Object and Landscape Centred Approaches to the Past (OLCAP)

Object and Landscape-Centred Approaches to the Past

The group’s aim is to promote and support research, teaching, and training that falls broadly in the fields of material culture studies and landscape, especially where these relate to the ancient world.

The core strands of our mission are:

Research:	OLCAP provides an inter-departmental and interdisciplinary forum for academic staff and students whose research relates to material culture and landscape. The scope of research areas will vary but currently includes archaeology, archaeological science, museology, ancient history, and pedagogy. OLCAP not only investigates ideologies surrounding the cultural value and currency of artefacts, the natural and built landscape, but it also engages with established and emerging technologies for understanding their materiality. The geographical and chronological scope of the group’s research interests are broad and ranges from Sudan to Cyprus and from prehistory to the modern-day.
Pedagogy:	Excellent research feeds into excellent teaching practice: One of the principle aims of OLCAP is to link research generated by group members to best-practice learning in schools, HE institutions, and in museums. This includes promoting research-based teaching of objects and landscapes, conducting research into pedagogical methods of teaching using objects, and visualising and teaching landscapes.
Training and Employability:	Careers in archaeological and historical research require not only theoretical underpinnings, but also a range of competencies to deal practically with different types of material culture and landscapes. OLCAP meets this need by providing free training opportunities in subject-specific core research skills.

Projects

SUPP: The Swansea University Pottery Project

The aims of the Swansea University Pottery Projects (SUPP) are to provide a complete, up-to-date record of each piece of pottery in the Swansea Egypt Centre in the online collection Abaset so that this important material is fully accessible to all for free. At the same time, we want to promote student involvement in research, engage students in roles that enhance employability and enhance our learning community. The project is a collaboration between staff and students from the department of Heritage, History and Classics, the Egypt Centre and the Research Group for Object and Landscape Approaches to the Past (OLCAP). The project is directed by Dr Christian Knoblauch (specialist in Egyptian pottery and Lecturer in Egyptian Material Culture), Dr Meg Gundlach (Egypt Centre Accessions Manager) and Dr Ken Griffin (Curator, Egypt Centre). See Egypt Centre Collection Blog: The Swansea University Pottery Project: Part 1 for more details.

Uronarti Regional Archaeological Project University of Michigan Abydos Middle Cemetery Project ‘Here I Am’: The Global Shabti Project

People

Co-director

Dr Ersin Hussein is an ancient historian whose research primarily focuses on the history and material culture of Cyprus. Her first monograph, Revaluing Roman Cyprus: Local Identity on an Island in Antiquity, was published with Oxford University Press in 2021.

Dr Ersin Hussein

Co-director

Dr Christian Knoblauch is a specialist in archaeology of ancient Egypt and Nubia. He is particularly interested in using material culture to explore broader cultural aspects, for example, colonial relations, shifting perceptions of the dead, or the relationship of material cultural boundaries to social groups within the Egyptian Nile Valley. Dr Knoblauch's research draws on fieldwork projects in Egypt and the Sudan.

Dr Christian Knoblauch

Staff Members

Academic Publications

Dr Ersin Hussein

Hussein, E., Griffin, K., & Powell, S. (2024) From Gloom to Zoom: Online Learning at the Egypt Centre, Swansea, UK during the Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond. Thum, J., Walsh, C., Jiménez, L., Haney, L., eds. Teaching Ancient Egypt in Museums Pedagogies in Practice Routledge, 191-131
Hussein, E., Griffin, K., & Powell, S. (2023). A Digital Presence in the Time of COVID-19: Reflections on Past, Present and Future Strategies Using Digital Technologies at Swansea University's Egypt Centre. CIPEG Journal: Ancient Egyptian & Sudanese Collections and Museums, 6, 10-26.
Hussein, E. (2022). Mapping Metal Rich Roman Cyprus: The Case for Object-Centred Approaches. Études et Travaux(34), 167-181.
Hussein, E. (2021). Revaluing Roman Cyprus Oxford University Press.
Hussein, E. & Raffa, M. (2016). A Musical Note from Roman Cyprus. Trends in Classics, 8(1), 124-138.

Dr Christian Knoblauch

Knoblauch, C. In Press. A new chronology for the Abydos Middle Cemetery from the late Old Kingdom to the Early Middle Kingdom. In: Pillon, A. (ed.) FIP Chronologies and Contexts. Bibliothèque d'Étude Cairo:
Knoblauch, C., Naquib Reda, M. and Mohamed, A. 2024. The Date of the Lower Slope Tombs and the Development of the Abydos Middle Cemetery in the Old Kingdom. In: Ikram, S., D'Auria, S. and Hardwick, T. (eds.) No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Egyptological Essays in Honor of Peter Lacovara.
Knoblauch, C. 2020. Between Egypt and Kerma: A Strange Tulip-Beaker from Mirgissa. In: Warfe, A., Gill, J. C., Hamilton, C., Pettman, A. and Stewart, D. (eds.) Dust, Demons and Pots: Studies in Honour of Colin A. Hope. Orientalia Lovanensia Analecta. Leuven: 415-425.
Bestock, L. and Knoblauch, C. 2020. Leather, mud and grain: the 2018 excavations in Uronarti fortress, Sudan & Nubia 24: 31-42
This article reports on excavations at the fortress of Uronarti during the 2018-19 season. Work in an administrative area and a "barracks" shed new light on the construction history of the fortress and its domestic spaces over time. The authors suggest a new location for the main stairs to the fortress defences, and propose that the SW corner of the fortress was a place of exchange with the local populations.
Knoblauch, C. 2019. Middle Kingdom Fortresses In: Raue, D. (ed.) Handbook of Ancient Nubia. Berlin, Boston: 367-391.

Object and Landscape Centred Approaches to the Past (OLCAP)

Object and Landscape-Centred Approaches to the Past

Projects

People

Co-director

Co-director

Staff Members

Academic Publications

Dr Ersin Hussein

Dr Christian Knoblauch

Contact OLCAP

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