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Staff Profiles

Dr Mark Jackson

Senior Lecturer in Archaeology

  • Email: m.p.c.jackson@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5240
  • Address: School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University,
    Newcastle upon Tyne,
    NE1 7RU
Background

Roles and Responsibilities

Manager of the Gertrude Bell Photographic Archive


Qualifications

Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice 2007

PhD 2001 Title: "Kilise Tepe in Byzantine Isauria"

MA 1996 Methods in Byzantine Archaeology

BA (Hons) 1995 Archaeology

Previous Positions

2005-2017, Lecturer in Archaeology, Newcastle University

2004-2005 Research Fellow, AHRB Centre for Byzantine Cultural History, Newcastle University

Google scholar: Click here.

Research

I am very happy to discuss potential topics with candidates who wish to undertake a PhD at Newcastle University in my areas of research interest. Please feel free to contact me. 

Research Interests

My research is based mostly on the Eastern Mediterranean with a focus on Turkey, Greece and Cyprus. I work especially on:

  • Late Roman and Byzantine Archaeology (including settlement and houses, ceramics, trade, churches and pilgrimage) 
  • Survey methods, landscapes and cultural heritage
  • Historic archives in contemporary contexts e.g. with children and minority communities
  • Approaches to Archaeology, Text and Art
  • Gertrude Bell, the history of Archaeology and early archaeologists

Other Expertise

As Manager of the Gertrude Bell Photographic Archive, I have a research interest in Gertrude Bell and other archaeologists of the 19th and early 20th century. Co-Author (with Ian Johnson) of successful application for the inscription of the Gertrude Bell Archive as UNESCO International Memory of the World. 

Current and Recent Research Projects I am working on involving colleagues in Newcastle and beyond include: 

Devastation, dislocation and (re-)settlement. Breaking/replacing the people-place connection in landscape. (Co-I); PIs: Prof Dr Thomas Meier and Prof Sam Turner.

Challenging Legacies: The Kingdom of Iraq and Gertrude Bell. An exhibition at the Great North Museum Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne, with the Special Collections, Robinson Library and the Great North Museum Hancock.

Documenting the material knowledge systems of the last surviving traditional potters in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Richard Carlton and Mirsad Sijaric (Zemaljski Muzej, Sarajevo)

Kato Choria, Naxos. Co-Director with Prof J.G. Crow (Edinburgh) and Dr D. Athanassoulis, Athens. 

Apalirou Environs Survey, Naxos. Working particularly on the Byzantine ceramics. (see Jackson 2020 eprints)

Kilise Tepe, in the Göksu Valley, Turkey. Co-Director for Byzantine at Kilise Tepe, since 2007 with Prof. J.N.Postgate (Cambridge). (see Jackson 2015 and other papers eprints)

Gertrude Bell Comics. A recent collaboration with Lydia Wysocki, comic artist John Miers, the Young Archaeologists Club and the Robinson Library resulted in our production of the Gertrude Bell comics to encourage school students into primary texts. Funded by ESRC-IAA. (see Wysocki et al. 2019 eprints)

Dr Stefania Ermidoro British Academy Visiting Fellow, 'Unfolding a Victorian Archive. The Layard Collection at Newcastle University' and 'Austen Henry Layard in Newcastle and Beyond'  

Dr Mihail Mitrea Sacred Landscapes in Late Byzantium. Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow 

'Beyond Destruction' Collaborator (with RA Dr Niveen Kassem). Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of AHRC First World War Public Engagement Centres Centre for Hidden Histories Lead Collaborator Prof. John Beckett (Nottingham)(see Kassem and Jackson 2020 eprints)

CHiLaT - 'Cultural Heritage in Landscape: Planning for Development in Turkey'. RCUK-TUBITAK Newton Project (Co-I, with PIs: Prof. Sam Turner and Prof. Engin Nurlu (Ege University, Turkey)

'Unlocking the Ionian Landscape: Historic Landscapes of Urla-Çeşme Peninsula (Izmir, Turkey)' Fellow: Dr Elif Koparal (Co-I with Prof. Sam Turner)

Bogsak Archaeological Survey directed by Dr Günder Varinlioğlu.

Survey and ceramic processing of several Late Roman Red Slipped Ware kiln sites from Pisidia, Turkey as part of the Pisidia Survey Project Directed by Dr Lutgarde Vandeput (BIAA) and Dr Veli Kose (Ankara University). (see Jackson et al. 2012 eprints) 

Part of the Çatalhöyük Research Project working on the late cemetery in the 4040 area at Çatalhöyük and the 2013 survey around Çatalhöyük with Dr Sophie Moore. (see Jackson and Moore 2018; Moore and Jackson 2014 eprints)

Letters from Baghdad Assisted the Directors Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbuehl in their research.

Gertrude Bell and Iraq - A Life and Legacy. Collaborated with The British Institute for the Study of Iraq for a three-day academic conference that examined the life and legacy of Gertrude Bell, hosted at the Royal Society and the British Academy. The papers were published in the Proceedings of the British Academy in 2017. My paper considered critically Gertrude Bell's contribution to Archaeological Research in Central Asia Minor (see eprints). 

Co-Curator (with Andrew Parkin) of The Extraordinary Gertrude Bell a new major exhibition at the Great North Museum Hancock 30 January - 3rd May 2016 at Kirkleatham Museum until Spring 2017 for which we edited a series of papers on the research of various colleagues on aspects of Gertrude Bell's life (see publications list).


Research Papers

I have spoken at:

  • Rei Cretariae Romanae Favtores, Athens (presented by team: M. Duggan and R. Valente) (Sept 2022)
  • EAA Budapest (Sept 2022)
  • International Byzantine Congress, Plenary Speaker (Aug 2022)
  • Edinburgh University Research Seminar Series (Nov 2021)
  • EAMENA Iconem Exhibition Launch Event, Durham (Nov 2021)
  • Space, Sounds and Senses - International Workshop, Ravenna (Oct 2021)
  • CRASIS Ancient World Seminar, Groningen (online) (Dec 2020)
  • 39th International Mediterranean Survey Workshop, (online) (Dec 2020)
  • British Institute at Ankara, Ankara (October 2019)
  • Mapping the Sacred in Byzantium, (September 2019) 
  • Cultural heritage in landscape: Planning development in Turkey, Izmir (September 2019) 
  • Abandonment and Loss: Changing Landscapes and Societies, Mimar Sinan, Istanbul (May 2019)
  • T.E. Lawrence Society Symposium, Oxford (Sept. 2018)
  • Mind the Gap! Ceramic Studies and Discontinuities in the Archaeological Record. Copenhagen (July 2018)
  • Travellers to the Near East and the Great War, Royal Geographical Society London, London (March 2018)
  • Workshop on Archaeological and Cultural Landscape Studies in Rough Cilicia, Mersin University, Turkey (November 2017)
  • Byzantine Archaeology Graduate Seminar, Edinburgh (Oct 2017)
  • The 8th Century, Patterns of Transition in Economy and Trade throughout the Late Antique, Early Medieval and Islamicate Mediterranean, Berlin (October 2017)
  • Historical Landscapes: Character, Assessment and Visualization, Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey (2-3 June 2017)
  • Levantine Ceramics Project, Athens (May 2017)
  • Gertrude Bell and Iraq A Life and Legacy Panel Discussion, British Academy, London (April 2017)
  • Roman Archaeology Off Limits, British Museum, London (November 2016)
  • New Approaches to Historic Landscapes, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul (Feb 2016)
  • Death in Byzantium, Newcastle (30 May 2015)
  • HQ 1(UK) ARMD DIV ADAPTABLE FORCE ACADEMIC SEMINAR, Strensall, (30 April 2015)
  • Panel member, “If I could sink my teeth into the whole earth” Chaired debate Fine Art, Newcastle University (17 April 2015)
  • Roman Research Discussion Group, Oxford (January 2015)
  • Ancient Near Eastern Seminar, Cambridge (November 2014) 
  • Newcastle Interdisciplinary Seminar (October 2014) 
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Archaeology Seminar, Oxford (October 2013) 
  • Gertrude Bell and Iraq: A life and Legacy, British Academy (Sept 2013) 
  • Research Seminar Series, Edinburgh (March 2013)
  • Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle (October 2012)
  • Byzantine Ceramics, Kings College London (February 2012)
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Archaeology Seminar, Oxford (May 2011)
  • McDonald Institute Research Seminar, Cambridge (May 2009)
  • Symposium of Excavations, Surveys and Archaeometry, Ankara (May/June 2008)
  • Archaeology of the Countryside in Medieval Anatolia, Leiden (Feb 2008)
  • The archaeologies of Byzantium, Edinburgh (2008)
  • International Conference on Rough Cilicia, Nebraska (Oct 2007)
  • Recent Research on Byzantine Pottery, London (June 2007)
  • Byzantine Congress, London (August 2006)
  • Concealed Communities, Newcastle (Dec 2005)
  • Byzantine Symposium on Performance, Belfast (April 2005)
  • IIe Congrès International sur la céramique commune, La céramique culinaire et les amphores de l’antiquité Tardive en Méditerranée: Archéologie et Archaéométrie (April 2005) (with R.S. Gabrieli and A. Kaldelis)
  • Byzantine Symposium on Trade, Oxford (March 2004)

Conferences organised at Newcastle

'Gertrude Bell Symposium', Co-hosted with Dr Emma Short 19 April 2017

'Experiencing Death in Byzantium' Co-hosted with Dr Sophie Moore and Dr Niamh Bhalla 29 May 2015.

'Ceramics and Atlantic Connections', Co-hosted with Maria Duggan and Prof Sam Turner, Newcastle University26-27 March 2014. 

'Experiencing Byzantium'. 44th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies hosted in Newcastle upon Tyne 8th - 10th April 2011 with Dr Claire Nesbitt (Durham) published by Ashgate in autumn 2013. The interdisciplinary theme, 'Experiencing Byzantium', embraced all aspects of Byzantine studies and brought together historians, art historians, archaeologists and palaeographers. http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472412294

'Light: a Christmas Symposium' 11 December 2009 (with Dr Sam Turner, Newcastle University)

'Art, Archaeology and Text in Byzantium', 10 December 2004 (Organiser)

Postgraduate Supervision

I am currently supervising:

Jen Makovics (with Louise Rayne and Sam Turner)

I have supervised the following research students: 

Dr Gianluca Foschi "The Role of Musical Proprtions in Early Christian Buildings" (Co-supervised with Dr David Creese, Prof Sam Turner and Prof Magnus Williamson), now Research Associate Rome Transformed.

Dr Maria Duggan "Links to late antiquity : ceramic exchange and contacts on the Atlantic seaboard in the 5th to 7th centuries AD" (co-supervised with Prof Sam Turner and Dr James Gerrard) Awarded PhD 2015; British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Newcastle University.

Dr Vasiliki Manolopoulou "Processing Constantinople : understanding the role of lite in creating the sacred character of the landscape"(PhD student, co-supervised with Prof Sam Turner) Awarded PhD 2016 (formerly Lecturer in Byzantine History, Northumbria University (2017); Lecturer in Byzantine History, King's College London, 2018-19; Hannah Seeger Davis Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Princeton University, now Lecturer in History 300-1000, Durham University.

Dr Sophie Moore “A Relational Approach to Mortuary Practices within Medieval Byzantine Anatolia”.   (co-supervised with Dr Chris Fowler) Awarded PhD 2013 (formerly Postdoctoral Research Fellow British Institute at Ankara, Postdoctoral Fellow in Archaeology and the Ancient World (2016-2018), now Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology Newcastle University 

Dr Katie Green “Rural Byzantine Landscapes and Societies: New Approaches to Characterization and Analysis” Awarded PhD 2013 (co-supervised with Prof Sam Turner)

https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/ads-staff/katie-green/

Dr Nigel Porter "Assessing the social and political significance of Athenian painted pottery through examination of changes in scenes of warriors departing on Attic pottery between 600 BC and 400 BC" (Co-supervised with Dr Sally Waite and Dr Joseph Skinner)Eniko Hudak (MLitt student, co-supervised with Dr James Gerrard) 


Esteem Indicators

Member of the Council of the British Institute at Ankara (2023-)

Head of Archaeology, Newcastle University (2020-2023)

Member of Executive Committee Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (2009-2012) 

Visiting Scholar, Trinity College, Cambridge (Feb-May 2009)

Member of the Council of the British Institute at Ankara (2006-2009)

Funding

  • British Museum Endangered Material Knowledge Project (2021) 
  • Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C. for Kato Choria Excavations (2021) 
  • ESRC-IAA Impact Grant for 'Gertrude Bell Comics' (2018)
  • AHRC for 'Beyond Destruction' via Centre for Hidden Histories (2016)
  • British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship for Dr E. Koparal (2016) (Co-I with Sam Turner)
  • AHRC-TUBITAK Newton Project (2016) Co-I (with PI: Sam Turner and Engin Nurlu (Ege University, Turkey))
  • Catherine Cookson Fund (2015)
  • Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice (CI) (2015)
  • HaSS Faculty Impact Fund (2015)
  • Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (2013)
  • Dumbarton Oaks Washington D.C. Fieldwork Grant, Kilise Tepe (2011)
  • Newcastle University HASS Faculty Research Fund Grant (2009)
  • Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (2009)
  • Dumbarton Oaks Washington D.C. Fieldwork Grant, Kilise Tepe (2009)
  • Newcastle University HASS Faculty Research Fund Grant (2008)
  • In 2007, a British Academy large grant was awarded for the Kilise Tepe Archaeological Excavation. Co-I (PI: Prof. J.N. Postgate, Cambridge)
Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching 2022-2023 (Semester 1)

ARA1027 Introduction to Archaeology, contributor;

ARA2091 Archaeologies of the Roman Empire, Module Leader;

HIS2240 Greece from ancient times to the 21st century: Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the past, contributor;

ARA3016 Archaeology of Byzantium and its Neighbours, Module Leader;

ARA3001-2-3 BA Dissertation, supervisor;


Postgraduate Teaching 2021-2022 (Semester 1)

ARA8190 Research Themes, Theories and Skills in Archaeology, Module Leader;

ARA8116 Archaeology of Byzantium and its Neighbours, Module Leader;


I am on research leave in Semester 2

Publications