Archaeology

Overview: Research in the Past Cultural Change (PCC) cluster explores the material manifestations of culture through time and space. We combine innovative scientific methods with theoretically-informed analyses to understand past human experience, bringing together the humanities and the sciences. The combination of environmental archaeology, and especially bio-archaeology, with more traditional approaches to the past, helps to differentiate Queen's from most other archaeology departments and is seen as both a strength and stimulus to future developments. Thematically, we have identified seven areas of particular specialist interest and welcome applications from potential PhD students interested in these areas: Development of agriculture and the cultural landscape in Atlantic Europe, Eurasia and its associated economic, chronological and environmental backdrop  Organisation of domestic and ritual space (including landscapes) from prehistory through the post-medieval period in the North Atlantic region  Populations and palaeodiet from Ireland to Eurasia  Refinement of chronologies from selected regions of the world, using the facilities of the 14CHRONO labs  Religion, society and material culture in the central and western Mediterranean  Settlement and economy of medieval and post-medieval Ireland; connections with the New World  Social and bio-archaeological approaches to death, involving the study of mortuary data from Ireland across Eurasia, especially the former Soviet Union RESEARCH STRENGTHS Members of the PCC and the Environmental Change research clusters work closely to develop research that takes into consideration both the social and environmental context of human society (see also Geography and Palaeoecology: Environmental Change). Integrated within PCC is the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, a financially self-supporting excavation unit with an...