The research undertaken within Archaeology & Palaeoecology largely falls under two interdisciplinary Research Clusters; Environmental Change & Resilience (ECR) for more environmentally-related projects, and Culture & Society (C&S) for more humanities-related archaeology projects.
Projects involving palaeoecology or scientific archaeology focus on themes such as long-term changes and resilience in ecosystems, humans, environments and climate, using approaches such as pollen analysis, tephra dating, dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Much of our research spans several disciplines – for example projects on the hydrogeology and restoration of bogs.
Research in the C&S 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 eight areas of particular specialist interest and especially welcome applications from potential PhD students interested in these areas:
Development of agriculture and the cultural landscape in 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
The causes, timing and impacts of past climate change
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Archaeology & Palaeoecology highlights
Career Development
•Long-standing record of inter-disciplinary approaches to understanding the relationship between past humans and their environment.
World Class Facilities
•World-leading centre in multiple dating techniques that help us understand past societal and environmental issues.