Dr Niall Finneran 

Reader in Early Medieval Archaeology 

Humanities and Social Sciences 

Email:

Niall.Finneran@winchester.ac.uk 

Phone:

+44 (0)1962 827074 

Fax:

+44 (0)1962 827103 

Address:

Biography

After studying Arabic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, I took my undergraduate degree in archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, graduating in 1995. I was then appointed a British Institute in Eastern Africa graduate scholar, which gave me archaeological fieldwork experience in Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. I maintained a strong Ethiopian focus, writing my PhD (1999) at the University of Cambridge on a landscape study of the Aksum region of northern Ethiopia.

As a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the department of art history and archaeology, SOAS, London, from 2000-3, I developed teaching and research orientations in the medieval archaeological landscapes of Ethiopia, comparative approaches to the archaeology of early Christianity, monastic archaeology, the archaeology of Christianisation in the landscape and the material culture of eastern Christian churches in relation to their western counterparts.

From 2003-6, I lectured in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton, developing these themes further. I have directed fieldwork in Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria and South-West England.

My current research stresses a comparative approach to the archaeology of the early medieval period and the material culture of early Christianity in particular, and my studies in monastic archaeology have been based upon my primary work in Ethiopia (Lalibela; Tigray), Egypt and Syria and increasingly in South-West England. I am also engaged in collaborative research on the historical and maritime landscapes of the eastern Caribbean, specifically the island of Barbados, am running a joint archaeological field school/research project focussing on the archaeology of the post-emancipation period and the historical maritime context of Barbados.

Expertise

• Early Christianity in Ethiopia and the Levant
• Medieval Landscape Archaeology
• The Archaeology of Monastisism
• The Archaeology of Religious Identity
• Cultural Resource Management in Africa and Arabia

Publications

Books, authored

Finneran, N. (2007) The Archaeology of Ethiopia. London: Routledge.

Finneran, N. (2005) Alexandria: A City and Myth. Stroud: Tempus.

Finneran, N. (2002) The Archaeology of Christianity in Africa. Stroud: Tempus.

Edited monograph

Finneran, N. (2006) Safeguarding Africa's Past: Papers from the one-day conference, London, March 17th 2001. Oxford: Archaeopress, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports International Series 1454.

Edited works: contributions

Finneran 2010. ‘The invisible archaeology of slavery in the Horn of Africa?’. In: P. Lane and K. MacDonald (eds) Comparative Dimensions of Slavery in Africa: Archaeology and Memory, Proceedings of the British Academy Special Volume 168. London: British Academy, pp 225-49.

Finneran, N. and Tribe, T. (2004) 'Towards an archaeology of kingship and monasticism in medieval Ethiopia'. In: T. Insoll (ed.) Belief in the Past. The Proceedings of the Manchester Conference on Archaeology and Religion. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports International Series 1212, pp 63-74.

Finneran, N. (2004) 'The Shire archaeological landscape, northern Ethiopia. Towards a workable sites and monuments register'. In: P. Mitchell et al. (eds) African Archaeology in Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxford Archaeological Monographs, pp 139-44.

Finneran, N. (2007) 'Globalising Ethiopian Christian material culture: Ethiopia and the Syriac world in the 6th century'. In: A. Harris (ed.) Globalising Late Antiquity. Reading: Reading Medieval Studies, pp. 75-90.

Finneran, N. (2009) ‘Holy waters: Pre-Christian and Christian water association in Ethiopia. An archaeological landscape perspective’. In: T. Ostegaard (ed.) Water, Culture and Identity in the Nile Basin. Bergen: University of Bergen Press, pp 165-87.

Finneran, N. (2010). ‘Protecting Egypt’s Christian Heritage’. In: F. Hassan and G. Tassie (eds) Managing Egypt’s Heritage: Proceedings of the First International Egyptian Cultural Heritage Organisation Conference, London 2004. London: ECHO, pp 7-14.

Finneran, N. (2010). 'Not Quite Being Byzantine. Byzantium and Its Neighbours. The Monophysites: Syria, Egypt, the Holy Land, Ethiopia, Armenia, Georgia, Nestorians'. Chapter for Blackwell Companion to Byzantium, (E. James ed.). Oxford: Blackwell, pp 199-223 .

Journal papers: academic

2011. In press. Lalibela in its Landscape. Azania.

2011. In press. Lucy to Lalibela: Heritage and Identity in Ethiopia in the twenty-first century. International Journal of Heritage Studies.

Finneran, N. (2000) 'New perspectives on the Late Stone Age of northern Ethiopia: excavations at Anqqer Baahti, Aksum, 1996' Azania 35: 21-51.

Finneran, N. (2000) 'Excavations at Baahti Nebait, Aksum, northern Ethiopia, 1997' Azania 35: 53-73.

Desie, A., Cain, C., Finneran, N., Harlow, M. and Phillips, J. (2002) 'Combating the destruction of Ethiopia's archaeological heritage' Antiquity 76: 955-6.

Finneran, N. (2003) 'A Divine Purpose? The legacy of T.C. Lethbridge' Folklore 114/1: 107-14.

Finneran, N. (2003) 'The persistence of memory: national identity and migrationism. A case study from African and Ethiopian archaeology' Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism 3.1: 21-37.

Finneran, N. (2003) 'Evil eye belief in Ethiopia and the magical symbolism of iron working' Folklore 114/3: 427-36.

Finneran, N. (2003) 'The monasteries of Shire, northern Ethiopia' Ecclesiology Today 30: 3-9.

Finneran, N. and Phillips, J. (2003) 'The prehistoric settlement of the Shire region, western Tigray, Ethiopia. Some preliminary observations' Nyame Akuma 57: 26-33.

Finneran, N. and Phillips, J. (2003) 'The Shire region archaeological landscape survey 2001: a preliminary report' Azania 37: 139-47.

Finneran, N. and Turner, S. (2003) 'The archaeological landscape of Little Haldon, near Teignmouth, South Devon', Transactions of the Devonshire Association 135: 235-60.

Finneran, N. (2004) 'Two eastern Christian churches in London' Ecclesiology Today 33: 9-14.

Finneran, N. and Loosley, E. (2005) 'Monastic archaeology in Syria: Excavations at the monastery of Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Syria, 2001-2003: an interim report'. Levant 37: 48-56.

Finneran, N. and Phillips, J. (2005) 'The Shire Archaeological Landscape' Annales d'Ethiopie 21: 7-29.

Finneran, N. (2006) 'Archaeology and the Oriental Orthodox Churches: a question of responsibility' Glastonbury Review 12: 312-21.

Finneran, N. (2008) (with N. Hanks, J. Parsons and G. Tassie). ‘(Middle) East meets (South) West. Reflections on the Abu Dhabi archaeological training programme, Slaughterbridge, Cornwall, May 2007’ The Archaeologist: Journal of the Institute of Field Archaeologists 67 Spring 2008: 20-22.

Finneran, N. (2009) 'Built by angels? Towards a buildings archaeology context for the rock-hewn medieval churches of Ethiopia' World Archaeology 41/3: 415-29.

Finneran, N. (2009). 'The Copts and the Cornish: the eastern Mediterranean and the formation of a Christian identity in post-Roman south-western Britain' Glastonbury Review Special Edition Festchrift for Abba Seraphim, Metropolitan of Glastonbury 117: 46-79.

Finneran, N. (2009). ‘Settlement archaeology and oral history in Lasta, Ethiopia’, Azania 44/3: 281-91.

Finneran, N. (2009). (With R. Aerts, M. Haile and J. Poesen) ‘The Accumulation of Stone Age Lithic Artifacts in Rock Fragment Mulches in Northern Ethiopia’ Geoarchaeology: An International Journal, 25/1: 137–48

Encyclopaedia contributions

Finneran, N. (2004) Entries for the Encyclopaedia of African History (K. Shillington ed.), London: Routledge/ New York: Taylor and Francis (three entries).

Finneran, N. (2006) Entries for the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica (S. Uhlig ed.), Hamburg: Asien-Afrika Institut (Volume II) (eight entries)

Finneran, N. (2007) Entries for The City and Urban Life (J. Rogozinski ed.) New York: M. E. Sharpe inc. (Section 12: urbanism in the Horn of Africa: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia).

Finneran, N. (2007). Entries for New Encyclopaedia of Africa (second ed.), (K. Wachsberger ed.) Scribner: Farmington Hills, Mo. (four entries).

Finneran, N. (2009). Entries for the Encyclopedia of African Thought (Abiola Irele ed.), New York: Routledge. (Three entries)

Research Interests

• Comparative approaches to early medieval/early Christian landscapes, specifically in northern Ethiopia, Egypt, the Levant and south-western England
• Cross-cultural approaches to monastic archaeology
  Archaeology of religious identity, specifically comparative approaches to early Christian material culture in the west and east, and relations with Islam; landscapes of conversion
• Developing new applications and directions in landscape archaeology methodology
• Maritime archaeology: historic and industrial seascapes of Barbados and south-western England.
• Cultural heritage management in Egypt and Ethiopia

Current Research Projects

Tintagel Environs Survey Project/Slaughterbridge Training Excavation Project, Cornwall (TESP/STEP)

This collaborative community survey and excavation project (with Joe Parsons of North Cornwall Heritage, Camelford) seeks to understand the archaeological landscape of the inland region to the south, west and northeast of the medieval site at Tintagel, focussing mainly (but not exclusively) on the early medieval landscape and the visibility of the tin trade and international trading links. We are also developing a maritime archaeology study, with sea bed survey along the coastline as well as coastal survey. Actual archaeological excavation is based at the site of Slaughterbridge; this site makes for an ideal training excavation (in 2007 we welcomed trained students from the United Arab Emirates and SOAS there).

Find out more about my work in Cornwall.

Little Haldon archaeological landscape project, Devon (LHALP)

This small-scale archaeological survey project looks at the evolution of the historical landscape of the Little Haldon upland area to the north of Teignmouth, south Devon and its adjacent areas. In the past, survey work has focussed on the archaeological visibility of a 1044 charter boundary, and a multi-period desk-top HLC study of data gathered from the SMR as well as new data generated by field survey. In the future, it is hoped to extend the focus into the historical period, looking, for instance, at the archaeology of the airfield on the plateau and on the fringes of the study area the archaeology of Brunel's South Devon Railway (the 'atmospheric'). This is a collaboration with Dr Sam Turner, University of Newcastle (1993), part-funded by the Catherine Linehan Memorial Fund (2003). Other work conducted under the general aegis of the LHALP includes collaborative community work with the University of Chester at Kingskerswell on early medieval ecclesiastical sites, and integrated maritime and riverine surveys.

Lalibela: the emergence and development of a medieval Ethiopian capital

This project extends my archaeological focus in Ethiopia to the central highlands, and the medieval period of Ethiopia, a period which has hitherto been dominated by art historical approaches to the data. Focussing on the famous site of Lalibela, the goal of the project is to seek to understand the landscape archaeology context of this UNESCO WHS, which is best known globally for its rock-cut churches which are held to date from the 12th century. The project design focusses not on the buildings but on the space in between and around them; using remote sensing technology, an archaeological context for the site is defined.

This project, which is planned for a five-year duration dependent on finance, is conducted in collaboration with the French Centre of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa. Phase 1 of the project was funded in 2007 by the British Academy Small Research Grants Programme (no SG-47162) and phase 2 in 2009 was conducted in collaboration with the French Institute of Ethiopian Studies (CFEE; Dr Marie-Laure Derat; Dr Claire Bosc-Tiesse, Dr Francois-Xavier Fauvelle).

Find out more about the Lalibela project.

Funding Awards and Professional Membership

2007- Topographies of Power. Lalibela: the emergence and development of a medieval Ethiopian capital. A landscape archaeology perspective.

2007. British Academy small research grant; April 2007 competition, grant number SG-47162.

2008. French Centre of Ethiopian Studies (CFEE).

2007. Slaughterbridge Training Excavation Project (STEP)

2007. United Arab Emirates Training Team.

2008. Internal research funding, University of Winchester.

2003- Speightstown Community Archaeology and Training Project.

2003. SOAS Central Research Fund. For individual study trip to study Diaspora archaeology and material culture.

2008. University of Winchester, Research Knowledge Transfer fund. Pump priming funding to establish field school and research project in Speightstown, Barbados.

2003- Between the Rivers: the Exminster Hundred and Little Haldon archaeological landscape project, Devon, UK (co-application with Dr Samuel Turner, University of Newcastle).

2003. Catherine Linehan Memorial Fund.

2005 Alexandria Mapping Project (co-application with Mr. Geoffrey Tassie, Egyptian Cultural Heritage Organisation and on behalf of Martyn Gregory Archaeology Ltd.)

2005. Private sponsorship.

2003-2004. Mar Elian Monastery Excavations, Qaryatayn, Syria (co-applications with Dr Emma Loosley, University of Manchester).

2003. Council for British Research in the Levant.

2004. Society of Antiquaries of London.

2004. University of Southampton Small Research Grant.

2002. Alexandria, Egypt.

2002. SOAS Central Research Fund. For individual study trip relating to production of book Alexandria: a City and Myth (Stroud: Tempus),2005.

2001-2002. Lalibela monasteries study project, Ethiopia (co-applications with Dr Tania Tribe, SOAS).

2000. Society of Antiquaries of London Research Committee.

2002. Society of Antiquaries of London.

2000-2005. Shire Region Research Archaeological Landscape Project, Tigray, Ethiopia (co-applications with Dr Jacke Phillips, University of Cambridge).

2000. British Institute in Eastern Africa.

2001. Society of Antiquaries of London Research Committee.

2003. British Institute in Eastern Africa.

2003. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.

2003. Society of Antiquaries of London.

1995-1999. Post-Pleistocene Socio-Economic Developments in the Northern Ethiopian/Eritrean Highlands: A Case Study for Aksum, Tigray. PhD project, University of Cambridge.

1996. James Swan Fund, University of Oxford.

1996. Joan and Leonard Gluckstein Fund, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

1997. James Swan Fund, University of Oxford.

1997. Joan and Leonard Gluckstein Fund, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.