Postgraduate Prehistory Reading Group

You are warmly invited to join the Postgraduate Prehistory Reading Group — an informal, interdisciplinary forum for discussing all aspects of global prehistory.

Our meetings have a friendly and active format where initial group discussion of the month's reading is followed by a short online Q&A with the author. Whether you join us as a 'Hunter-Gatherer' on a particular topic, attend more regularly as a 'Pastoralist' or become a dedicated 'Agriculturalist (suggesting articles, inviting scholars and leading the meetings) you are most welcome!

Meeting times and dates

Monthly meetings are held online via Zoom on Wednesdays 6pm-7.30pm, unless otherwise stated. Dates are confirmed closer to the time, as they depend on the availability of our guests.

Please contact Emma Bentley (e.v.bentley@sms.ed.ac.uk) or Kirsty Lilley (klilley2@ed.ac.uk) to be added to the mailing list for readings and meeting links. You can also follow our topics and guests on Twitter/X @UoEPrehistoryRG

Semester 1 2024/25

DateTopicReadingGuest(s)
30 OctProfessor Mike O’Brien (Texas A&M, San Antonio, USA)Culture’s inherent ability to changeO’Brien, M.J., Lala, K.N. 2023. Culture and Evolvability: a Brief Archaeological Perspective. Journal of Archaeological Method andTheory 30, 1079–1108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-023-09624-7
Wed 27 Nov'Anthropomorphic sword pommels & gender challenges'Ellis-Haken and Lamb. 2024. An Iron Age anthropoid sword pommel and guard from Belton, North Lincolnshire: A potential depiction of a bearded or female figure on a La Tène weapon. Études Celtiques 49, 9-30  https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/iron-age-anthropoid-sword-pommel-guard-belton/docview/3104153054/se-2

Dr. Rebecca Ellis-Haken (York) 

Dr. Andrew Lamb (Leicester)

18 DecOpen DiscussionChristmas QuizPreparation: Your favourite Medieval animals and archaeological sites!
5 FebDr Rachel Crellin (Leicester)How surface damage to metal objects can reveal life, death and manufactureCrellin-Dolfini 2016 Metalwork wear analysis: The loss of innocence. Journal of Archaeological Science  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.12.005
12  MarDr Pablo Barba Garcia (UCL) Child burials, emotive funeral display and the beginnings of the Egyptian stateBarba P. 2020 Power, Personhood and Changing Emotional Engagement with Childrens Burial during the Egyptian Predynastic. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 2021;31(2):211-228. doi:10.1017/S0959774320000402
23 AprProfessor Andrew Dugmore (Edinburgh) and Dr Rowan Jackson (Edinburgh)Environmental adaptations and archaeologyJackson, R., Dugmore, A., & Riede, F. (2018). Rediscovering lessons of adaptation from the past. Global Environmental Change, 52, 58-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.05.006
7 MayProfessor Linda Fibiger (Edinburgh)Early farmers and conflict Fibiger, Ahlström, Meyer, and Smith, 2023 Conflict, violence, and warfare among early farmers in Northwestern Europe, PNAS 120 (4) e2209481119. 

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