Professor Vicki Cummings
Professor of Neolithic Archaeology, Deputy Head (Research) School of Natural Sciences
School of Natural Sciences
Vicki specialises in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Britain and Ireland, with a particular focus on the transition period, monuments and landscape. She has a broader interest in hunting and gathering populations and stone tools. She has excavated a series of Neolithic monuments including Clyde cairns, Bargrennan monuments and dolmens.
Vicki is research lead for the archaeology team, as well as joint research lead for the School of Natural Sciences. She sits on the Senior Management Team for the School. As part of the archaeology team she teaches on a range of modules, covering her interest in Mesolithic and Neolithic communities, hunting and gathering populations and archaeological theory. She runs a research excavation in the summer which trains students in fieldwork techniques.
Vicki started her career at Cardiff University where she was a Research Associate in Neolithic Archaeology. In 2004 she moved to Preston to join the University and set up a new degree in Archaeology. She has benefitted from a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship as well as a British Academy Mid-Career fellowship which has enabled her to research monumentality in Britain and Ireland. She has enjoyed seeing the Archaeology department at UCLan grow over the years and was delighted that we were one of the first universities in the UK to receive accreditation of our degrees from the Chartered Institute of Archaeology/University Archaeology UK.
- PhD in Archaeology University of Wales (Cardiff) 2001
- MA in Archaeology Cardiff University 1997
- BA in Archaeology Cardiff University 1995
- Neolithic Britain and Ireland Monumentality
- Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in northern Europe
- Chambered tombs
- Member of Chartered Institute of Archaeologists
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
- Vice chair University Archaeology UK
Vicki's primary interest in is the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland, but with an increased focus on this within a northern European context. She has focussed on monumentality, particularly chambered tombs and dolmens, and the role that these play in early Neolithic society. More recently she has worked on a number of settlement sites in Orkney which complement the chambered tomb sequence there. She also has a long-term interest in hunting and gathering populations, and has edited a major OUP handbook on this topic.
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- Academia
- Archaeology
- Vicki is currently running a research project on the chambered tombs of Orkney with Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark (National Museums Scotland). This includes the excavation of the exceptionally well-preserved site at Tresness
- Vicki is collaborating with Dr Rune Iversen (Copenhagen University) and Dr Dani Hofmann on a new project on migration in northern Europe in the Neolithic, and this has received substantial funding from the Independent Research Fund Denmark
- A project on early Neolithic settlement in Orkney co-directed with Professor Jane Downes and Professor Colin Richards (both University of Highlands and Islands) is currently in post-excavation
- British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship
- Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship
Telephone:+44 (0) 1772 893499
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