Before joining the School of World Art Studies, Dr Clarke served as Jerusalem Director for the Council for British Research in the Levant, and Acting Director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. She has also worked for the National Museums Scotland, and held the JRB Stewart Fellowship in Cypriot Archaeology at the University of Sydney.

B.A. Archaeology; University of Sydney (1987)

Ph.D. Archaeology; University of Edinburgh (1998)

Art and technology in early agricultural societies
The archaeology of Western Sahara
Human adaptations to climate change in prehistory
Pottery studies, plaster and Neolithic technologies in the Near East

Current Research Projects

1. The Kalavasos Prehistoric Project, Cyprus   Excavations at Kalavasos KokkinoyiaPamboules and Kalavasos began in 2003 as part of a wider research programme examining long-term cultural change in prehistoric Cyprus. Kokkinoyia and Pamboules are two contiguous sites that were occupied from the end of the Ceramic Neolithic until the end of the Late Chalcolithic periods and Pamboules is one of only two multi-period prehistoric sites on the island. Detailed examination of these sites through excavation will contribute to an understanding of two poorly understood transitions on the island, the transition from the Late Neolithic period to the Chalcolithic period and the transition from the Late Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age. More widely the documentation of these transitions will help toward understanding cultural change in early agricultural societies in general.  

2. Western Sahara Project The Western Sahara Project aims to enhance our understanding of the human past in a part of the Sahara in which very little research into archaeology and past environmental change has been carried out. The project aims to develop cultural and environmental chronologies and to understand how past human populations adapted to environmental changes throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene. A particular focus of the research is the nature of environmental and cultural change in the middle Holocene, during the transition from humid to arid conditions in the Sahara. Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental findings are related to the wider North African context, and the work of the project provides an opportunity to compare archaeological and palaeoenvironmental results with data from the central and eastern Sahara. Given the relative humidity of the inland regions of Western Sahara today relative to similar latitudes further east (due to a combination of occasional rainfall generated by both monsoonal and Atlantic westerly weather systems), it is speculated that much of Western Sahara may have acted as such a refuge during the period of the Saharan desiccation. One of the objectives of the project is to test this hypothesis by examining trends in the archaeological record within a regional Saharan context.  

3. Ceramic Studies I am trained in ceramic studies and have worked as a ceramics analyst on a number of field projects (listed below). My particular interest is how technology can elucidate cultural phenomena. A current theory is that cultural phenomena are embedded in everyday practices. A method by which we can explore cultural phenomena then is by studying these practices. Ceramic technology is an everyday practice that is heavily imbued with cultural meaning and therefore appropriate for this research approach.  

• Early agricultural societies in the Levant and Cyprus
• The Archaeology of Western Sahara
• The role of art, ritual and performance in prehistoric north Africa, Europe and the Near East

Research supervision

Interested in supervising research students in all areas of archaeological and material culture studies.

Examples of modules taught:

• Introduction to Archaeology
• Introduction to Archaeological Fieldwork
• Toward an Archaeology of Prehistoric Art
• Constituting Cultural Heritage