Cambridge Archaeology

PUBLISHED: "Shape as a measure of weapon standardisation: From metric to geometric morphometric analysis of the Iron Age ‘Havor’ lance from Southern Scandinavia" - Thomas Birch (Aarhus Universitet) and Marcos Martinón-Torres (University of Cambridge) in the Journal of Archaeological Science. ⚔️
According to Prof Martinón-Torres, "Essentially, yes, size matters, but shape matters more when investigating standardisation of manufacture."
"Using the Iron Age 'havor type' lance head from Southern Scandinavia as a case study, we applied geometric morphometric analytical techniques and have demonstrated that this is an effective method for studying product standardisation, complementing traditional metrics."

PUBLISHED: 👣 "Trabecular bone functional adaptation and sexual dimorphism in the human foot" - Jaap Saers (Cambridge), Timothy Ryan (Penn State) and Jay Stock (Cambridge) in American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

INTERVIEW: Dr Enrico Crema talks computer modelling, prehistoric Japan and his new European Research Council-funded project in the latest post from the 'Meet the Researcher' series from Cambridge Global Food Security.

STUDENTSHIP: We invite applications for a 3-year funded PhD studentship starting in October 2019 under the supervision of Dr Enrico Crema, as part of the European Research Council-funded project "ENCOUNTER: Demography, Cultural change, and the Diffusion of Rice and Millet during the Jomon-Yayoi transition in prehistoric Japan".
***Please note: if you are having difficulty accessing this link via Facebook, please copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://www....jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/19549/ ***
The ENCOUNTER project seeks to investigate the transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi period, a major demic and cultural diffusion event that led the predominantly hunting, gathering, and fishing-based communities of the Japanese islands to adopt rice and millet farming during the 1st millennium BC.
For further details about the project, the studentship and the application process, please see the link below.
http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/19549/
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PUBLISHED: 'Handle with care': literature, archaeology and slavery by Josie Gill (University of Bristol), Catriona McKenzie (University of Exeter) and Emma Lightfoot (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Published in the journal Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, this #openaccess article brings together creative writers, bioarchaeologists and a literary scholar to explore the lives of enslaved people. Access the full article via the link below. ⬇️

PUBLISHED: 'Asses were buried with him': Equids as markers of sacred space in the third and second millennia BC in the Eastern Mediterranean by Dr Laerke Recht (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellow at the McDonald Institute).
How were equids part of sacred spaces created by humans in the Aegean and Near East in the third and second millennium BC? What are the implications for how humans and equids interacted? This paper addresses these questions and more where humans, horses, hybrids and donkeys meet. 🐴
Laerke's chapter is part of the open access, peer-reviewed work "Sacred space: contributions to the archaeology of belief" edited by Louis Daniel Nebelsick et al, Warsaw 2018. and a pdf version can be downloaded via the link below. ⬇️

WATCH: What is Assyriology? How is it taught? Can I learn how to read cuneiform and speak Babylonian? Find out the answers to these questions and more in our new video! 🎥🍿

PUBLISHED: "Ceremonial plant consumption at Middle Bronze Age Büklükale, Kırıkkale Province, central Turkey" in the journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 🌾🔬🌱
This new paper, co-authored by Dr Nathan Wright (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research) takes a look at ceremonial eating and drinking culture in ancient Turkey, combining archaeobotanical remains and textual sources.
According to Nathan, "This concerted effort of utilising textual data from ancient tab...lets and carvings alongside archaeobotanical and anthracological data of seeds, fruits, nuts and wood allows us to make a far more detailed assessment of some very cool and weird deposits at the site of Büklükale."
"Ultimately, this combined approach offers new insights into the role of plants in the economic and social life of the southwest Asian Bronze Age and highlights the role of commensality and feasting in early states."
You can access a full-text, view-only version of the paper via the link below. 👇
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NEWS: The nominees for the 11th annual Current Archaeology Magazine awards have been announced and the Cambridge Archaeological Unit's “Sleeping by the riverside: Trumpington’s Anglo-Saxon bed burial” project has been nominated as Rescue Project of the Year. Congratulations! 🎉
The awards are voted for entirely by the public and you can cast your vote via the link below. 👇
Please share and get to voting!
... https://www.archaeology.co.uk/vote
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‘Tis the season for giving! 🎄❄️
The annual winter fundraiser, led this year by PhDs Danika, Jess, Mark and Pippa from the Material Culture lab, is raising funds for the Cambridge City Foodbank.
Winter can be very difficult for those in our communities who are struggling, and the holidays can exacerbate that. The Foodbank provides food, sanitary and household supplies, and meter cards for gas and electricity to people in need.
... Food bank use is at an all-time high in the UK and your donations of food and money will go a long way and bring some holiday comfort to people in need! Here's how you can help:
1. Donate food. If you are based in the Department of Archaeology, please take part in our food drive. There is a box in the McDonald Institute coffee room for supplies and updated shopping lists alongside it.
2. Donate money via the justgiving link below 👇
Thank you for your donations!
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The Allchin Symposium on South Asian Archaeology Keynote Lecture is tonight, Friday 30 November at 5:30pm at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
This year’s keynote lecture is on “The Hotung Gallery at the British Museum: Different ideas, and some new views of Amarava” given by Richard Blurton (British Museum). All are invited.

Further coverage of The Poor Man of Nippur, this time on CBC Radio programme CBC As It Happens. Listen via the link below. ⬇️ 🇨🇦

PUBLISHED: "The River: People and Histories of the Omo-Turkana Area", edited by Timothy Clack (School of Archaeology, University of Oxford) and Marcus Brittain (University of Cambridge/Cambridge Archaeological Unit), was officially launched at the African Archaeology Research Day held last week at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.📚
Spanning parts of Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya, the Omo-Turkana area is today home to a unique diversity of peoples and cult...ures. Extraordinary fossil finds from the locale have illuminated the evolutionary origins of our species and archaeological and historical evidence has demonstrated it has been a dynamic crossroads of peoples, languages and identities for millennia.
The book includes chapters by a number of Cambridge authors - Alex Wilshaw, Marta Mirazon Lahr, Marcus Brittain - as well as a cover statement from Paul Lane.
Published by Archaeopress, the book is full open access and can be downloaded via the link below. It is designed for a broad audience, with 25 short and lavishly illustrated chapters presenting the archaeology, history, anthropology and political ecology of a region which is unlike any place on earth. 🌍
Download via this link: http://www.archaeopress.com/…/Pub…/di splayProductDetail.asp….
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WATCH: Follow the link from Reuters TV to watch Martin Worthington discuss the motivation behind making “The Poor Man of Nippur - World’s First Film in Babylonian”.

What a fab night at the premiere of "The Poor Man of Nippur - World's First Film in Babylonian" 🍿🎞️📽️
Dr Martin Worthington (St John's College) directed a stellar cast and crew of Cambridge Assyriology students and staff to create a beautiful film based on a 2,700 year old poem.
"The Poor Man of Nippur" is a c. 3,000 year-old comic folk tale in Babylonian language. The main manuscript is a clay tablet from 701 BC found at the site of Sultantepe, in South-East Turkey. Recoun...ted by a third-party narrator, it tells the story of the three-fold revenge which Gimil-Ninurta wreaks on the local Mayor after the latter wrongs him.
Watch the full 20-minute film on our YouTube channel ➡️ https://youtu.be/pxYoFlnJLoE
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Coverage in the Telegraph of "The Poor Man of Nippur", Dr Martin Worthington and Cambridge Assyriology.

🎞️ Can't make it to tonight's cinematic premiere? No problem! You can watch "The Poor Man of Nippur - World's first film in Babylonian" on our YouTube channel. ⬇️

The Poor Man of Nippur - World's first film in Babylonian" launches today! 🎞️ Watch the full version online at https://youtu.be/pxYoFlnJLoE
Brought to you by Cambridge Assyriology students and staff led by Dr Martin Worthington (St John's College). Based on a 2,700-year-old poem, 'The Poor Man of Nippur' is a violent and comic story of revenge. #BabylonianRevengeFilm

The After the Plague excavations will prove very interesting.

Please, any one help me to learning in Cambridge Archaeology .....Iam from Egypt I hope invitation from this universit,please

It has been a pleasure, to work along side you, on the recent Manea Colony excavation.

I think this is a great place,to study the importance of artifacts and the use of the discipline of Archaeology in our lives. Would love to be here sometime.

Fabulous!

The After the Plague excavations will prove very interesting.

Please, any one help me to learning in Cambridge Archaeology .....Iam from Egypt I hope invitation from this universit,please

It has been a pleasure, to work along side you, on the recent Manea Colony excavation.

I think this is a great place,to study the importance of artifacts and the use of the discipline of Archaeology in our lives. Would love to be here sometime.

Fabulous!

The After the Plague excavations will prove very interesting.

Please, any one help me to learning in Cambridge Archaeology .....Iam from Egypt I hope invitation from this universit,please

It has been a pleasure, to work along side you, on the recent Manea Colony excavation.

I think this is a great place,to study the importance of artifacts and the use of the discipline of Archaeology in our lives. Would love to be here sometime.

Fabulous!