Graduate Student, Archaeology
AHRC Doctoral Award holder
Thesis Title: The Development of the Indian Ocean Economy: an analysis of the trade and consumption of glass during the 1st Millennium AD
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Dr Derek Kennet
Dr St John Simpson |
About
Andrew Blair is a PhD student at the Department of Archaeology, Durham University. He completed his BA (1st Class) and MA (Distinction) in Archaeology at the same university.
RESEARCH
Andrew's research investigates the development of the Indian Ocean economy in the 1st Millennium AD, asking what role the trade in glass vessels played in the growth of that economy, and how archaeological assemblages of glass can be used to reconstruct it today.
His main areas of interest are Arabian and South Asian archaeology, encompassing but not restricted to the 1st Millennium AD.
EDUCATION
Andrew graduated from Durham University in 2009 with a BA (Hons) in Archaeology, First Class, for which he was awarded the Prize for the Best Final Honours Degree, as well as Baxter Prizes recognizing academic success in 2007 and 2008.
In 2009-10 Andrew was awarded an AHRC Research Preparation Masters Award, and graduated with an MA in Archaeology (Distinction), again from Durham University. His thesis (supervised by Prof Robin Coningham) attempted to improve chronological and geographic resolution in the study of Indian Ocean trade in South Asia's Early Historic period, focusing on the morphology and decorative patterns of South Asia's most widespread fineware ceramic: Rouletted Ware.
EXPERIENCE
Within his area of interest Andrew has recently worked in Kuwait (The Kadhima Project), India (Pattanam) and Sri Lanka (Anuradhapura), as well as in Spain, Bulgaria, the Channel Islands and several sites in the UK. Furthermore, he has analysed ceramics from several sites in India and Sri Lanka, studied Satellite imagery of the Near East (Fragile Crescent Project) and engaged in experimental archaeology.
Andrew's specialist skills include:
- landscape survey and exploration
- geophysical and topographic survey
- GIS
- archaeobotany (soil flotation)
- excavation.
PUBLICATIONS
Blair, A. (2010). "(Book Review) In the Shadow of the Ancestors: the Prehistoric Foundations of the Early Arabian Civilization in Oman, by Serge Cleuziou and Maurizio Tosi." Bulletin of the Society for Arabian Studies 15: 52-54.
Blair, A., and Kennet, D. (forthcoming). "Investigating an Early Islamic Landscape in Kuwait Bay: the archaeology of historical Kadhima." Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 42.
Kennet, D., Blair, A., Ulrich, B., and al-Duwish, S. (2011). "The Kadhima Project: investigating an Early Islamic settlement and landscape on Kuwait Bay." Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 41: 161-172.
