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Post doctoral fellow Nicole Taylor, M.A.

Post doctoral fellow

Dr. Nicole Taylor (Great Britain)

M.A. in Archaeology

PhD thesis
Burning Questions: Identity and Late Bronze Age Cremation Cemeteries.
The shift to predominant cremation burial in Central Europe during the Urnfield Period is one of the most important changes in funerary practices throughout prehistory. Rather than being merely an opposing rite to inhumation, the lack of conformity and standardised practice within cremation burials suggests that it played a hitherto under-investigated role in the construction and (re)negotiation of personal burial identities. Against a background of ever-increasing personal, ideological and artefactual mobility, regional and potentially even site-specific practices can be seen which occur despite, or perhaps in reaction to, standardisation in certain aspects of mortuary practices. This intra-site variation is the starting point for the investigation of personal identification in the Late Bronze Age within Germany.

In order to be able to seek such a vague and abstract concept as “identity” in the archaeological record, an interdisciplinary definition of identity has been developed whose material aspects allow for archaeological study of this experience. The perspective taken in doing so has been to begin from what is understandable, and possible to conceive of, given the modern context in which this research takes place. As such, what is sought in the archaeological material is not the “truth” about past identity, but rather meaningful past actions which are now understandable in terms of identification concepts from the present.

The methodological approach used, which combines statistical analysis and observations with experiential considerations, endeavours to make the most of the rich variety of techniques currently available to archaeology; from within the history of our own discipline as well as from other social and natural sciences. This PhD project therefore goes beyond a mere reassessment of existing cemetery data, aiming as it does to further the integration of the Continental European and Anglo-American archaeological traditions.
Post-doc project Transforming Landscapes of Fortification in the Bronze Age of Central Hungary
Research interests Bronze Age Europe, identity in archaeology, prehistoric mobility, stable isotope analysis, cemetery analysis, archaeological theory and method.
Education

Since 2009
Early Stage Researcher in the EU/Marie-Curie Project “Forging Identities: the mobility of culture in Bronze Age Europe

2006 - 2008
studied Field Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London; M.A. dissertation title: “Will the hand-planner ever become obsolete?: Digital planning and the role of the excavator”

2003 - 2006
studied Archaeology and Anthropology at Jesus College, University of Cambridge; B.A. dissertation title: “Do the plant-macrofossils support the open-area/midden-area distinction at the site of Százhalombatta-Földvár?”

Work experience

October 2013 - December 2015
Lecturer at the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory at Kiel University

2002 - 2008
Site Assistant at Cambridge Archaeological Unit

2007 - 2008
Post-excavation assistant on the Mucking Project with Cambridge Archaeological Unit

July 2007
Participated in the Field-school for North Atlantic Archaeology at Vatnsfjörður, Iceland

June 2007
Participated in the field-school at Hólar, Iceland

May 2007
Supervisor at the UCL field-school at West Dean, UK

February 2007
Participated in excavation at Peacehaven, UK with Archaeology South East

July 2006
Participated in the Field-school for North Atlantic Archaeology at Vatnsfjörður, Iceland (floatation assistant)

2005
Volunteer at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

July 2005
Participated in the SAX Project excavation at Százhalombatta-Földvár, Hungary

September 2004
Participated in the excavation at St. Paul’s Cathedral, UK with the Museum of London Archaeological Service

April 2004
Participated in the Als Project field-walking in Als, Denmark

July 2003
Participated in excavation at Cressing Temple, UK with Essex County Council Field Archaeology Unit

June 2000
Archaeological Assistant at Gifford and Partners (now Giffords)

Selected publications

Forthcoming
Lucy, S. J., Jefferies, R., Going, C. and Taylor, N.: Mucking, Essex. Excavations by Margaret and Tom Jones (1965-1978): The Roman Cemeteries. CAU Landscape Archives Series: Historiography and Fieldwork (No. 3).

in press, 2012
Jutta Kneisel, Wiebke Kirleis, Marta Dal Corso, Nicole Taylor and Verena Tiedtke (eds.): Collapse or Continuity? Environment and Development of Bronze Age Human Landscapes. Proceedings of the International Workshop "Socio-Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes II (14th-18th March 2011)" in Kiel, Volume 1, Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie 205, Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn

in press, 2012
Jutta Kneisel, Wiebke Kirleis, Marta Dal Corso and Nicole Taylor: Collapse or Continuity? Concluding Remarks on the Environment and Development of Bronze Age Human Landscapes. In: Jutta Kneisel, Wiebke Kirleis, Marta Dal Corso, Nicole Taylor and Verena Tiedtke (eds.) 2012: Collapse or Continuity? Environment and Development of Bronze Age Human Landscapes. Proceedings of the International Workshop "Socio-Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes II (14th -- 18th March 2011)" in Kiel, Volume 1, Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie 205, Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn, p x-xx (Seitenangaben stehen noch nicht)

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