Biography
I grew up in Yorkshire and completed my studies in Cambridge, also spending time at the Ruhr Universität (Bochum) and in Athens. Following a term as Assistant Director at the British School at Athens, I am very excited to return to Cambridge as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow.
As a field archaeologist, I have ten years experience working on projects in Greece, Turkey and Britain. I am currently a team member and researcher for the Palace of Nestor Excavations at Pylos, and a co-director for the BSA’s intensive pedestrian field survey on Samos (2021-2025). For 2023-2026, I am one of the co-editors for the journal Archaeological Reports.
I co-convene an ECR study network for UK-based PhDs and postdocs working on LBA/EIA/Archaic period archaeology topics. If you are not on our mailing lists but would like to get involved, please get in touch!
Research
My research belongs to a tradition of asking historical questions of archaeological data, predominantly focussed on Archaic and Classical Greece.
My monograph explored issues of state formation and the ‘embeddedness’ of the ancient economy, using ‘Big Data’ methodologies to elucidate seventh and sixth century networks represented by distributions of pottery, coins and inscriptions. My new research project moves me into the fifth century, conducting a similar large-scale network analysis on the archaeology of the so-called ‘Athenian Empire’. Using a suite of tools from the Digital Humanities to visualise distributions of archaeological data, this project aims to reconstruct networks, routes and systems that underpinned economic activity in the fifth century Aegean.
I have a particular interest in the history and archaeology of Ionia, and to the networks that connected the Aegean to Anatolia. As part of this work, and bringing together my wider interests in landscapes, insularity and connectivity, current fieldwork on the hinterland of rural Samos is investigating the long-term (first millennium BC) economic history of the island and the position of this Ionian node within both Aegean and Anatolian worlds. A case study on Ionia and on regional resilience against the Persian sack of the early fifth century forms a key part of my current Leverhulme project.
My other main research interest is archival archaeology. Over a hundred years of archaeological fieldwork in Greece has generated huge volumes of material data, and I am fascinated in bringing that old and archival information to life in new ways. I continue to work with the archives of the Pylos project to ‘rebuild’ legacy excavation contexts in digital environments. And within the Faculty’s own archives, I have an especial interest in the papers of Alan Wace: I have recently completed a project on linking his notebooks with equivalent archives that survive in Pembroke College and in the British School at Athens (‘Digital Thessaly’).
Publications
Books and edited volumes
1. (2023) Connecting Communities in Archaic Greece. Exploring Economic and Political Networks through Data Modelling (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
2. (2022) (with K. Smith and N. Salmon) The Archaeology and Topography of Greece. Fifty years of the British School at Athens Undergraduate Course (Short Run Press, Exeter).
3. (2023-2026) (with G. Mouratidis and T. Parikh) Archaeological Reports.
Peer-reviewed articles
1. (2022) ‘A brief history of the BSA Museum Study Collection’, Archaeological Reports 68.
2. (2021) (with A. Slawisch) ‘Shedding light on the matter: evaluating changing patterns of object dedication in Ionian sanctuaries (seventh/sixth – fifth/fourth centuries BC) with lexicometrical analysis’, Journal of Greek Archaeology 6: 166-99.
3. (2021) (with S.R. Stocker and J.L. Davis) ‘From Archive to GIS: Recovering Spatial Information for Tholos IV at Pylos from the Notebooks of Lord William Taylour’, Internet Archaeology 56. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.56.5
4. (2020) ‘The islands of the Saronic Gulf: connections and cultural histories’, Archaeological Reports 66, 161–72.
5. (2019) ‘Early modern travellers in the Aegean: routes and networks’, BSA 114, 369–98.
6. (2019) (with A. Mullen) ‘A Greek inscription with rider iconography from South Shields, Britain’, ZPE 209, 140–4.
Chapters in edited volumes
1. (forthcoming) ‘Sailing: ships and routes’, in Beck, H., Constantakopoulou, C. and McInerney, J. (eds), The Oxford History of the Classical Greek World, Volume I: The Environment and Resources.
2. (forthcoming) ‘Travelling to the temple of Poseidon at Sounion. Land routes and sea routes’, in Angliker, E., and Tae Jensen, J. (eds), Traveling and Cult Practices in the Ancient Mediterranean.
3. (2021) ‘The export of marble in the sixth century BC: Paros and its networks’, in Katsonopoulou, D. (ed), Paros V. Paros through the ages. From Prehistoric times to the 16th Century AD. Proceedings of the fifth International conference on the Archaeology of Paros and the Cyclades. Paroikia, Paros, 21-24 June 2019 (Athens).
4. (2020) ‘Descent with modification? Survey methodologies and scholarly networks’, in Wilkinson, T.C. and Slawisch, A. (eds), The Fieldwalker.org
Reviews
1. (2022) ‘Review of Irene Lemos, Antonis Kotsonas, A companion to the archaeology of early Greece and the Mediterranean’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 142.
2. (2022) ‘Review of Achim Lichtenberger, Rubina Raja, The archaeology of seasonality‘, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 9.09.
3. (2020) ‘Review of Katja Sporn, Alexandra Kankeleit, Die Abteilung Athen des DAI und die Aktivitäten deutscher Archäologen in Griechenland 1874-1933.’, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 7.47.
Reports
1. (2019-2022) 1100 summary articles, reports, and translations contributed to Archaeology in Greece Online.
2. (2022) (with A. Christophilopoulou, N. Mac Sweeney and J. Mokrišová) ‘West Area of Samos Archaeological Project (WASAP). Preliminary report on field activities conducted June/July 2022’
3. (2021) (with A. Christophilopoulou, N. Mac Sweeney and J. Mokrišová) ‘West Area of Samos Archaeological Project (WASAP). Preliminary report on field activities conducted July/August 2021.’
4. (2021) ‘Palace of Nestor Excavations, Additional GIS report, Grave Circle and Tholos III. Spatial data acquired and processed May / June 2021′.
5. (2020) ‘Palace of Nestor Excavations, Additional GIS report, Tholos IV. Spatial data acquired and processed June / July 2020′.
6. (2019) ‘Palace of Nestor Excavations, GIS report Spatial data acquired and processed May / July 2019’.
7. (2018) ‘Palace of Nestor Excavations, GIS report Spatial data acquired and processed November / December 2018’.
Web publications
1. (2023) ‘The Archaeology of Plato's Symposium’, UCL Greek Play 2023: Plato’s Symposium Study Guide.
2. (2022) (with D. Harlan) ‘Magoula Hunting or The Romance of Excavation’, Archive Stories, British School at Athens.
3. (2022) ‘What Euripides’ audience saw, and what he wanted them to see’, UCL Greek Play 2022: Euripides’ Electra Study Guide.
4. (2021) ‘Home is where the hearth is – Odysseus and Mycenae’, UCL Greek Play 2021: Homer’s Odyssey Study Guide.’
5. (2020) (with D. Harlan) ’Mycenae: Now and Then Images from Social Media to the BSA SPHS Archive’, Archive Stories, British School at Athens.
6. (2018) (with N. Elvira Astoreca) ‘Pan, Plato, and the Nymphs: exploring Vari Cave’, res gerendae.
7. (2018) ‘The Lego Acropolis: history brick by brick’, res gerenda.
Teaching and Supervisions
Most of my teaching to date has covered the archaeology, art and history of Archaic and Classical Greece, but in my capacity as course director for the BSA’s Undergraduate Course I have also taught from prehistory through to modern Greece. My favourite teaching is undoubtedly ‘hands-on’: site-based, museum handling classes, or instructing students in the field.
During my time at the British School at Athens, I enjoyed acting as guest supervisor or advisor for a number of fascinating postgraduate projects, on topics including: Laconian coastal connectivity during the Classical period; regime change in Classical Greece; women in Roman Athens; queer histories in ancient Athens; ancient urban space. I have also contributed guest lectures on topics from epigraphy to ancient identity for Birkbeck, Manchester, and Dartmouth College.
Communicating with teachers and school students is a real passion of mine, and through the BSA it's been great to curate resources and to run events connected to Classical Civilisation topics ‘The Homeric World' and ‘Myth and Religion’. As part of a collaboration with UCL and their annual Greek play, I have run student workshops on the Odyssey, Sophocles’ Electra, and Plato’s Symposium.
