury

-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...

campus.

History

It was founded in 1937 by Mortimer Wheeler

Mortimer Wheeler

Brigadier Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH, CIE, MC, FBA, FSA , was one of the best-known British archaeologists of the twentieth century.-Education and career:...

, who was its first director. He was followed by Kathleen Kenyon

Kathleen Kenyon

Dame Kathleen Mary Kenyon , was a leading archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent. She is best known for her excavations in Jericho in 1952-1958.-Early life:...

, Vere Gordon Childe

Vere Gordon Childe

Vere Gordon Childe , better known as V. Gordon Childe, was an Australian archaeologist and philologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. A vocal socialist, Childe accepted the socio-economic theory of Marxism and was an early proponent of Marxist archaeology...

, W. F. Grimes

W. F. Grimes

Professor William Francis Grimes was a Welsh archaeologist who devoted his career to the archaeology of London and the prehistory of Wales. Born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, he received his education at the University of Wales. He held a number of prominent posts in Wales, including Chairman of the...

, John Davies Evans

John Davies Evans

John Davies Evans OBE was an English archaeologist and academic, renowned for his research into the prehistory of the Mediterranean, and especially the prehistoric cultures of Malta. He was a former Director of the Institute of Archaeology in London, a position he held from 1975 until his...

, David Harris and Peter Ucko

Peter Ucko

Peter John Ucko FRAI FSA was an influential English archaeologist, noted for being the Professor Emeritus of Comparative Archaeology and also the former Executive Director of University College London's Institute of Archaeology. He was also noted for his organisation of the first World...

. It was originally a separate institution within the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, but for financial reasons joined UCL in 1986.

The Institute's current director is Stephen Shennan

Stephen Shennan

Stephen Shennan is a professor of theoretical archaeology, and is director of the Institute of Archaeology at the University College London. Shennan focuses on cultural evolution and Darwinian archaeology, applying theories from evolutionary ecology and cladistics to archaeology...

, who replaced Peter Ucko

Peter Ucko

in September 2005. Amongst the staff who work there are noted archaeologists such as Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts (archaeologist)

Mark Brian Roberts is an English archaeologist specialising in the study of the Palaeolithic. He is best known for his discovery and subsequent excavations at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Boxgrove Quarry in southern England. He is also a teacher and Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of...

, who directed the Boxgrove Quarry

Boxgrove Quarry

Boxgrove Quarry is a gravel quarry and Lower Palaeolithic archaeological site at Boxgrove in the British-English county of West Sussex. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest...

project, Late Prehistory specialist Sue Hamilton

Sue Hamilton (archaeologist)

Sue Hamilton is an English archaeologist who is currently a Professor of Prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. A specialist in Later European Prehistory, she has published various papers and academic books on the subject based upon her own research.A director of the...

, Mediaeval specialist Andrew Reynolds

Andrew Reynolds (archaeologist)

Andrew Reynolds is an English archaeologist specialising in the study of Mediaeval Britain. He is currently a lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London...

, Public Archaeology specialist Tim Schadla-Hall

Tim Schadla-Hall

Tim Schadla-Hall is an English archaeologist who specialises in the study of how the archaeological discipline interacts with the public. He is affiliated with the Institute of Archaeology at University College London in Bloomsbury, central London, where he now works as a Reader in Public...

and Caribbean archaeologist José Oliver

José Oliver

José Oliver is a Puerto Rican archaeologist who specialises in the archaeology of the Caribbean.He is affiliated with the Institute of Archaeology at University College London in Bloomsbury, central London, where he now works as Reader in Latin American Archaeology.Born in Puerto Rico, Oliver went...

Collections

The Institute's collections include prehistoric pottery and stone artefacts from many parts of the world, as well as collections of Roman pottery, coins and glass. Western Asiatic material includes the Petrie collection of Palestinian

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

artefacts, collections from excavations at Jericho

Jericho

Jericho ; is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. It is the capital of the Jericho Governorate and has a population of more than 20,000. Situated well below sea level on an east-west route north of the Dead Sea, Jericho is the lowest permanently...

and a wide range of objects from ancient Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

. There are large reference collections for British and Near Eastern archaeobotany and zooarchaeology, as well as for world archaeometallurgy. There are also several historical archives of archaeological material including photographs, press cuttings, obituaries and oddments, and an extensive library.

The Institute is also responsible for the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London, England, which is part of University College LondonMuseums & Collections. The museum contains over 80,000 objects and ranks among some of the world's leading collections of Egyptian and Sudanese material...

which is open to the public on a regular basis. The British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

is nearby.

Publications

The Institute either sponsors or directly publishes several academic journal

Academic journal

An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...

s, monographic series

Monographic series

Monographic series are scholarly and scientific books released in successive volumes, each of which is structured like a separate book or scholarly monograph.-Semantics:...

and individual monograph

Monograph

A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...

s, containing research findings and papers from archaeologists and postgraduates at the UCL and elsewhere.

Archaeology International is an annual reports journal issued by the Institute, containing summary papers of key findings by Institute researchers for the previous academic year, along with other details of UCL archaeology activities. Publication of this annual commenced in 1998, as a replacement for the Institute's former annual Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, published from 1958 to 1994. Archaeology International is edited by former director David Harris.

Public Archaeology
Public Archaeology (journal)
Public Archaeology is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 2000 and published by Maney Publishing. It covers the relationships between practical archaeology, archaeological theory and cultural heritage management models, and the involvement of wider civic, governmental, and...

is a journal sponsored by the Institute, launched in 2000 as an international peer-reviewed journal with a focus on the issues of cultural heritage

Cultural heritage

, community archaeology

Community archaeology

Community archaeology is archaeology by the people for the people. The field is also known as public archaeology. There is debate about whether the terms are interchangeable; some believe that community archaeology is but one form of public archaeology, which can include many other modes of...

and archaeological practice as it relates to wider civil and governmental concerns. Since inception the journal has been edited by Neal Ascherson

Neal Ascherson

Charles Neal Ascherson is a Scottish journalist and writer.- Background :He was born in Edinburgh and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he read history. He was described by the historian Eric Hobsbawm as "perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had...

. Issued quarterly, it was originally published by James & James Science Publishers until 2007, when the publishing rights were purchased by independent publisher Maney Publishing

Maney Publishing

Maney Publishing is an independent Academic publishing company specialising in peer-reviewed academic journals in materials science and engineering, the humanities, and health science. The company has offices in Leeds and London in the United Kingdom, and in Boston and Philadelphia in the United...

.

Papers from the Institute of Archaeology
Papers from the Institute of Archaeology
Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, or PIA, is a peer-reviewed academic journal, published annually by the Institute of Archaeology at University College London...

is an annual journal established in 1989 by postgraduate researchers from UCL. Launched as a venue for the publication of research papers

Academic journal

produced by UCL archaeology postgrads and staff on new findings and novel approaches to archaeological theory

Archaeological theory

Archaeological theory refers to the various intellectual frameworks through which archaeologists interpret archaeological data. There is no one singular theory of archaeology, but many, with different archaeologists believing that information should be interpreted in different ways...

, it has since expanded its contributor base to researchers from other UK institutions and abroad.

External links

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