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Overview

Richard Hingley

Professor


Affiliations
Affiliation
Professor in the Department of Archaeology
Member of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies

Biography

Biography

My research focuses upon the Roman past and addresses:

1. The archaeology of Britain in the Iron Age and Roman periods. With a particular focus on landscapes, heritage and the Roman frontiers (see current projects 2 and 4).

2. Post-Colonial and descendant archaeologies, with a particular focus on changing theory and practice in archaeology and heritage for the Iron Age and Roman periods (see current project 1).

3. The archaeology of the Western Roman Empire, with a particular focus on the landscapes formed by the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.

4. The historiography or studies of imperial Rome and the reception of Roman models in post-Roman contexts, including the uses of texts and visual culture (especially since the Renaissance). This is the focus of much of my published work since 2000 and is a topic that I intend to return to (see current project 3).

Current and recent projects

1) Entangled Worlds: Theory and Roman Archaeology. I am at an early stage of researching a book on the development of archaeological theory in Roman studies from c. 1990 to the present day. I wish to focus on the burgeoning body of studies across Europe and beyond that address how Roman power was extended across a large part of the Mediterranean world and further into Europe. This is a long-term project, and I am hoping to publish a book around 2029.

2) Demetrius of Tarsus and Britain. I am part of the way through writing a book on this historical character who probably visited the British Isles in c. AD 82–3. I am aiming to draw on the limited textual and archaeological evidence to write an imaginative narrative addressing Demetrius' visit to Britain and what he might have experienced. This book should be ready for publication in 2028.

3) Britain and the colonial imagination: Ancient History and Empire. This is a long-term interest which I have previously addressed in a book published in 2008. I am researching the uses made of classical texts that address Britain and the growing focus on the discovery of material culture from the 16th century to the present day. I have one new paper on this topic in press and am researching and writing a book, probably for publication around 2030. 

4) Ancient Identities: Iron Age and Roman Heritages. I directed this major project, which received three years of funding from AHRC (June 2016 to December 2022). Ancient Identities included a team of five colleagues at Durham (Anthropology and Archaeology) and Stirling. The project explored the variable meanings of Iron Age and Roman heritages across Britain and the European context of ideas derived from these periods of the past. A joint monograph from this project, co-written by the project team, was published in 2025. *Ancient Identities was selected as one of the top 5 insights from the heritage sector by AHRC in April 2019*. I am continuing to work on this theme and have recently published articles.

 

 

Research interests

  • The archaeology of Roman and Iron Age Britain and Spain
  • Heritage, theory and historiography
  • Classical and archaeological reception.
  • Hadrian's Wall.

Esteem Indicators

  • 2023: Shortlisted for the Prose Award in Classics:
  • 2019: Winner of the award for the best Classic book, Prose Awards: In February 2019 I won the PROSE award for the best book in Classics in 2019 for my book Londonium: A biography. This is an award made annual by the American Association of Publishers as part of their award which honours scholarly works published in 2018 (see http://newsroom.publishers.org/association-of-american-publishers-announces-subject-category-winners-of-2019-prose-awards/).
  • 2015: Member of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Advisory Committee: I have been a member of this Committee since 2008. Since Janaury 2016, I have been Chair of the Archaeological Rsearch Delivery Group (which reports to the Hadrian's Wall Panel). I am also a member of the Conservation Delivery Group.
  • 2015: Member of the HERA International Review Panel for the 'Uses of the Past' JRP: I was selected to serve on the International Review Panel for the HERA JRP on 'uses of the past' in June 2015. This includes 30 academics from the range of disciplnes that deal with the past from across Europe.
  • 2015: Member of the Theoretial Roman Archaeology Advisory Committee: Member of the advisiory committee that oversees this annual conference. I was one of the founder members of the first conference in 1999
  • 2009: Member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Peer-Review College: I served two terms on this panel between 2009 and 2017

Publications

Authored book

Chapter in book

Edited book

Journal Article

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

Supervision students