British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
British Academy Reckitt Travelling Fellowships in Archaeology: Past awards
Date of award: 2003 | 2001 | 2000
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2003
Foyle, Dr Jonathan
(University of Reading, Department of Archaeology)
The Archaeology of the High Renaissance: Continental Precedents for English Architecture, c1480–1530
The British Academy Reckitt Archaeological Travelling Fellowship will enable Dr Foyle to carry out a systematic research programme charting the influence of European High Renaissance forms, materials and decorative details on English architecture c.1480-1530, with an attempt to distinguish the personalities and craftsmen responsible. It will build on his PhD thesis on Cardinal Wolsey’s architectural patronage at Hampton Court from 1515-28 which identified the innovative usage of materials such as sgraffito (incised external plaster) and terracotta, typical of central and northern Italy respectively. Dr Foyle's thesis also attributed the spatial relationships of Hampton Court to a recently printed Roman architectural prescription, Paolo Cortesi’s De Cardinalatu (1510). These two aspects alone now suggest that the first concerted adoption of Roman Renaissance culture in England was during the reign of the Medici pope Leo X (1513-21), and specifically linked to Wolsey as a papal representative. Though scholars have previously suggested that English Renaissance ornament was generally derived from printed marginalia, little research has been conducted on specific sources, and my study of this aspect will include libraries in Europe and New York. This generous opportunity to travel is crucial: both in order to define the patterns and patronal typologies of Renaissance architecture, and to spend time at the appropriate archives. The result is intended to be published in book form.
Gascoigne, Dr Alison
(University of Cambridge, The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research)
The Archaeology of Provincial Urbanism in Early Islamic Egypt
Although Egypt was a province of both the Roman and Islamic empires, the country’s distinct cultural traditions prevent the direct application of theories developed elsewhere in the Middle East to Egyptian provincial urban archaeological sites. Unfortunately, such sites remain almost entirely unrecorded and unanalysed. I intend to rectify this by means of a large-scale survey of the Mediterranean port and manufacturing centre of Tell Tinnis. The results of this survey will be examined in the light of more limited surveys of other Islamic provincial centres, most notably the regional capital of Ansina in Middle Egypt, allowing the construction of a paradigm of urban development in early Islamic Egypt. Such a model will bring our knowledge into line with that of other provinces in the Islamic empire and allow comparison with sites elsewhere, most notably those where the concession is held by the Institut Français du Proche Orient in Damascus, with whom Dr Gascoigne has arranged a collaboration.
2001
Braghin, Dr C
(University of Oxford, Institute of Archaeology)
An Archaeological Study of Glass in China
Dr Cecilia Braghin aims to use the Reckitt Fellowship to travel extensively in China and to conduct research on ancient glass artefacts for publication, possibly in the Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice, series Orientalia Venetiana. The book will be entitled New Insights into the History of Glass in China: Reconstructing the Uses of Glass Artefacts from the Han to the Song. As well as writing an essay on the use of glass as a substitute for jade in the Han period (221BC–207AD), Dr Braghin will also edit essays by two other scholars (Professor An Jiayao from the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, and Dr Shen Hsueh-man from the Sackler Museum at Harvard), on the glass vessels and ornaments of the Northern Dynasties (220–558AD), and on the glass Buddhist reliquaries of the Tang and Song Dynasties (618–1279AD) respectively.
Milwright, Dr M
(University of Edinburgh and British Institute of Persian Studies)
A Survey of Islamic Architecture in Iran (637–1219)
Dr Marcus Milwright will use the Reckitt Fellowship to undertake two fieldwork trips to western Iran (comprising the regions of Iranian Azerbaijan, Gilan and other areas). The aim of these trips is to visit all the Islamic buildings in this region predating the Mongol conquest of Iran (c.1219). Detailed written and photographic records will be made for each building. The notes taken during these trips will be supplemented by periods of library research in Teheran and Oxford. Participation in two surveys in Khurasan has already given Dr Milwright a familiarity with the early Islamic structures in the east of the country. The Reckitt Fellowship will, first, allow him to broaden the scope of his knowledge of the development of Persian architecture and architectural ornament during this formative period. Secondly, it is designed to fill in vital gaps in the published record of the mentioned monuments. Results of this work will be presented in the form of a regional gazetteer with additional chapters covering themes including structural innovation, the role of inscriptions, and the evolution of architectural ornament.
2000
Menotti, Dr F
The Northern Alpine Lake-Dwellers: Response to Climatic Variability during the Middle Bonze Age.
One of the most intriguing hiatuses in human occupation occurred in the northern Alpine region during the Middle Bronze Age, when the lake shores were completely deserted at the beginning of the 15th century BC, and resettled more than three centuries later.
Recent studies argue for cultural continuity with the occurrence of a "temporary" inland shift of the lacustrine communities, accompanied by cultural change in response to environmental variability.
The purpose of Dr Francesco Menotti's project for the Reckitt Travelling Fellowship is twofold: first, to find out a possible link between the late Early Bronze Age lacustrine groups and those Middle Bronze Age "terrestrial" communities which populated the vicinities of the lakes but not their shores; and secondly, to explore the different ways in which the various lacustrine groups adapted themselves to the new dry environment before resettling the lakes.
During fieldwork for his doctorate, Dr Menotti had the opportunity to collaborate with the most prominent institutions involved in lake-dwelling research in the Alpine region (including the HCNRS [Besançon, France], the Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für – Ur – und Frühgeschichte [Basel, Switzerland], the University of Zurich, and the Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg [Hemmenhofen, Germany]. The Reckitt Fellowship will give him the possibility of spending more time at these research centres in order to collect more scientific data for the development of more detailed GIS analyses.
Stamatopoulou, Dr M
Ancient Cemeteries of Thessaly
Dr Maria Stamatopoulou's Reckitt Fellowship will contribute significantly to her preparation for publication of the important excavations of ancient cemetery sites in Thessaly, most notably Demetrias and Pharsalos, conducted by the Archaeological Society of Athens between 1906–1926 and 1948–1955 respectively.
The archaeological material of Demetrias, the second most important Macedonian city on Greek soil, includes one of the largest available bodies of ancient Greek paintings, a rich group of terracottas from the funerary sanctuary of Pasikrata, rich jewellery and metalware, as well as various funerary offerings significant not only for artistic reasons but also because they help understanding of Hellenistic culture and beliefs.
This publication requires substantial travel – to museums housing relevant archaeological material for comparative analysis, and to academic institutions which are pioneers in the application of advanced photographic techniques. The British Academy Reckitt Travelling Fellowship will enable Dr Stamatopoulou to complete the compilation of all the primary and comparative evidence and to acquire useful knowledge on new methods of research which will be of benefit for future research and teaching.