Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Dr Maria Duggan

Research Associate Centre for Landscape

Background

Research Interests:

  • Productive landscapes of the Atlantic Seaboard of Europe and the Mediterranean
  • The history and archaeology of coastal regions
  • Trade, economy and connectivity in Late Antiquity
  • Roman and Byzantine ceramics
  • Early Medieval Western Britain


Research Project involvement

During my time at Newcastle University I have been involved in research projects in Britain, France, Greece, Turkey and Spain. In 2012 I co-authored the report of the excavations at Mothecombe in Devon, led by Prof. Sam Turner and Steve Roskams and was part of the team conducting ceramic analysis led by Dr Mark Jackson for the Apalirou Environs Project, Naxos. I was also the ceramic specialist for the imported wares for the Tintagel Castle Archaeological Research Project (TCARP) conducted by Cornwall Archaeology Unit for English Heritage, and was on the Expert Panel for this project.


Background

I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Liverpool and spent several years working in commercial archaeology in the North West of Britain. I returned to Newcastle and came to Newcastle University to conduct an MLitt and then a PhD which was completed in 2016. My AHRC-funded doctoral project 'Links to Late Antiquity: understanding contacts on the Atlantic Seaboard in the 5th to 7th centuries AD’ considered emerging ceramic evidence for connections between western Britain, Ireland and Atlantic regions of France, Spain and Portugal. This presented a new interpretation of post-Roman imported pottery recovered from British sites since the 1930s. My postdoctoral project allowed me to develop my research on these artefacts, focusing on Tintagel in Cornwall as the key site for understanding contacts between Britain, the Atlantic Seaboard, and the Mediterranean.


Editorial Roles:

Since 2016 I have been on the editorial committee of the Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores (RCRF) which is the international society for the study of Roman ceramics, and publishes a bi-annual Acta following each of its conferences.


Conferences Organised:

Distant Seas, Connected Worlds: Tintagel, Britain and Greece in Late Antiquity Symposium, 22nd January 2020, British School at Athens

Ceramics and Atlantic Connections Symposium, 26-27 March 2014, Newcastle University.

Co-organiser, EMASS 2014 (Early Medieval Archaeology Student Symposium), 19-21 May 2014, Durham University.

Co-organiser, TRAC 2011 (Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference), April 2011, Newcastle University

I also acted as co-coordinator for the MedLAB Research Forum (Early Medieval, Late Antique & Byzantine) at Newcastle University from 2012/13 to 2015/16.

Research

My current post is Research Associate for the Centre for Landscape. I work with the Centre Co-Directors and associated Newcastle University colleagues and external partners to develop, carry out and share the results of multi-disciplinary landscape research.


Previously I held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Newcastle University and the British School at Athens:

Tintagel: Trans-European Connections in the Post-Roman World

This project aims to provide a detailed assessment and analysis of the internationally significant post-Roman imported ceramic assemblage from Tintagel, Cornwall. The intention is to develop knowledge of Britain and Europe during the fifth to seventh centuries AD – specifically the nature of connections between the East Mediterranean and Atlantic, the evolution of contacts between communities living along the Atlantic Seaboard and the function of exotic commodities within the emerging societies and political structures of late antique/early medieval Western Europe. 

The project involves a collaboration with the Fitch Laboratory at the British School at Athens, which will enable a detailed scientific examination of the studied assemblage. Establishing the origins, range and quantity of material from Tintagel will allow a full reconsideration of the site in its British, Atlantic and international context during this crucial period of European transformation.

The project is grateful for the support from The Duchy of Cornwall, English Heritage,The Royal Cornwall Museum, The British Museum, and Cornwall Archaeology Unit for accessing collections.

Teaching

Teaching at Newcastle University:

I have been a seminar group leader for the first year undergraduate history module World Empires (2012/13-2015/16).

I have given lectures and seminars on undergraduate and postgraduate modules AArchaeologies of the Roman Empire, Early Medieval Northern Europe, and Early Medieval Britain and Europe. I have co-taught the history module The Dark Ages: Early Medieval Europe and its Neighbours 500–900. I have provided teaching as part of the Graduate Seminar in Roman Archaeology and The Medieval World AD 400-1500.


I have trained multiple students participating in research excavations and surveys in the UK and overseas since 2001: (e.g. Mothecombe for Newcastle University and Besthorpe Quarry for the University of Manchester), in France (Chassenon), Turkey (Pisidia and Aspendos) and Greece (Apalirou Environs Project)


I have also organised and led/co-led one-day external training workshops at Newcastle University:

Leader for one-day masterclass for CIAS (Cluster for Interdisciplinary Artefact Studies), The Digital Illustration of Ceramics.

Co-leader for one-day specialist ceramic training workshop for CIAS, An Introduction to the Late Roman Pottery of Southern England and Fifth and Sixth Century Imported Mediterranean Ceramics.

Publications