Ken Dark

Biography:

After an Archaeology degree from the University of York, Ken Dark received a PhD in Archaeology and History from the University of Cambridge, and then was on the academic staff of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge before becoming a lecturer at the University of Reading. At Reading he was promoted to Associate Professor, and then Professor, of Archaeology and History.

He has directed many archaeological excavations and surveys in Britain and the eastern Mediterranean region, is the author of numerous academic books and papers and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute, and a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs - the only person ever elected to all four learned societies.

Qualifications:

PhD, Archaeology and History, Cambridge
BA, Archaeology, York

Areas of Interest:

1) Archaeology and history of the first millennium AD in Europe (including Britain) and the Middle East.

Especially:

Early Christianity.

Late Antiquity and the Byzantine empire.

Britain and Ireland from the start of the Roman period until the Norman conquest.

Ancient and medieval urbanism.

Long-distance contacts, trade and maritime interactions.

Also:

2) Archaeological theory and method in their interdisciplinary context.

3) The implications of the pre-modern past for 'big questions' in contemporary world politics, culture and economics.

Research Supervision:

Welcomes PhD applications in the archaeology or history of the Roman Empire, Late Antiquity, the Byzantine Empire, Early Christianity, Britain and Ireland c.AD 400-c.1100, and/or in archaeological theory.