Dr Jade Whitlam

 

Departmental Lecturer in Archaeology

Course Director for the Diploma and Advanced Diploma in British Archaeology

Director of Studies for short online courses, weekly classes and day and weekend events in Archaeology, Anthropology and Ancient History

Biography

Jade holds a BA (hons) in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford, an MSc in Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoenvironments from the University of Birmingham, and a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Reading. Since 2016 Jade has worked as a Research Fellow and Lecturer at School of Archaeology (University of Oxford), supported by grants from the Gerald Averay Wainwright Fund and British Academy. She was awarded a PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in 2020 and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Research interests

Jade’s research focuses on how people and environments have interacted through time. She is particularly interested in the emergence of farming in southwest Asia and the plant management strategies that underpinned this, as well tracking the long-term socio-economic consequences of farming. She has worked on fieldwork projects in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Türkiye, Siberia and Italy. As a publicly engaged researcher, Jade has also developed a diverse portfolio of public engagement with research (PER) activities, designing and delivering projects to communicate with public audiences. This includes Farming: The First 12,000 Years a collaboration with the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) and The Museum of English Rural Life (Reading).

Publications

Selected Publications

Whitlam. J., Finlayson, B., Bogaard, A., Charles, M. and Makarewicz, C. (2023) Processing and storage of cereals, pulses and tree fruits at PPNA Sharara, southern Jordan. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, DOI: 10.1007/s00334-023-00938-w

Whitlam, J and Weide, A (2023) Introduction to the special issue on ‘Plant use and management during the emergence of farming in Southwest Asia: recent insights and new approaches’. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, DOI: 10.1007/s00334-023-00937-x

Weide, A., Green, L., Hodgson, J.G., Douché, C., Tengberg, M., Whitlam, J., Dovrat, G., Osem, Y. and Bogaard, A. (2022) A new functional ecological model reveals the nature of early plant management in southwest Asia. Nature Plants, 8, 623–634

Weide, A., Hodgson, J.G., Leschner, H., Dovrat, G., Whitlam, J., Manela, N., Melamed, Y., Osem, Y. and Bogaard, A. (2021) The Association of Arable Weeds with Modern Wild Cereal Habitats: Implications for Reconstructing the Origins of Plant Cultivation in the Levant, Environmental Archaeology, DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2021.1882715

Whitlam, J., Diffey, C., Bogaard, A. and Charles, M. (2020) The charred plant remains from Early Neolithic levels at Bestansur and Shimshara. In Matthews, R., Matthews, W., Richardson, A. and Rasheed Raheem, K. (eds). The Hilly Flanks Before Jarmo: Sedentism and Resource Management in the Neolithic of the Central Zagros of Iraq. CZAP Volume 2, 411–428

Bogaard, A., Hodgson, J., Whitlam, J., Aumeeruddy-Thomas Y., Delauge, J., Huc, S., Vanderpert, H., Saatkamp, A. and Pavon, D. (2020) Adventices des champs céréaliers en agriculture biologique sur le territoire de Sault, en Haute Provence: Identification et écologie, Internet publication

Hommel, P., Kovaleva, O., Whitlam, J., Amzarakov, P., Pouncett, J., Lim, J., Gosden, C. and Esin, Y. (2019) Monumental Myopia: Bringing the later prehistoric settlements of southern Siberia into focus. Antiquity 94(373) E2, DOI:10.15184/aqy.2019.233

Whitlam, J., Valipour, H.R. and Charles, M. (2019) Cutting the mustard: new insights into the plant economy of Late Neolithic Tepe Khaleseh (Iran). Iran, 58:2, 149–166, DOI: 10.1080/05786967.2019.1642792

Whitlam, J., Bogaard, A., Charles, M., Matthews, R., Matthews, W., Mohammadifar, Y. and Ilkhani, H. (2018) Pre-agricultural plant management in the uplands of the central Zagros: the archaeobotanical evidence from Sheikh-e Abad. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 27, 817–83, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-018-0675-x

Bogaard, A., Styring, A., Whitlam, J. Fochesato, M. and Bowles, S. (2018) Farming, inequality and urbanisation: a comparative analysis of late prehistoric northern Mesopotamia and south-west Germany. In Kohler, T. and Smith, M. (eds). Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences. University of Arizona Press, Amerind Seminar Series, Tucson, 201–229

Kohler, T.A., Smith, M.E., Bogaard, A., Feinman, G.M., Peterson, C.E., Betzenhauser, A., Pailes, M., Stone, E.C., Prentiss, A.M., Dennehy, T., Ellyson, L., Nicholas, L.M., Faulseit, R.K., Styring, A., Whitlam, J., Fochesato, M., Foor, T.A., Bowles, S. (2017) Greater Post-Neolithic Wealth Disparities in Eurasia than Americas, Nature 551, 619–622

George, D., Bizzarri, C., Bianco, P., Trentacoste, A., Whitlam, J. and Best, J. (2017) Recent Research in Cavità 254 (Orvieto, Italy). Etruscan Studies, 20.1, 58–76

Bendrey, R., Whitlam, J., Elliott, S., Aziz, K.R., Matthews, R. and Mathews, W. (2016). ‘Seasonal Rhythms’ of a rural Kurdish Village: ethnozooarchaeological research in Bestansur, Iraq. In Broderick L (ed.) People with Animals: Perspectives and Studies in Ethnozooarchaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 45–56

Whitlam, J., Ilkhani, H., Bogaard, A. and Charles, M. (2013) ‘The plant macrofossil evidence from Sheikh-e Abad: First Impressions’. In R. Matthews, Y. Mohammadifar, & W. Matthews. (eds). The Earliest Neolithic of Iran: 2008 Excavations at Sheikh-e Abad and Jani. CZAP Reports Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 175–184

Edited volumes

Whitlam, J. and Weide, A. (eds). (2023) Plant use and management during the emergence of farming in Southwest Asia, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany Special Issue

Bendrey, R., Richardson, A. Elliott, S. and Whitlam, J. (eds). (2015) Environmental Archaeologies of Neolithisation: The Old World. Environmental Archaeology Special Issue, 20.3

Bendrey, R., Richardson, A. Elliott, S. and Whitlam, J. (eds). (2014) Environmental Archaeologies of Neolithisation: Europe. Environmental Archaeology Special Issue, 19.3