Wendy Matthews
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+44 (0) 118 378 6788
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Associate Professor
- MA Archaeology Programme Director
Areas of interest
- Past, present and future sustainability
- Early agriculture and urbanism
- Archaeology of SW Asia
- Environmental Archaeology and soil micromorphology
- Biocultural Heritage and Education for Sustainable Development
Postgraduate supervision
Wendy would welcome research proposals on any of the areas of interest listed above.
Wendy currently supervises/co-supervises two research student projects:
- Biodiversity and sustainability of plant and fire use in hunter-gatherer and early agricultural communities in West Asia: Integrated phytolith and micromorphological approaches (Keni Zheng with Prof Julie Hawkins School of Biological Sciences)
- The transition from hunting and gathering to herding and pastoralism in the Neolithic in Jubbah, NW Saudi Arabia: An examination of the nature and sustainability of transformations in human-environment inter-relations and sedentism (Abdulmajeed Alhuraish)
Previous student topics have included:
- Environment and lifeways during the origins of sedentary agriculture at Abu Hureyra, Syria (Kate Dudgeon)
- Early animal management in the Central Zagros of Iraq and Iran: Integrated analyses (Sarah Elliott)
- Traces of activities, diet and seasonality in middens at Neolithic Çatalhöyük: An integration of microstratigraphic, phytolith and chemical analysis (Lisa-Marie Shillito)
- Neolithic ecology and settlement networks at Çatalhöyük and Pınarbaşı, Türkiye (Aroa Garcia-Suarez)
- Architectural materials and pigments from Neolithic sites: IR microscopy (Emma Anderson; Lisa Marshall; Joanne Wiles)
- Settlement morphology and high-resolution micro-history of houses and households in Prehistoric Greek Macedonia (Stella Kyrillidou)
- From archaeological sediments to human practice: geoarchaeology of open areas in Neolithic Greece (Georgia Koromila)
- Architecture and urbanisation in Bronze Age Cyprus: Innovation in materials, technology and social representation (Marialucia Amadio)
- Contextual analysis of Bronze Age networks in Cyprus and Bahrain: pXRF analysis of stone artefacts (Helen McGauran)
- Characterising urban space: A case study from Insular IX, Silchester, Hants, UK (Rowena Banejea)
- Recording and managing buried heritage assets through precision farming in the UK (Henry Webber)
Many of these research projects are interdisciplinary and jointly supervised by staff with additional expertise in the School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science.
Wendy is happy to discuss proposals for postgraduate and postdoctoral research in any area of: Neolithic and Bronze Age Near Eastern Archaeology and Geoarchaeology, in particular: early agricultural and urban settlement, ecology and landscapes; material engagement; and micromorphological, experimental and interdisciplinary approaches.
For further information, please contact: w.matthews@reading.ac.uk.
Teaching
Wendy’s teaching focuses on sustainability and the origins and impact of early agriculture and urbanism in Mesopotamia and SW Asia. She convenes the module Changing the Face of the Earth: Past Present and Future Sustainability. She also teaches Environmental Archaeology and high-resolution micro-analysis of archaeological sediments, plants, architecture and the built environment.Research centres and groups
- Climate, Environment and Sustainability
- Connecting Heritage
Research projects
Wendy’s research focuses on early agricultural and urban transformations in SW Asia, past, present and future sustainability, and climate and environment change. She is Co-Director of the Central Zagros Archaeological Project in Iraq and Iran and excavations at the UNESCO World Heritage site Bestansur (Tentative List) in Iraq KRG in collaboration with Prof Roger Matthews, Kamal Raeuf Aziz and the Slemani Antiquities and Heritage Directorate. This joint research has been funded by AHRC, NERC, National Geographic, British Academy and recently by ERC Middle East Neolithic in Transition: Integrated Community Approaches.
Wendy co-designed a new Prehistory Gallery in Slemani Museum Iraq KRG which has sustainability themes at its heart with the Museum Director Mr Hashim Hama Abdulla and Staff, Dr Rozhen Mohammed Amin, Dr Amy Richardson and Prof Roger Matthews.
Background
Wendy was a Research Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge and Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, University of California Berkeley, before joining the Department in 2000.
She has conducted fieldwork and interdisciplinary research in Iraq, Iran, Türkiye, Syria and Bahrain, and is a specialist in archaeological sediment analysis. She was Chair of the British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology (2005-7) and a founder of the Themes from the Ancient Near East BANEA Publication Series (Oxbow Books). She has supervised a range of PhDs and Post-docs, including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (Dr Marta Portillo). Wendy was the University of Reading Academic Lead for the AHRC South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (2015-18).
Academic qualifications
- MA - University of Edinburgh
- PhD - University of Cambridge.
Professional bodies/affiliations
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
- Fellow of Higher Education Academy
- Scientific Committee Member, International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
- Walker Institute Associate - Interdisciplinary Climate Research Institute, University of Reading.
Selected publications
Wendy has co-edited two volumes on the interdisciplinary research conducted by the Central Zagros Archaeological Project:
- Matthews, R., Matthews, W., Rasheed Raheem, K. and Richardson, A. (eds). 2020. The Early Neolithic of the Eastern Fertile Crescent: Excavations at Bestansur and Shimshara, Iraqi Kurdistan. CZAP Reports Volume 2. Oxford: Oxbow Books. (Available as Open Access download).
- Matthews, R., Matthews, W. and Mohammadifar, Y. (eds). 2013. The Earliest Neolithic of Iran. 2008 Excavations at Sheikh-e Abad and Jani. CZAP Reports Volume 1. Oxford: British Institute of Persian Studies and Oxbow Books.
She is a co-author of the book:
- Postgate, J.N.P (ed). 2023. Two Early Dynastic Houses: Living with the Dead. By M.P. Charles, S. Collins, J. Gaastra, T. Greenfield, E.M. Luby, W. Matthews, J.N. Postgate, C.S. Steele, D.C. Thomas. Abu Salabikh Excavations Volume 5. London: British Institute for the Study of Iraq.