McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research annual report 2018-19

About us
The Material Culture Hub
Sheila Kohring
The 2018–19 academic
year started strong.
We welcomed Marcos
Martinón-Torres into
the community as a
co-director, and the lab
hosted the Michaelmas
Garrod Seminars. The
series included Dr Karina
Grömer (Naturhistorisches
Museum Wien) speaking
on textiles as prestige
goods in the Iron Age
Hallstatt period, Professor
Gavin Lucas (University of
Iceland) on salient objects
and the idea of varying
importance, Professor
Lin Foxhall (University
of Liverpool) on the
agency of things in social
networks, Dr Stephanie
Wynne Jones (University
of York) on living with
objects at Songo Mnara
(Tanzania) and Dr Kunlong
Chen (UCL) finishing the
series by addressing the
social and economic
landscape of the Shang
period through a
metallurgical perspective.
In addition to these
lectures, the Hub hosted
the Time and Material
Culture workshop as part
of the wider university
Material Culture Forum
in Michaelmas to kick
off this interdisciplinary
community’s workshop
series, and Andrew Turner
Angry Stonehenge.
(Museum of Archaeology
and Anthropology) gave
us a lunchtime lab seminar on Mesoamerican trade to end
our events in the Easter term.
Within our membership, we said goodbye in Lent to
Marianne Hem Eriksen, who returned to the University of
Oslo, but we welcomed Ann-Zanettte Tsigaridas Glørstad
(Kulturhistorisk Museum, University of Oslo) as a Visiting
Scholar for the Lent and Easter terms. Finally, but far
from least, we would like to congratulate two of
our PhD researchers, Danika Parikh and Akshyeta
Suryanarayan (and colleague Ananya Mishra), on
winning the 2019 Access and Outreach Outstanding
Student Contribution to Education award. They have
taken time within their studies to create and deliver
‘Untold Histories’ museum tours at the Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology. Well done!
S. Kohring
6 Archaeology at Cambridge 2018–2019