Postgraduate Prehistory Reading Group
You are warmly invited to join the Postgraduate Prehistory Reading Group — an informal, interdisciplinary forum for discussing all aspects of global prehistory.
Our meetings have a friendly and active format where initial group discussion of the month’s reading is followed by a short online Q&A with the author. Whether you join us as a ‘Hunter-Gatherer’ on a particular topic, attend more regularly as a ‘Pastoralist’ or become a dedicated ‘Agriculturalist’ (suggesting articles, inviting scholars and leading the meetings) you are most welcome!
Meeting times and dates
Monthly meetings are held online via Zoom on Wednesdays 6pm-7.30pm, unless otherwise stated. Dates are confirmed closer to the time, as they depend on the availability of our guests.
Please contact Kirsty Lilley (kirsty.lilley@ed.ac.uk) or Emma Bentley (e.v.bentley@sms.ed.ac.uk) to be added to the mailing list for readings and meeting links. You can also follow our topics and guests on Twitter/X @UoEPrehistoryRG
Semester 2 2023/4
| Date | Topic | Reading | Guest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 24 Jan | 'Trypillia megasites: early urbanism and democratic society' | Gaydarska-Nebbia-Chapman 2020. 'Trypillia megasites in context', Cambridge Archaeological Journal doi:10.1017/S0959774319000301 | Dr Bisserka Gaydarska and Professor John Chapman (University of Durham) |
| Wed 28 Feb | 'Rock art and pastoralists in Early Bronze Age Sudan' |
Cooper-Vanhulle 2019. 'Boats and routes: New rock art in the Atbai Desert', Sudan & Nubia NB This event will begin at 7pm |
Dr Julien Cooper (Macquarie University, Australia) |
| Wed 20 Mar | 'aDNA and kinship in Neolithic Britain' | Cummings - Fowler. 2023. Materialising Descent: Lineage Formation and Transformation in Early Neolithic Southern Britain. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1-21. https://doi:10.1017/ppr.2023.2 | Professor Chris Fowler (Newcastle) |
| Apr | tbc | ||
| May | tbc |
Semester 1 2023/4
| Date | Topic | Reading | Guest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Oct | Info Session | ||
| 11 Oct | 'Neolithic zoonotic diseases' | Fournié-Pfeiffer-Bendrey 2017. 'Early animal farming and zoonotic disease dynamics: modelling brucellosis transmission in Neolithic goat populations', Royal Society Open Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160943 | Dr Robin Bendrey (Edinburgh) |
| 8 Nov | 'Child burials and small datasetsChild burials and small datasets | Hopwood 2023.' Living with the Dead: Burial Practice at Kenan Tepe, Turkey, During the Ubaid Period. In: From Households to Empires.' DOI: 10.59641/d38e92c5 | Dr David Hopwood (Vancouver Island) |
| 13 Dec | Mesolithic reindeer artefacts in storytelling | Ahola-Lassila 2022 'Mesolithic shadow play? Exploring the performative attributes of a zoomorphic wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antler artefact from Finland.' Time and Mind DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2022.2098047 | Drs Marja Ahola (Helsinki) and Katri Lassila (Aalto, Finland). |