McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research annual report 2018-19

About us
Introduction: The McDonald Institute and Archaeology at Cambridge
Cyprian Broodbank & James H. Barrett
Laure Bonner
It has been another extraordinary year for Archaeology at
Cambridge as the new Department continues to grow.
Matthew Collins (McDonald Professor of Palaeoproteomics),
Paul Lane (Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Professor of the Deep
History and Archaeology of Africa) and Marcos Martinón-
Torres (Pitt-Rivers Professor of Archaeological Science) took up
their new posts. So did Nikhil Chaudhary (Lecturer in Human
Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology) and Emma Pomeroy
(Lecturer in the Evolution of Health, Diet and Disease),
strengthening Biological Anthropology. Three further lecturers
in Biological Anthropology, appointed to start in 2019–20, will
be introduced in next year’s report.
We have also been very fortunate to have Jane Humphris,
Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa, join the
McDonald Institute on a 20 per cent appointment, and
Rachel Ballantyne take up a part-time teaching post in
Archaeobotany. Our teaching staff was further augmented
by the talents of Temporary Lecturers Jason Hawkes, Jason
Hodgson, Marc Vander Linden and Selena Wisnom.
The Institute also welcomed new postdoctoral research
fellows. Andreas Angourakis joined as a Research Associate
on the ERC project ‘Winter Rain, Summer Rain: Adaptation,
Climate Change, Resilience and the Indus Civilisation’. Nancy
Highcock joined as a Research Associate on the Swedish
Research Council project ‘Memories for Life: Materiality and
Memory of Ancient Near Eastern Inscribed Private Objects’.
Ruoyun Hui joined as a Research Associate on the Wellcome
Trust funded ‘After the Plague’ project. We were also delighted
to retain talented researchers in key new roles.
Beatriz Marín-Aguilera was appointed to our
flagship Renfrew Fellowship, for research on
‘Bodies Matter: A Comparative Approach to
Colonial Borderlands’. Toby Wilkinson took up a
Research Associate post assisting the Director
with publication of research on Kythera, Greece.
2018–19 was a great academic year for grants
and awards. It saw the launch of two new
ERC projects: ‘Beasts to Craft’, an Advanced
Grant on the bioarchaeology of medieval
parchment, led by Matthew Collins, and
‘Encounter’, a Starting Grant on demographic
and agricultural change in Japan led by Enrico
Crema. Paul Lane is co-investigator of a new
AHRC grant ‘Rising from the Depths: Utilising
Marine Cultural Heritage in East Africa to
Help Develop Sustainable Social, Economic
and Cultural Benefits’. He also received new
grants from the British Institute in Eastern
Africa, Research England and other sources
for community archaeology in Africa. Gilly Carr received
funding from the International Holocaust Remembrance
Alliance for a project on ‘Sites at Risk: Guidelines for Best
Practice’. Cameron Petrie and Emma Pomeroy were awarded
British Academy grants to study, respectively, collections
in the National Museum in Afghanistan and Neanderthal
behaviour. With Shadreck Chirikure of the University of Cape
Town, Marcos Martinón-Torres was awarded a Royal Society
Newton Mobility Grant to study ‘Archaeological Science and
Globalisation: A Case Study of Crucibles and Metallurgical
Artefacts from Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site’. PhD
studentships on prehistoric Cyprus and marine historical
ecology were funded by grants to Cyprian Broodbank
(Pouroulis Foundation) and James Barrett (Horizon2020
Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN), respectively.
It was also a year to wish completing postdocs and fixedterm
staff well in their new activities. Jessica Beck moved
to Vassar College. Robert Attenborough becomes a Senior
Fellow of the McDonald Institute. Marianne Hem Eriksen
took up her Associate Professorship at the University
of Oslo. Giulio Lucarini was appointed to a permanent
research position at the Italian National Research Council.
Daniel Longman took up a lectureship in Physiology at
Loughborough University. Ian Moffat returned to Flinders
University as a Senior Research Fellow. Anna Stevens took
up a post at the University of Melbourne. Andrew Turner
moved to the J. Paul Getty Museum. Darryl Wilkinson will
take up an Assistant Professorship at Dartmouth College
and Selena Wisnom takes up a Lectureship in the Heritage
of the Middle East at the University of Leicester.
The newly refurbished Pitt-Rivers Laboratory for
Archaeological Science.
Archaeology at Cambridge 2018–2019 1