Professor Helena Hamerow

Professor of Early Medieval Archaeology

helena.hamerow@arch.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests

The archaeology of northwest Europe from AD 400-1000; Early medieval rural settlements and economy; The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England; Links between England and mainland Europe c 400-700.

Research activities

My research focuses on the archaeology of early medieval northwest Europe, c 400-1000. Recent projects have examined the impact of lordship, monasteries and population growth on farms and farming. I am also interested in ‘Great Hall' complexes in England and what burials reveal about the position of women during the Conversion period. I am currently working with the Ashmolean Museum as External Curator of a special exhibition on early Anglo-Saxon England in its European context.

I am PI of an ERC-funded project called ‘Feeding Anglo-Saxon England. The Bioarchaeology of an Agricultural Revolution' (‘FeedSax'; http://feedsax.arch.ox.ac.uk ). Using preserved cereal grains, faunal remains, pollen and other data, the FeedSax team is tracing the emergence and spread of key innovations that enabled medieval farmers to feed a rapidly growing population: systematic crop rotation, widespread adoption of the mouldboard plough, and ‘extensive', low-input cultivation.

I am also one of four PIS of 'Molecular Ecology of Medieval European Landscapes' (MEMELAND), funded by an ERC Synergy Grant (https://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/article/prof-helena-hamerow-one-four-oxford-academics-receive-erc-synergy-grants-address-complex). This project will examine the impact of medieval farming regimes on the biodiversity of northern European landscapes using sedimentary DNA and archaeobotanical remains.