Archaeology and Anthropology

Research groups

Adversity

The challenges we face as individuals and societies allow archaeologists and anthropologists to focus on the multitude of ways in which humanity is expressed at crisis moments. Our research on adversity and resilience addresses the archaeology and anthropology of conflict (Saunders, Brück, Prior); slavery, particularly state-level colonial transgressions in the Caribbean and Africa (Horton, Robson Brown); the effects of stress and harmful practices on bodies, individuals, and communities (Robson Brown, Gibson); and the dynamics of infectious disease, past and present, in the UK, Tanzania and Cameroon (Gibson, Robson Brown, Horton).

To understand our species’ bio-cultural evolution, we conduct research investigating human diversity and its adaptive aspects. Staff research addresses palaeoanthropological studies of human evolution, including biomechanics and functional anatomy (Robson Brown); the behavioural ecology of reproduction, with novel applications of evolutionary approaches to demography (Gibson); and modelling the dynamics of social norms and cultural change, particularly kinship and language (Jordan). We investigate how ecological change can drive cultural and biological variation both synchronically (Gibson, Jordan) and diachronically, with an archaeological focus on foodways and subsistence technologies in Neolithic Europe (Cramp, Heyd).

From prehistory to the present, we hold a shared interest in understanding the cultural changes that arise from the movement of people, ideas and artefacts. Archaeological research shows how the interactions of ‘locals and newcomers’ in the neolithic had dramatic effects on religion, ideology and consumption (Heyd, Cramp), and how the transmission of new technologies in the bronze age, iron age and Roman period resulted in the transformation of social practice (Hodos, Brück, Cramp). Horton’s work as part of a large ERC-funded team investigates proto-globalisation in the Indian Ocean and the Steppe Corridor northern Silk Route in Eurasia. Bristol and the West Country’s role in globalisation and colonial encounters is revealed in work on the trans-Atlantic slave trade (Robson Brown, Horton), and the development of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire as an urban and ecclesiastical centre from which early north American colonial links are drawn (Prior, Horton). We investigate how globalisation influences contemporary livelihoods and migration in Ethiopia (Gibson); the history of Islam in east Africa (Horton); and the interplay between material culture, memory and identity in colonial and post-colonial contexts (Saunders, Brück, Hodos).

Careers

Graduates from this programme go on to work in diverse professional contexts, including higher education and research, museums, the heritage sector, international development and policy-making organisations.