Dr Juliet Spedding

Personal Statement

My background is in Ancient Egypt and Nubia (ancient Sudan) with my research focusing on the chemical analysis of ancient faience and glass from Nubia (c.2000BC-350AD). A key part of this is looking at how material was traded as well as identifying potential sources for the raw materials. This can provide an insight into how connected the ancient world was, how far materials and finished objects could and did travel across the ancient world, and how individuals interacted with the environment around them.
Currently I am a postdoctoral research associate on the Leverhulme Trust funded project Biodiversity in Egyptian Archaeology during Societal Transitions (BEAST) which spans two departments of the university, Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology (ACE) and Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour (DEEB). Using the wealth of evidence from animal remains, depictions, and texts from ancient Egypt, this project aims to investigate how people of the ancient past interacted with and impacted on their environment and how their environment and changes in their environment could have driven historical events and cultural changes. On this project I am working alongside, Dr. Ignacio Lazagabaster (also a postdoctoral research associate on the project), Dr. Jakob Bro-Jørgensen (University of Liverpool), Professor Chris Thomas (York University), Professor Salima Ikram (American University in Cairo), and Dr Steven Snape (University of Liverpool).