Durham University

Graduate Student, Archaeology

Ustinov College

About

I am currently a PhD student at Durham University and I am writing my thesis on Iron Age glass beads. My main research interests are Iron Age Britain and Europe more generally. I am interested in material culture, especially bodily adornment, and how it may have been used to display identity. 

I am currently writing my thesis on Iron Age glass beads found in Britain, however I am interested in bodily adornment during this period more generally. In addition, I am also interested in other Iron Age glass objects  in Britain and continental Europe.

I organise the departments Iron Age discussion group and I organised the 2011 Iron Age Research Student Seminar held at Durham University.


The following is a description of my current research:

Glass beads form a facet of material culture in Iron Age Britain previously only considered through classification or scientific analysis, yet a study of these artefacts utilising approaches that explore materiality and identity remains absent. This creates a lacuna that is detrimental to fully comprehending late-prehistoric adornment. The present study will fill that gap through both a study of glass beads and an exploration of a ‘multi-material’ identity constructed by an mélange of objects for the body.

The aim of this project is (1) to take a regional approach to determine if there are discrete patterns in glass bead appearance, deposition and chronology, and (2) to provide a comparative approach between glass beads and other objects of personal adornment such as brooches, armlets and stone beads. This approach will not only re-evaluate our understanding of glass bead dating, typology and manufacturing, but aspires to address further questions, such as the ways in which late-prehistoric people negotiated the world around them through objects and utilised these objects to convey non-verbal statements of identity.

Following data collection, it is the intention of this research project to address issues relating to dating and classification of glass beads through a systematic review of the depositional contexts of beads and associated artefacts. The results will be beneficial for all archaeologists that work with late-prehistoric sites. In addition, the research will also produce a comprehensive overview of glass bead morphology including shape, colour and decorative motif. Finally, the project will consider how glass beads were utilised during the Iron Age and their relation to other objects of personal adornment. The culmination of this analysis will result in a thorough and dynamic view of Iron Age society and their expression of identity through the use of objects of personal adornment. 

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