Research interests
My research is particularly concerned with the later prehistory of Atlantic Europe (Iberia and the British Isles), especially in relation to archaeological art, monumentality and landscape. I am interested in understanding how decorated artefacts, rock art and monumental sculptures mediated social relationships by investigating the materials and processes involved in their manufacture, the archaeological and landscape contexts in which they are found and, more generally, their life-histories. This research includes the application of various state-of-the-art techniques, such as low-powered digital microscopy, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), Photogrammetry, 3D laser scanning, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), as well as various methods of archaeological survey.
Currently, I am working on the project “Making a Mark: Imagery and process in the British and Irish Neolithic”, led by Dr. Andrew Meirion Jones, which is the first holistic analysis of decorated artefacts from the British and Irish Neolithic. We are examining and quantifying the manufacture, use and deposition of a broad range of Neolithic artefacts using a châine opératoire methodology. Ultimately, this will build a framework for understanding the relationship between these artefacts and the more extensively studied art of Neolithic monuments and settlements.
Additionally, I am advancing my research on late prehistoric sculpture in Iberia by analysing the techniques involved in the manufacture of Late Bronze Age stelae and by conducting interdisciplinary fieldwork, with Dr. David Wheatley and Dr. Leonardo García Sanjuán (University of Seville), aimed at recording and analysing the archaeological contexts of a series of recently discovered Late Bronze Age and Iron Age stelae found in the Guadalquivir valley.
Research group
Archaeological Computing
Research project(s)
Ancestral Images in Iberian Landscapes
This two-year (2011-2013) research project, which is being conducted by Dr. Marta Díaz-Guardamino and Dr. David Wheatley, is aimed at exploring the role of visual representations of people and/or things in monumental free-standing stones (‘stelae and statue-menhirs') and the ‘places' where they were located in the crafting of collective memories, identities and territories during the Bronze Age (ca. 2200-900/850 AC) in the Iberian Peninsula applying computer techniques, i.e. Geographic Information Systems (GIS), 3D Laser Scanning and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI).
Promoting digital solutions to rock and cave art research
This 18 month project (2014-2015), funded by a BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant, aims to advance rock art research through the application of state-of-the-art imaging technologies.
