Professor Helena Hamerow

Professor of Early Medieval Archaeology, Director of the Institute of Archaeology

+44 (0)1865 278245

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 Profile

Research activities

My research focuses on the archaeology of early medieval northwest Europe, c 400-1000. Recent research projects have examined the impact of lordship, monasteries and towns on rural producers and the agrarian economy. I am also interested in what burials reveal about the position of women during the Conversion period.

I am PI of a five-year 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, FeedSax is tracing the emergence and spread of innovations that enabled medieval farmers to feed a rapidly growing population: crop rotation, widespread adoption of the mouldboard plough, and low-input, extensive, cultivation.

I am also interested in the formation of the kingdom of Wessex, whose origins lie in the Upper Thames Valley and have been involved in a range of fieldwork in this region (www.arch.ox.ac.uk/wessex).