Environment, Archaeology, History and Anthropology

• Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies
• Archaeology in Wales

• UWLAS Archaeological Services
• Coastal and Marine Research Group
• Commercial Services

Like all research in the cluster, the seascapes and coastal zone themes focuses on physical processes and coastal research on resilience and adaptation to climate change impacts as well as the discovery and prediction of new archaeological sites. Work here is organised through the following themes, much of which has an applied and policy focus with high level international representation in global forums.  The theme is explored in various ways through the following projects and areas of research activity:

• Survey in shallow marine and estuarine zones
• Inundated landscapes
• Anthropogenic processes and waste management
• Shoreline morphological responses to climate change
• Integrated Coastal Zone Management; marine reserve networks
• Coastal & marine policy; critical habitats for cetacean and morphological responses to climatic flux
• ForSEAdiscovery: Forest resources for Iberian Empires
• Dendrochronology and the construction of climate records
• Dendrochronology: Maritime Heritage and Shipwrecks
• The Newport Medieval Ship

Research in this area has had a significant impact on a number of different non-academic beneficiaries, most recently with the Strata Florida project which has acted as catalyst for the raising of Strata Florida’s profile to one which is recognised as a site of both national and international significance. Work in Qatar and Scotland has informed the relevant historic records through close participation with national heritage agencies, while novel approaches to the study of astronomy and ‘skyscapes’ are forging new research agendas. This broad theme is explored in various ways through the following projects:

• The medieval landscapes of central Wales
• Pastoralism in the Andes over the last 5000 years
• Islamic archaeology through the Wales / Qatar project
• Skyscapes as landscapes: the uses of astrology and astronomy in material culture

Community is variously interpreted as rural communities, community archaeology, connected communities, and textual communities. Research has in each case sought to engage contemporary audiences in their heritage through representation, whilst also exploring the ways in which issues of sustainability are implicated in the relations between the past, the present and the future. Key research areas and projects include:

• Connected communities and digital archaeologies
• Food and sustainability
• Geoarchaeological research on Iron Age Shetland
• The religious communities of Fetternear
• Medieval monastic houses
• Norton Priory and the Norton Priory ‘Monastery to Museum 900’ initiative
• Medieval texts
• Middle English manuscripts and early printed books
• The Welsh Experience of World War One

This strand brings together research on technologies and the chains of production of material culture, as well as a broader concern with concepts relating the use of material culture in the ancient and modern world. Key aims in relation to archaeology and text based studies are to ensure that the our research contributes to the development and understanding of how museum collections are used by a community of curators, researchers, students and other visitors; in the case of food heritage, political, economic and medical anthropological approaches are brought together to explore the meanings and practices  of food consumption.  Key projects include:

• The Newport Medieval Ship
• Medieval texts
• Middle English manuscripts and early printed books
• Material culture in Scotland
• Food heritage; the relationship between food, bodies, and materiality