- Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA)
Poststraat 6
9712 ER Groningen
The Netherlands
Steven Matthews
German Archaeological Institute, Central Department Berlin, Faculty Member
- University of Groningen, Groningen Institute of Archaeology, Graduate Studentadd
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Material Culture Studies, Archaeological Method & Theory, Experimental Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, and 35 moreBronze Age Europe (Archaeology), Rock Art (Archaeology), Social Archaeology, Archaeometallurgy, Bronze Age (Archaeology), Theoretical Archaeology, Iron Age Britain (Archaeology), Bronze Age Archaeology, Metalwork (Archaeology), The body in archaeology, Iron Age (Archaeology) (Archaeology), Prehistoric Conflicts, Late Bronze Age archaeology, Use Wear Analysis, Bronze Age warfare, Archaeology of Gestures, Late Bronze Age Weaponry and Metallurgy, Atlantic Bronze Age, Development of complex societies, History of Archaeology, Iron Age, Bronze Age of the Carpathian Basin, Peer-Polity Interaction, Bronze Age metal hoards, Mediterranean prehistory, Late Bronze Age, Bronze Age swords, Ancient Weapons and Warfare, Età del Bronzo, Protohistory, Protohistoric Iberian Peninsula, Early Iron Age, Bronze And Iron Age In Mediterrarranean (Archaeology), Evolutionary Archaeology, and Evolutionary Theory (Archaeology)edit
- ACADEMIC HISTORY: I completed my undergraduate degree in Archaeology at the University of Southampton, with a disse... moreACADEMIC HISTORY:
I completed my undergraduate degree in Archaeology at the University of Southampton, with a dissertation on the role of human remains, bodily practice and burial rites in Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain. A Masters degree was undertaken at the University of Manchester, with a thesis exploring the bodily gestures, technical practices, and material culture of late Mesolithic societies in southern Scandinavia.
I joined the Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, Netherlands, as a doctoral researcher in 2007 studying the social and technical aspects of Bronze Age metalwork in northwest Europe, with an emphasis on Middle and Late Bronze Age weapons in Western Europe.
DOCTORAL RESEARCH:
My PhD thesis is concerned with changes in Sword technology during the Later Bronze Age (c. 1400-950 BC) of Western Europe. This study has paid particular attention to developing explicitly archaeological systematics to the study of copper-alloy artefacts and the analysis of technological transmission. The study combines a large-scale study of both technical and use-wear data which is structured and analysed in terms of a range of morphological, spatial and temporal units, in order to construct a ‘bottom-up’ approach to the archaeological study of patterns of technological change and transmission across Western Europe. A particular emphasis is placed on the concepts of ‘style’ and ‘function’, as well as between homology and analogy, in relation to down-the-line processes of technological transmission. This study will be published as a monograph in late 2019.
OTHER RESEARCH – EUROPEAN BRONZE AGE:
I am also involved in a number of individual and collaborative projects. This includes a major re-analysis of the metallurgy of the Late Bronze Age weapons of the North Atlantic façade of Western Europe in conjunction with a number of colleagues. This study if part of a wider analysis of technological change and transmission across Western Europe that effected the terminal phases of the Late Bronze Age, as part of the re-organisation of social networks that preceded the transition to the Iron Age. I am also working on a forthcoming catalogue of all Middle and Late Bronze Age weapons of the Low Countries and France.
OTHER RESEARCH – NORTHEAST AFRICA:
In late 2017 I submitted a successful application to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation), as part of the SPP ‘Entangled Africa’ research group (http://www.entangled-africa.org), to study technological transmission across central and northeast Africa during the Early Iron Age.
The project, titled ‘Connecting Foodways: Cultural Entanglement and Technological Transmission between the Middle Nile valley and central and eastern Africa during the Early Iron Age’ begun in January 2019 and will run for an initial period of 3 years. The project is based at the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI: German Archaeological Institute) in Berlin, under the supervision of Dr. S. Wolf.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
- Archaeological systematics
- Evolutionary Archaeology
- Culture-historical archaeology
- Late Bronze Age
- Later Prehistory; Western Europe
- Later Prehistory; Northwest Africa
- Ceramics
- Copper-alloy artefacts
- Trace-wear analysis
- Technological and functional analysis
- archaeometallurgy
- Material Culture studies
- The social history and theory of Culture History in archaeology
- The theories and methods of an Archaeology of Gestureedit
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This paper presents the results of survey and excavations carried out in the Wakarida region by the French Archaeological Mission in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Here we discuss a series of late first-millennium BC occupation sites. The... more
This paper presents the results of survey and excavations carried out in the Wakarida region by the French Archaeological Mission in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Here we discuss a series of late first-millennium BC occupation sites. The sites, material culture, and landscape evolution are reviewed in relation to current arguments concerning Sabaean influence on highland cultural development in Ethiopia during the pre-Aksumite period. This contribution underlines the strong cultural continuity of pottery traditions throughout the period until the development of the Aksumite polity at the end of the first millennium BC, highlighting the lack of a 'proto-Aksumite' equivalent in eastern Tigray. The absence of any clear traces of South Arabian influence on local cultures in this region, despite its relative proximity to sites such as Meqaber Gaʿewa and Ziban Adi which demonstrate links to the Daʿmat polity, are discussed.
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The study of domestic culinary traditions provides a new means for investigating indigenous African cultural interaction between early Iron Age complex societies across sub-Saharan Northern Africa. The Connecting Foodways project employs... more
The study of domestic culinary traditions provides a new means for investigating indigenous African cultural interaction between early Iron Age complex societies across sub-Saharan Northern Africa. The Connecting Foodways project employs a perspective which focuses on the degree to which African foodways and inner-African interaction were an integral part of day to day non-elite lifeways. This research is centered on specific culinary markers, based around certain technological characteristics (such as globular pots, mat-impressed surfaces, and finger-tip impressed bases), combined with the analysis of botanical and faunal remains, which serve as the basis for investigating regional interaction in cooking practices.
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The full publication can be downloaded as a PDF at:
http://sfdas.com/publications/publications-de-la-sfdas/article/concise-manual-for-ceramic-studies?lang=en
http://sfdas.com/publications/publications-de-la-sfdas/article/concise-manual-for-ceramic-studies?lang=en
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The study of past foodways, especially bread traditions, has emerged as an exciting field of archaeological inquiry. Of note are flatbreads, and the ceramic griddle plates used in their production. These have both a historical and global... more
The study of past foodways, especially bread traditions, has emerged as an exciting field of archaeological inquiry. Of note are flatbreads, and the ceramic griddle plates used in their production. These have both a historical and global distribution, with multiple centres for development and diffusion, reflecting the use of a variety of foodstuffs for making breads. Whilst such foods are familiar in Western Europe, typically as luxury or celebratory consumables like French crêpes and galettes or Dutch poffertjes and spekdik, the associated food technologies are not, having been replaced by modern analogues. Elsewhere flatbreads remain dietary staples, and this ubiquity is reflected in the technologies used to prepare them. It is no surprise then that griddle plates are a common feature of archaeological ceramic assemblages around the world. Griddle plate use, however, favours household-scale baking, being closely associated with non-elite culinary activities and domestic production of cooking wares. Their study has therefore focussed on local pottery techniques, culinary preferences, and ethnographic comparison. Coarse, handmade cooking vessels are rarely employed in the study of interregional interaction or cultural transmission. This is unfortunate, given the often wide distribution of similar cooking technologies. Interregional connections and cultural transmission should therefore be central to the study of the adoption of new culinary practices. Noting recent prehistoric and historical finds of ceramic griddle plates in Europe, we demonstrate the importance of tracing heritable continuity in culinary technologies. We aim to determine between local innovation and interregional diffusion in the spread and adoption of foodstuffs and food technologies, using current research into flatbread traditions and ceramic griddle plates during the early Iron Age of northeast Africa (c. 1000 BC-AD 1000).
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The archaeology of food has great potential for developing a more inclusive approach to the investigation of past African society and interaction beyond a traditional emphasis on the lifestyles and activities of social elites. Using the... more
The archaeology of food has great potential for developing a more inclusive approach to the investigation of past African society and interaction beyond a traditional emphasis on the lifestyles and activities of social elites. Using the Middle Nile Valley as an example, the concept of archaeological 'culinary traditions' is employed as a framework for exploring interaction both within the kingdom of Kush and with neighbouring communities. A survey of Kushite kitchen contexts and the material culture of food preparation, cooking and consumption establishes the cuisine of Kush as part of broader Sub-Saharan traditions and highlights interregional connections across north-central and northeastern Africa during the Early Iron Age.
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This paper presents the results of survey and excavations carried out in the Wakarida region by the French Archaeological Mission in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Here we discuss a series of late first-millennium BC occupation sites. The... more
This paper presents the results of survey and excavations carried out in the Wakarida region by the French
Archaeological Mission in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Here we discuss a series of late first-millennium BC occupation
sites. The sites, material culture, and landscape evolution are reviewed in relation to current arguments concerning
Sabaean influence on highland cultural development in Ethiopia during the pre-Aksumite period. This contribution
underlines the strong cultural continuity of pottery traditions throughout the period until the development of
the Aksumite polity at the end of the first millennium BC, highlighting the lack of a ‘proto-Aksumite’ equivalent in
eastern Tigray. The absence of any clear traces of South Arabian influence on local cultures in this region, despite
its relative proximity to sites such as Meqaber Gaʿewa and Ziban Adi which demonstrate links to the Daʿmat polity,
are discussed.
Archaeological Mission in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Here we discuss a series of late first-millennium BC occupation
sites. The sites, material culture, and landscape evolution are reviewed in relation to current arguments concerning
Sabaean influence on highland cultural development in Ethiopia during the pre-Aksumite period. This contribution
underlines the strong cultural continuity of pottery traditions throughout the period until the development of
the Aksumite polity at the end of the first millennium BC, highlighting the lack of a ‘proto-Aksumite’ equivalent in
eastern Tigray. The absence of any clear traces of South Arabian influence on local cultures in this region, despite
its relative proximity to sites such as Meqaber Gaʿewa and Ziban Adi which demonstrate links to the Daʿmat polity,
are discussed.
Research Interests:
Abstract (EN): The significance of the Channel in the later Bronze Age is best understood in terms of its relationship to the Atlantic Bronze Age complex. Sometime around the beginning of the 14th century the relationship between other... more
Abstract (EN): The significance of the Channel in the later Bronze Age is best understood in terms of its relationship to the Atlantic Bronze Age complex. Sometime around the beginning of the 14th century the relationship between other parts of the British Isles and southern England changed, re-orientating the interests of the latter toward the near Continent, and in particular northern France. Locally the distinction can be summed up as the transformation from the earlier Channel 'maritories', those communities that serviced the movement of artefacts across the Channel, to a full Channel Bronze Age 'culture', where the communities on both sides shared widely in the same artefacts and social practices. The difference is significant. Rowlands has described the latter grouping of communities as encompassing a Channel 'core zone' and it was this that was integral to the development of the Atlantic complex. We should not confuse the Bronze Age of the Atlantic region, representative only of contemporary societies related by a shared geography, with the Atlantic Bronze Age complex, a social and political phenomenon that shared in similar artefacts and practices, but which did not encompass all the geographic regions of the Atlantic. The latter was facilitated by the geography of the Atlantic region but was by no means shaped nor constrained by it. As we shall see, it is the Channel communities of north France and southeast England, those regions that do not even face the Atlantic that very much came to form the core of this complex. However, just as the extent of the complex has been exaggerated in the past, so too has its homogeneity.
Résumé (FR): La place du Channel est mieux comprise dans ses relations avec le complexe atlantique à la fin de l'Âge du bronze. Quelque part du côté du XIVe siècle avant notre ère, les relations entre les différentes parties du sud de l'Angleterre et des îles britanniques changent, réorientant ses centres d'intérêt vers le continent et tout particulièrement le nord de la France. Localement, la distinction peut être mise en évidence d'une transformation depuis les premières « maritories » du Channel, qui ont servi les déplacements des artefacts par le Channel, jusqu'à une pleine culture de l'Âge du bronze, dans laquelle les communautés des deux côtés partagent les mêmes artefacts et pratiques sociales. La différence est claire. Rowlands a décrit les derniers regroupements de communautés comme une englobante « Core zone » du Channel, et c'est cela qui a été intégré au développement du complexe atlantique. Nous ne devrions pas confondre l'Âge du bronze avec l'Atlantic région, représentative seulement des sociétés contemporaines reliées par une géographie commune et le Complexe du Bronze Atlantique, entendu comme un phénomène social et politique qui regroupe des objets et des pratiques similaires, mais qui ne rassemble pas toutes les régions géographiques du monde atlantique. L'aboutissement du phénomène a été facilité par la géographie de la région atlantique, mais il n’a pas été façonné ou contraint par elle. Comme nous allons voir, ce sont les communautés du Channel du nord de la France et du sud-ouest de l’Angleterre – régions qui ne font pas face à l’Atlantique – auxquelles on doit le coeur de ce complexe. Cependant, son extension a été exagérée par le passé, tout comme son homogénéité.
Résumé (FR): La place du Channel est mieux comprise dans ses relations avec le complexe atlantique à la fin de l'Âge du bronze. Quelque part du côté du XIVe siècle avant notre ère, les relations entre les différentes parties du sud de l'Angleterre et des îles britanniques changent, réorientant ses centres d'intérêt vers le continent et tout particulièrement le nord de la France. Localement, la distinction peut être mise en évidence d'une transformation depuis les premières « maritories » du Channel, qui ont servi les déplacements des artefacts par le Channel, jusqu'à une pleine culture de l'Âge du bronze, dans laquelle les communautés des deux côtés partagent les mêmes artefacts et pratiques sociales. La différence est claire. Rowlands a décrit les derniers regroupements de communautés comme une englobante « Core zone » du Channel, et c'est cela qui a été intégré au développement du complexe atlantique. Nous ne devrions pas confondre l'Âge du bronze avec l'Atlantic région, représentative seulement des sociétés contemporaines reliées par une géographie commune et le Complexe du Bronze Atlantique, entendu comme un phénomène social et politique qui regroupe des objets et des pratiques similaires, mais qui ne rassemble pas toutes les régions géographiques du monde atlantique. L'aboutissement du phénomène a été facilité par la géographie de la région atlantique, mais il n’a pas été façonné ou contraint par elle. Comme nous allons voir, ce sont les communautés du Channel du nord de la France et du sud-ouest de l’Angleterre – régions qui ne font pas face à l’Atlantique – auxquelles on doit le coeur de ce complexe. Cependant, son extension a été exagérée par le passé, tout comme son homogénéité.
Research Interests: Bronze Age Europe (Archaeology), Late Bronze Age archaeology, Middle Bronze Age, Bronze Age Britain, Late Prehistory, and 9 moreBronze Age, Atlantic Bronze Age, Diffusion, Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age swords, Âge du Bronze, Iberia, the Atlantic Bronze Age and the Mediterranean, Swords, and Bronze Age trade
The archaeology of food has great potential for developing a more inclusive approach to the investigation of past African society and interaction beyond a traditional emphasis on the lifestyles and activities of social elites. Using the... more
The archaeology of food has great potential for developing a more inclusive approach to the investigation of past African society and interaction beyond a traditional emphasis on the lifestyles and activities of social elites. Using the Middle Nile Valley as an example, the concept of archaeological 'culinary traditions' is employed as a framework for exploring interaction both within the Kingdom of Kush and with neighbouring communities. A survey of Kushite kitchen contexts and the material culture of food preparation, cooking and consumption establishes the cuisine of Kush as part of broader sub-Saharan traditions and highlights interregional connections across north-central and northeastern Africa during the Early Iron Age.
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A discussion of Ethiopia's early history and the pre-Aksumite 'Ethio-Sabaean horizon' of the 1st millennium BC, focussing on excavations by the German Archaeological Institute of a pre-Aksumite temple and elite residence near Wuqro, in... more
A discussion of Ethiopia's early history and the pre-Aksumite 'Ethio-Sabaean horizon' of the 1st millennium BC, focussing on excavations by the German Archaeological Institute of a pre-Aksumite temple and elite residence near Wuqro, in the northern highlands of Ethiopia.
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This bilingual English/Arabic manual is intended to accompany the training of future ceramic specialists in the Arab world. Resulting from the collaboration of four major institutions of French archaeology abroad: the Section française de... more
This bilingual English/Arabic manual is intended to accompany the training of future ceramic specialists in the Arab world. Resulting from the collaboration of four major institutions of French archaeology abroad: the Section française de la direction des Antiquités du Soudan (Sfdas), the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (Ifao), the Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) and the Centre français de recherche de la péninsule Arabique (Cefrepa), it draws on the recent work of specialists from the Nile Valley, the Near East and the Arabian Peninsula to shed light on the theoretical reflections that have enriched ceramic studies in recent decades. Providing a genuine field tool, this volume is nonetheless a skilfully illustrated collection of the contribution of ceramic studies to the understanding of human history.