Research
Current Research Projects
- Rationalisation and Enhancement of Historic British Archaeology Collection
- Archives and Artefacts: Exploring the past through A2A and the work of E T Leeds
- Preserving and Enhancing Access to Historic Oxfordshire
- The Sir John Evans Centenary Project
- Current: Sir John Evans and the Development of Archaeology in Nineteenth-Century Europe
- Previous: Private Faces in Public Places
- The Sir Arthur Evans Archive Project
- Sir Arthur Evans Archives Cataloguing Project
- Sir Arthur Evans Archive Project (Knossos excavations)
- The Oxford-Batumi Pichvnari Excavation
Rationalisation and Enhancement of Historic British Archaeology Collection
(Two-year Arts and Humanities Research Council Resource Enhancement grant funded project)
The British archaeological collections at the Ashmolean Museum are central to the history of antiquarianism and archaeology in Britain. Their nucleus is also of national significance as a scientific resource, and includes material resulting from pioneering work carried out in the Thames Valley under the auspices of the Museum up to the 1960s. The project provides a two-year programme of work with the aim of enhancing both physical and intellectual access to the collections by the general public and by researchers alike.
Archives and Artefacts: Exploring the past through A2A and the work of E T Leeds
(HLF funded project in partnership with the Access to Archives Programme of The National Archives, Oxfordshire Sites and Monuments Record, and the Oxfordshire Record Office)
The project concerns the archive and work of Edward Thurlow Leeds, former Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum and pioneer of landscape archaeology in the Thames Valley, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, and of the technique of integrating research on documentary archives with archaeological data in investigating the historical past. The project has conserved, organized and for the first time create a catalogue of his papers, which is now universally accessible at Access to Archives (A2A). The project has also involved research and documentation on artefacts in the Ashmolean Museum from sites in Oxfordshire excavated by E T Leeds. More details of Anglo-Saxon and other sites excavated by E T Leeds can be found on this website.
The project has also used the Ashmolean's collection of Anglo-Saxon artefacts as the basis for an educational website aimed at children. This was created with the help of the Ashmolean Education Service and two primary schools in Oxford: Anglo-Saxon Discovery.
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Preserving and Enhancing Access to Historic Oxfordshire
(HLF funded project in partnership with the Oxfordshire Sites and Monuments Record, and the Oxfordshire Record Office)
At the Ashmolean Museum five documentary archives have been identified, each associated with a major figure in the history of the archaeological investigation of Oxfordshire, about 1870-1950. All of these archives are striking for the importance of the information they contain and for the current lack of knowledge concerning their contents in the public domain. The project will integrate the information with the Oxfordshire Records Office and Oxfordshire Sites and Monuments Record and make the information freely available for local history and other research. An online learning resource will also be created based on these records for educational and recreational use.
The Sir John Evans Centenary Project
The Sir John Evans Centenary Project was started in 2003 with the aim of fully documenting and cataloguing the collection and archive of this key figure in the history of archaeology, and to make the resulting resource accessible through the Internet by the centenary of Evans's death in 2008. The completion of the project will be marked by both a major exhibition and publication, which will explore his contribution to the development of archaeology with special reference to his international intellectual network.
Current Work: Sir John Evans and the Development of Archaeology in Nineteenth-Century Europe
(Three-year Leverhulme Trust funded project in partnership with the Heberden Coin Room, 9/05-8/08)
The aim of the project is the documentation and development of an accessible body of information concerning Evans' international collecting activities and intellectual networks, with special attention to the cross-national development of ideas regarding antiquity in the late Victorian period. The Leverhulme Trust also funded a one-year project for a multi-lingual Research Assistant to locate, translate and catalogue Evans's correspondence with his international colleagues (2003-2004).
Previous Work: Private Faces in Public Places
Part of 2-year archival project for the South East region funded by the HLF (2002-2003).
As the Ashmolean part of this project, a professional catalogue of the Sir John Evans archive was made and mounted on the Access to Archives website of The National Archives where it is available for consultation.
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Sir Arthur Evans Digital Archives Project
The Arthur Evans archive consists of the archaeological records and papers of Sir Arthur Evans (Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, 1884-1908). A large part of these relate to his excavations at the Bronze Age site of Knossos on Crete, carried out between 1900 and 1931.
Sir Arthur Evans Archives Cataloguing Project
The Ashmolean has been working to catalogue and improve public access to this unique archive since 1997 with the assistance of a grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust.
Sir Arthur Evans Archive Project (Knossos excavations)
Oxford Digital Library Project 2005-2006, funded by the Mellon Foundation.
An initiative to digitize large format elements of the Arthur Evans archive. The documents to be digitized include both architectural drawings and fresco reconstruction drawings from his work at Knossos. The documents relate both to the site as it was uncovered and to the reconstructions carried out in situ by Evans and his architects. The project also creates a website for the contents of his notebooks, along with transcriptions.
An initiative to digitize large format elements of the Arthur Evans archive. The documents to be digitized include both architectural drawings and fresco reconstruction drawings from his work at Knossos. The documents relate both to the site as it was uncovered and to the reconstructions carried out in situ by Evans and his architects.
The Oxford-Batumi Pichvnari Excavation
Since 1998, the Department has participated in the excavation of a Greek/Colchian settlement and necropolis at Pichvnari on the Black Sea coast of Georgia. A monograph on the first five years' work was published in 2004, and can be viewed online on the Reports Page of the Pichvnari Web site.