Department of Classics and Archaeology

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Clare Burke

Assistant Professor in Archaeological Science (Materials),

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Biography

I explore what the production and use of ceramic material culture can tell us about identity, knowledge transmission, learning networks, social behaviour, and spheres of contact and exchange. My research focuses on the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Southeastern Europe and the Aegean, where I combine traditional archaeological approaches, such as pottery typology, with experimental archaeology, laboratory analysis, and theoretical frameworks drawn from archaeology, ethnography, and sociology.

Expertise Summary

  • Ceramic analyses (including thin section petrography and SEM-EDS)
  • Material culture and theory
  • Neolithic and Bronze Age
  • Professional archaeological practice

Teaching Summary

For academic year 2025-26 I will be teaching on the following modules:

CLAR1022 Comparative World Prehistory

CLAR1020 and CLAR1021 Understanding the Past I and II

CLAR2011 Archaeology: Theory and Practice

CLAR2022 Archaeological Finds: post-excavation analysis to publication

I am module convener for:

CLAR3118 Pottery and People: Understanding Ceramic Analysis

I am also the Archaeology subject advisor and personal tutor for Natural Sciences

Research Summary

Using a range of archaeological and lab-based techniques, my research explores how, where, and why pottery and ceramic material culture were made and used. I focus on what these objects reveal about… read more

Recent Publications

Current Research

Using a range of archaeological and lab-based techniques, my research explores how, where, and why pottery and ceramic material culture were made and used. I focus on what these objects reveal about identity, knowledge transmission, learning networks, social behaviour, and patterns of trade and exchange, bringing together site level and broad geographic scales of investigation. I am interested in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Southeastern Europe and the Aegean, particularly in longue durée perspectives.

I am currently involved with a range of projects including the UKRI Horizon Guarantee funded project I designed - 'Technology and Use of Neolithic Ceramics from North Macedonia' (grant EP/Y025113/1) - and undertaking analysis as part of the Korça Regional Neolithic Project, both of which involve lipid analysis of pottery content in collaboration with colleagues at the University of York.

I am also working with international teams to finalise and publish ceramic analyses for the Austrian Science Funded projects 6500 years of Solitude? Diachronic pottery research in Arcadia, the NEOTECH project and the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age finds from Midea.

Past Research

I have participated and published work on multiple projects including:

Bronze Age Gold Road of the Balkans - Ada Tepe Mining FWF Stand Alone Grant P23619. PI Barbara Horejs, Austrian Archaeological Institute.

Filling in the Gaps: Ceramic raw materials analysis at the Prehistoric goldmine of Ada Tepe, Bulgaria. Anton Oelzelt-Newin Foundation Grant PI Clare Burke

Local Production and External Contacts of the Central Peloponnese: Scientific Analyses of the Middle Bronze Age Pottery from Pheneos (Arcadia). INSTAP Grant. PI Dr Michaela Zavadil, Austrian Archaeological Institute, in cooperation with Anno Hein National Center for Scientific Research, 'Demokritos', Athens.

Prehistoric Anatolia: From Sedentism to Protourban Societies in Western Anatolia. PI Barbara Horejs, Austrian Archaeological Institute. FWF START Programe Grant Y 528 and ERC Starting Grant 263339.

Future Research

I am always keen to develop collaborations, particularly with colleagues from a range of disciplinary backgrounds both within and outside of archaeology.

I am especially interested in building research that takes diachronic and spatial perspectives to investigate the development and trajectory of ceramic crafts, consumption practices, and foodways, particularly considering periods of significant socio-cultural and/or economic transformations, and the role of human mobility.

I am also eager to integrate cross-craft and multi-material perspectives into future research.

Department of Classics and Archaeology

University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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