Helena Hamerow facts for kids

Helena Francisca Hamerow is an American archaeologist. She was born on September 18, 1961. She is famous for her work on ancient communities from the early Middle Ages. These communities lived in places like Northwestern Europe. She is a professor of Early Medieval archaeology at the University of Oxford. She also used to be the head of the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford.

Early Life and Education

Helena Hamerow went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1979 to 1983. There, she earned a degree in Anthropology. Anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures.

She then continued her studies at the University of Oxford in England. In 1988, she earned her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree. Her special research project was about pottery. It also looked at how an Anglo-Saxon village grew in a place called Mucking, Essex.

Academic Career

After finishing her studies, Dr. Hamerow became a research fellow at Somerville College. This was until 1990. In 1991, she started teaching Early medieval archaeology at Durham University.

In 1996, Dr. Hamerow returned to Oxford. She became a Professor of Early Medieval Archaeology. She still teaches there today. She is also a Fellow at St Cross College. From 2005 to 2008, she was the Vice-Master there. She also led the School of Archaeology from 2010 to 2013.

Researching Ancient Communities

Dr. Hamerow's research focuses on the archaeology of rural communities. These are groups of people who lived in the countryside during the Anglo-Saxon era. She studies how new things like monasteries, kingdoms, and towns affected farmers and their villages.

She has studied and written about settlements in the North Sea regions. This covers the period from 400 to 900 AD. She has also worked on projects in the Upper Thames Valley. These projects looked at the Anglo-Saxon period in places like Sutton Courtenay and Dorchester-on-Thames.

Feeding Anglo-Saxon England

Currently, Dr. Hamerow is leading a big project. It is called Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: The Bioarchaeology of an Agricultural Revolution. This project is funded by the European Research Council. Its goal is to study a major change in farming. This "agricultural revolution" happened in Europe between 800 and 1200 AD. It was when cereal farming grew a lot.

Digitizing Old Excavations

The University of Oxford has many old, unpublished materials. These are from excavations done by Sonia Chadwick Hawkes. Dr. Hamerow was a student of Hawkes. She led a project to turn these old materials into digital files. This project finished in 2007.

Discovering Dorchester Project

Dr. Hamerow is also a co-director of an ongoing excavation. It is at Dorchester-on-Thames. This project is called Discovering Dorchester. She helped design the project in 2007. She has continued to lead it since then.

This project is supported by Oxford's School of Archeology, Oxford Archaeology, and the Dorchester Museum. The site is very important. It has many ancient remains from prehistoric times all the way to the medieval era.

Origins of Wessex Project

Dr. Hamerow is also a main researcher for another project. It is called Origins of Wessex. This project looks into how the kingdom of Wessex grew. Wessex was an important Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It was located in the Upper Thames Valley. This area is known for having many Anglo-Saxon archaeological sites.

The project team is currently digging at a large Anglo-Saxon settlement. It is in Long Wittenham in Oxfordshire. This site is famous for its Anglo-Saxon cemetery. It also has many large Anglo-Saxon buildings.

Media Appearances

Television Shows

Dr. Hamerow has appeared on British television. In 2010, she was on BBC Four's Digging for Britain. In 2013, she appeared on King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons. From 2008 to 2010, she was on two episodes of the popular archaeology TV series, Time Team.

Speaking Up for Archaeology

In 2008, the British government said that all human remains found during archaeological digs in England and Wales had to be reburied within two years.

In 2011, Dr. Hamerow and 39 other leading archaeologists wrote an open letter. It was sent to the Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, and published in the Guardian newspaper. They asked for more time to study ancient human remains. They believed it was important to learn from these remains before they were reburied.

Because of this letter, the Ministry of Justice started giving special permissions. These allowed museums to keep human remains for study. They also began talking with groups like English Heritage to create new rules for keeping and burying ancient human remains.

Awards and Honours

Dr. Hamerow has received several important recognitions. In May 1996, she was elected as a Fellow to the Society of Antiquaries of London. This is a group for people interested in ancient things.

In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). This is a very high honor. It means she is recognized as a top expert in the humanities and social sciences in the United Kingdom.

She is also a commissioner of Historic England. This organization helps protect England's historic places. She used to be the president of the Society for Medieval Archaeology. She is also a vice-president of the Royal Archaeological Institute.

Selected Publications

Books

• The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology (2011)

See also

In Spanish: Helena Hamerow para niños