University of Oxford
School of Archaeology
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Professor Amy Bogaard

ab
Professor of European Archaeology
amy.bogaard@arch.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests

My research focus is early farming practice in Europe and Western Asia, from farming origins to early cities. To investigate the nature of early farming we need frameworks to compare ancient and present-day 'traditional' practices. Research methods therefore range from archaeological excavation and archaeobotanical analysis to survey and characterisation of present-day farming systems. In combination these approaches open up a 'dialogue' between past and present farming. I'm particularly interested in how farming practice relates to storage systems, diet, inequality and sustainability.

Keywords: Later prehistory; archaeobotany; farming; land use; stable isotopes and palaeodietary studies; housing; inequality

Geographic Areas: Europe and western Asia

Research activities

  • Exploring the Dynamics and Causes of Prehistoric Land Use Change in the Cradle of European Farming (EXPLO) project (European Research Council SYNERGY project; Oxford PI Bogaard). Project website available here and School webpage here. 
  • Feeding Anglo-Saxon England (FEEDSAX) project (European Research Council, PI Hamerow)
  • The Agricultural Origins of Urban Civilization (AGRICURB) project (European Research Council, PI Bogaard)
  • Excavations on the Lower Gypsades hill, Knossos, Crete

Research awards

Shanghai Archaeology Forum Research Award 2025 for The Global Dynamics of Inequality over the Long Term (GINI project) 

Christiane and Jean Guilaine Prize 2025

Fellow of the British Academy (2021)

Shanghai Archaeology Forum Research Award for AGRICURB (ERC) and Crop stable isotope (NERC) projects (2015)

 

 

 

Key words: bioarchaeology, biocultural heritage, farming and herding, inequality, land use, urbanisation, later prehistory, Europe, W Asia, Eurasia, Africa, W Asia