Dr Guillaume Robin (PhD)

Senior Lecturer

Biography

Background

I was born in France and studied History at the University of Lyon before completing a bi-national PhD in Prehistoric Archaeology in 2008 at the University of Nantes and University College Dublin. This research on the art of the megalithic chambered tombs of Ireland and Britain was published as a book (L'architecture des signes, 2009).

After this I spent two years at the University of Sassari in Italy (2009-2011) as a Fyssen Foundation postdoctoral Fellow, researching the carved and painted art of the Neolithic rock-cut tombs of Sardinia. I subsequently spent two years as a Marie Curie Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge (2012-2014).

I joined the University of Edinburgh in September 2014 as a Chancellor's Fellow in Archaeology, then Lecturer (2017) and Senior Lecturer (2019).

Roles

I am also the Archaeology representative on the following School committees:

  • Visiting Scholars Committee

Responsibilities & affiliations

Editorial responsabilities:

  • 2013-present: member of the editorial board of journal Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 
  • 2017-present: invited editorial member of British Archaeological Report book series ‘The Archaeology of Prehistoric Art’
  • 2021-present: Associate Editor of journal Préhistoires Méditerranéennes 

Professional memberships:

  • European Association of Archaeologists (EAA)
  • Prehistoric Society
  • Société Préhistorique Française (SPF)
  • Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (SAScot)

Undergraduate teaching

Pre-Honours level (years 1-2 undergraduate):

  • Archaeology 1A (contributor)
  • Archaeology 1B (contributor)
  • Archaeology 2A: Scotland before History (contributor)
  • Archaeology 2B: Archaeology in Action (contributor)
  • The human skeleton in archaeology and forensic science (contributor)

Honours level (years 3-4 undergraduate):

  • Conceptualising the Neolithic (course organiser)
  • Ritual and Monumentality (course organiser)
  • Archaeological Illustration (course organiser)
  • Archaeology Dissertation (course organiser)
  • The Archaeology of Architecture (contributor)
  • Island Worlds (contributor)

Postgraduate teaching

  • Conceptualising the Neolithic (course organiser)
  • Ritual and Monumentality (course organiser)
  • Archaeological Illustration (course organiser)
  • The Archaeology of Architecture (contributor)
  • Island Worlds (contributor)

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

  • Neolithic Europe
  • Ritual landscapes
  • Prehistoric monuments
  • Prehistoric art
  • Prehistoric Sardinia

Current PhD students supervised

Name - Degree - Year - Thesis topic - Supervision type - Link

  • Zaleskaya, Lusia - PhD - 2021 - Aesthetics and visual tradition in tomb-building communities of Neolithic Caithness and Orkney - Primary -
  • Lilley, Kirsty - PhD - 2019 - Carving out communities: funerary architecture and the construction of identities in pre-Nuragic Sardinia - Primary - Profile
  • Copper, Claire - PhD - 2019 - The Beaker phenomenon in Northern Britain and the near continent - Primary -
  • Díaz De Liaño, Guillermo - PhD - 2017 - Inferring Personhood through Funerary Evidence in Late Prehistoric Southeastern Spain - Secondary - Profile

Past PhD students supervised

Name - Degree - Year - Thesis topic - Supervision type - Link

  • Romaniuk, Andrzej - PhD - 2017-2021 - Rethinking established methodology in micromammal taphonomy: archaeological case studies from Orkney, UK (3rd millenium BC - 15th century AD) - Secondary - Profile
  • Copper, Claire - MScR - 2018-2019 -The Beaker phenomenon in Northern Britain and the near continent - Primary -
  • MacColl, Fiona - MScR - 2019-2020 - Non-structural orthostats and the ritual landscape in Loughcrew passage tomb cemetery, Ireland - Primary -
  • Gardner, Tom - PhD - 2015-2018 - The geoarchaeology of burnt mounds: site formation processes, use patterns, and duration. - Secondary - Profile
  • Geddes, George - PhD - 2015-2018 - The landscape archaeology of St Kilda - Secondary -
  • Landauro, Elena Casares - MScR - 2014-2017 - Bronze Age houses and households in Sardinia, 2000-700 BC- - Secondary -
  • Mamwell, Caroline - PhD - 2014-2017 - Land use, settlement and society in Bronze Age Orkney - Secondary -

Research summary

Places: 

  • Britain & Ireland
  • Europe
  • Mediterranean
  • Scotland

Themes: 

  • Landscapes & Monuments
  • Material Culture
  • Religion
  • Society

Periods: 

  • Prehistory

Research interests

My research focuses on Neolithic art and monumentality, from the engraved megaliths of Atlantic Europe (Ireland, Britain and West France) to the painted and sculpted rock-cut tombs of the Central Mediterranean (esp. Sardinia).

Combining computer techniques and theoretical approaches, my principal aim is to understand the social use of tomb art, from death rituals to strategies of social demonstration, and its relationships to social change over the Neolithic period.

Watch a short video of Dr Robin speaking about his research interests - Media Hopper

Project activity

My current research concentrates principally on the Neolithic rock-cut tombs of Sardinia (Italy), in which hundreds of carved and painted motifs such as bull heads, spirals, zigzags or human figures are found. A large part of this art is poorly documented and my first objective is to do systematic field recording of the decorated tombs using digital techniques (see below). My second objective is to investigate the context and 'functional' aspects of this art in order to answer a central, yet unanswered question: why did Neolithic people create art on the walls of their chambered tombs and what were the functions of this art? I am particularly interested in how the art and the architecture of rock-cut tombs were designed and combined together in order to create spaces appropriate for the performance of deathways. To do so I examine the relationships between the architectural space of the tombs and the placement of art, bodies and grave goods inside the monuments. My third objective is to place Sardinian tomb art within its larger context by looking at how sequences of art change in Sardinia relate to patterns in the evolution of tomb art in other European contexts (e.g. Ireland, Brittany, Spain, Germany) and how they reflect social changes in 5th to 3rd millennium Europe.

Another of my interests is the application of digital imaging techniques for the study of prehistoric rock art. In my fieldwork in Ireland, Brittany and Sardinia I have used techniques such as digital photography enhancement, 3D scanning or photogrammetry. I am interested in how these techniques can improve our understanding of the content, context and process of carvings and paintings made on the walls of Neolithic tombs. I have recently organised a conference on “Documenting prehistoric parietal art: recently developed digital recording techniques” (Cambridge, May 2014) which has been published in 2015 as a special issue of 'Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage'.

My recent fieldwork projects in Sardinia focus on the landscape relationships between rock-cut tomb cemeteries and settlements. See a recent video about this project in Media Hopper

 

Research projects

  • 2015 - Neolithic tomb art survey in Chiaramonti, Sardinia (funded by the Munro Trust)
  • 2016 - The biography of megalithic art at Millin Bay, Northern Ireland (funded by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh)
  • 2016 - Geophysical investigations at the Late Neolithic rock art site of Vallées aux Noirs, Buthiers, France (funded by the French Ministry of Culture)
  • 2017-2021 - Scotland's Rock Art in Context, co-investigator (funded by the AHRC) https://www.rockart.scot 
  • 2017 - Ethno-archaeology of rock-cut tombs in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia (funded by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh)
  • 2017-2018 - Landscape survey of rock-cut tomb cemeteries in Ossi, Sardinia (funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and the Prehistoric Society)
  • 2019-(ongoing) - Excavation of the Neolithic-Bronze Age settlement of Monte Mannu in Ossi, Sardinia.
  • 2019-(ongoing) - Survey and excavation of the prehistoric settlement of Punta Ferulosu in Bonorva, Sardinia.

-- Books (authored)

Barnett, T., Valdez-Tullett, J., Bjerketvedt, L.M., Alexander, F., Jeffrey, S., Robin, G., Hoole, M. 2021. Prehistoric rock art in Scotland: archaeology, meaning and engagement. Edinburgh: Historic Environment Scotland, 84 p.

Robin, G. 2009. L’architecture des signes. L’art pariétal des tombeaux néolithiques autour de la Mer d’Irlande. Rennes : Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

 

-- Books (edited)

Robin, G., D’Anna, A., Schmitt, A. & Bailly, M. (eds) 2016. Fonctions, utilisations et représentations de l’espace dans les sépultures monumentales du Néolithique européen. Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires de Provence.

Robin, G. (ed.) 2015. Digital imaging techniques for the study of prehistoric rock art. (Special issue of Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage). [available online, last accessed: January 2019]

 

-- Book chapters 

Robin, G. 2012. The figurative part of an abstract Neolithic iconography: hypotheses and directions of research in Irish and British passage tomb art. In : A. Cochrane & A. Jones  (dir.), Visualising the Neolithic : abstraction, figuration, performance, representation. (Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers 13). Oxford: Oxbow, p. 140-160.

Robin, G. 2010. L’arte parietale dell’ipogeo di Chercos. In : M.G. Melis (dir.), Usini. Ricostruire il passato. Una ricerca internazionale a S’Elighe Entosu. Sassari: Carlo Delfino, p. 93-103.

 

-- Articles in refereed journals

Robin, G., Soula, F., Tramoni, P., Manca, L. & Lilley, K. 2021. ‘The Dead are Watching Us’: A Landscape Study of Prehistoric Rock-cut Tomb Cemeteries in Ossi, Sardinia, Italy. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 87, 1-30.

Cassen, S., Grimaud, V., Lescop, L., Petit, C. and Robin, G. 2018. Recent excavation and recording at the new Neolithic rock art site of Vallée aux Noirs, Buthiers (Seine-et-Marne, France). Oxford Journal of Archaeology 37(2), 119-135.

Robin, G. 2017. What are bucrania doing in tombs? Art and agency in Neolithic Sardinia and traditional South-East Asia. European Journal of Archaeology 20(4), 603-635. 

Canu, N., Robin, G., Soula, F., Fois, A. 2016. Usini. Necropoli ipogeica di Iscala de sa Figu. Scoperta di Nuovi Simboli Scolpiti. Quaderni: Rivista di Archeologia 27, 49-69. 

Robin, G. 2016. Art and Death in Late Neolithic Sardinia: The Role of Carvings and Paintings in Domus de Janas Rock-cut Tombs. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 26(3), 429-469.

Cassen, S., Lescop, L., Grimaud, V., Robin, G. 2014. Complementarity of acquisition techniques for the documentation of Neolithic engravings: lasergrammetric and photographic recording in Gavrinis passage tomb (Brittany, France). Journal of Archaeological Science 45, 126-140.

Hensey, R., Robin, G. 2011. More than meets the eye: new recordings of megalithic art in north-west Ireland. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 30(2), p. 109-130.

Robin, G. 2010. Spatial structures and symbolic systems in Irish and British passage tombs: the organisation of the architectural elements, parietal carved signs and funerary deposits. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 20(3), p. 373-418.

Cassen, S., Robin, G. 2010. Recording art on Neolithic stelae and passage tombs from digital photographs. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 17(1), p. 1-14.

 

-- Articles in refereed conference proceedings

Adams, R. & Robin, G. 2022. Menhirs of Tana Toraja (Indonesia): a preliminary ethnoarchaeological assessment. In: Laporte, L. et al. (eds), Megaliths of the World. Oxford: Archaeopress, p. 307-321.

Robin, G., Soula, F., Tramoni, P., Lilley, K., Manca, L. Canu, N. 2022. Les relations spatiales entre nécropoles à hypogées et établissements de plein air en Sardaigne du 5e au 2e millénaire av. J.-C.: l’exemple de Mesu ‘e Montes à Ossi. In: Sicurani, J. (ed.), Sépultures et rites funéraires. Actes du colloque ARPPC. Calvi, p. 79-97.

Robin, G. & Adams, R. 2021. Creating a rock-cut tomb in traditional Tana Toraja (Sulawesi, Indonesia): an ethno-archaeology of stone economy and ritual. In: Sciuto C. et al. (eds), Carved in stone: the archaeology of rock-cut sites and stone quarries. Oxford: BAR Publishing, p. 49-66.

Robin, G., Soula, F. & Canu, N. 2021. Art et architectures funéraires du Néolithique final de Sardaigne: nouvelles approches. In: Ard, V., Mens, E. & Gandelin, M. (eds.), Mégalithismes et monumentalismes funéraires: Passé, présent, futur. Leiden: Sidestone Press, p. 225-243.

Robin, G. 2016. Introduction. Constructions idéelles et constructions matérielles de l’espace des morts, de la stèle gravée au paysage : pour une herméneutique de l’espace funéraire néolithique. In: Robin, G., D’Anna, A., Schmitt, A. & Bailly, M. (eds), Fonctions, utilisations et représentations de l’espace dans les sépultures monumentales du Néolithique européen. Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires de Provence, 5-14.

Robin, G. 2016. Iconographie funéraire et espace architectural dans les hypogées néolithiques de Sardaigne : quelques données empiriques pour une nouvelle approche théorique. In: Robin, G., D’Anna, A., Schmitt, A. & Bailly, M. (eds), Fonctions, utilisations et représentations de l’espace dans les sépultures monumentales du Néolithique européen. Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires de Provence, 161-183.

Robin, G., D’Anna, A., Schmitt A. & Bailly, M. 2016. Conclusion. In: Robin, G., D’Anna, A., Schmitt, A. & Bailly, M. (eds), Fonctions, utilisations et représentations de l’espace dans les sépultures monumentales du Néolithique européen. Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires de Provence, 363-368.

Robin, G. 2011. L’organisation spatiale des signes gravés dans les tombes à couloir néolithiques d’Irlande. In: Fritz, C., Bourrillon, R., Pétrognani, S., Garate, D. & Sauvet, G. (dir.), L’art des sociétés préhistoriques. Rencontres internationales doctorants et post-doctorants. Actes du colloque international de Toulouse (Préhistoire, Art et Sociétés, tome XLIV - 2009). Tarascon-sur-Ariège: Société préhistorique Ariège-Pyrénées, p. 117-126.

Robin, G., Cassen, S. 2009. L’orthostate 3 de la Table des Marchands et l’art pariétal d’Irlande : étude iconographique et symbolique comparée. In : S. Cassen (dir.), Autour de la Table : explorations archéologiques et discours savants sur une architecture néolithique restaurée à Locmariaquer, Morbihan (Table des Marchands et Grand Menhir). Nantes : Université de Nantes, p. 845-849.

Cassen, S., Robin, G. 2009. Le corpus des signes. Enregistrement et analyses descriptives. In : S. Cassen (dir.), Autour de la Table : explorations archéologiques et discours savants sur une architecture néolithique restaurée à Locmariaquer, Morbihan (Table des Marchands et Grand Menhir). Nantes : Université de Nantes, p. 819-844.

Robin, G., Cassen, S. 2009. The role of the stone in Neolithic steles and passage tomb art: case-studies and methods of representation in Ireland and Brittany. In : V. Davis & M. Edmonds (eds), Stone Artefacts as material and symbolic markers in cultural landscapes: an International perspective. Implement Petrology Group International Symposium, York, September 6th-11th 2007. Internet Archaeology 26/27, URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue26/robin_toc.html (last accessed: January 2019).

Cassen, S., Martinez, P., Robin, G., Merheb, M. 2006. Moving the immovable : a short study of methods of recording and illustrating Neolithic engraved steles in Brittany. In : R. Vergnieux & C. Delevoie (dir.), Virtual Retrospect : proceedings of the conference, Biarritz (France), November 8th-9th-10th 2005. Bordeaux: Ausonius Editions, p. 187-193.

 

-- Short articles in unrefereed conference proceedings

Boujot, C., Cassen, S., Baltzer, A., Bonniol, D., Chaigneau, C., Dardignac, C., François, P., Guibert, P., Hinguent, S., Lanos, P., Le Roux, V.E., Lorin, A., Marguerie, D., Menier, D. & Robin, G. 2009. Recherches archéologiques en cours sur les ouvrages de pierres dressées en Armorique-sud. In : D. Marguerie (dir.), Journée du CReAAH Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire. Rennes, 28 mars 2009. Rennes : Université de Rennes 1, p. 6-11.

Robin, G. 2007. Un probable réemploi de dalle gravée dans la tombe à couloir de Carnanmore (Co. Antrim, Irlande). In : G. Querré (dir.), Journée "Civilisations atlantiques & archéosciences". Rennes, 17 mars 2007. Rennes: Université de Rennes 1, p. 54-56.

Cassen, S., Robin, G. 2007. Gravures connues et inconnues à la Table des Marchands : leur enregistrement et les analyses comparatives. In : S. Cassen (dir.), Autour de la Table : explorations archéologiques et discours savants sur une architecture néolithique restaurée à Locmariaquer, Morbihan. Pré-actes du colloque international de Vannes. Nantes : Laboratoire de Préhistoire, Université de Nantes, p. 69-70.

Robin, G. 2006. Signes gravés et architectures mégalithiques autour de la mer d'Irlande: compositions, évolutions et symbolismes. In: G. Querré (dir.), Journée "Civilisations atlantiques & archéosciences". Rennes, 8 avril 2006. Rennes: Université de Rennes 1, p. 19-20.

Cassen, S., Robin, G., Lefèbvre, B., Merheb, M. 2005. Enregistrement et représentation de stèles et gravures néolithiques en Morbihan (suite). In : G. Querré (dir.), Journée "Civilisations atlantiques & Archéosciences". Rennes : Université de Rennes 1, p. 8-9.

 

-- Book reviews

Robin, G. 2019. Review of ‘The passage tomb archaeology of the great mound at Knowth’ by George Eogan and Kerri Cleary. European Journal of Archaeology 22(1), 151-155.

Robin, G. 2017. Review of 'Le dolmen de l’Ubac à Goult (Vaucluse). Archéologie, environnement et évolution des gestes funéraires dans un contexte stratifié' by Bruno Bizot and Gérard Sauzade. European Journal of Archaeology 20(2), 379-383. 

Robin, G. 2013. Compte-rendu de ‘Méditerranée mégalithique: dolmens, hypogées, sanctuaires’ par Jean Guilaine. Préhistoires Méditerranéennes 2 (2011), p. 183-185.

Robin, G. 2011. Review of ‘El arte parietal en monumentos megalitícos del Noroeste Ibérico: valoración, diagnóstico, conservación’ by Fernando Carrera Ramírez. Antiquity 85(330), p. 1488-1490.

 

-- Articles in magazines

Robin, G., Soula, F. 2019. Contextualising Late Neolithic rock-cut tomb cemeteries in Ossi, Sardinia (Italy). PAST: the newsletter of the Prehistoric Society 91, p. 2-4.

Hensey, R., Robin, G. 2012. Once upon a time in the West: the first discoveries of art in the Carrowkeel-Keashcorran passage tomb complex, Co. Sligo. Archaeology Ireland 101, p. 26-29.

Robin, G. 2006. Gravures néolithiques : esthétisme ou symbolisme ? Le Mensuel de l'Université 6 (juin 2006), www.lemensuel.net/Gravures-neolithiques-esthetisme.html.

Robin, G. 2005. Compositions et réemplois dans l’art mégalithique autour de la mer d’Irlande (IVe millénaire avant J.-C.). Traverse : revue interdisciplinaire de sciences humaines 5, p. 111-126.

 

-- Unpublished project reports

Robin, G., Soula, F., Tramoni, P., Manca, L., Castangia, N. 2017. Ossi: complesso archeologico di Mesu ‘e Montes e Monte Mannu: rilievo 3D e contestualizzazione. Soprintendenza archeologica di Sassari (Italian Ministry of Heritage), 131 p.

Robin, G., Cassen, S., Grimaud, V., Petit, C. 2016. La Vallée aux Noirs 1 et 6 (Buthiers, Seine-et-Marne). Rapport d’opération : prospections géophysiques du 24 août 2016. Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Île-de-France (French Ministry of Culture), 96 p.

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