Professor Robin Skeates 

Robin's research and publications explore a wide variety of themes within the overlapping inter-disciplinary fields of material, visual and sensual culture studies, and museum and heritage studies.

Robin was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2005 in recognition of his long-term work on Central Mediterranean prehistoric archaeology, and is currently writing a book on Prehistoric Italy. In 2019, he was made an Honorary Member of the European Association of Archaeologists, having served as General Editor of the European Journal of Archaeology for 9 years; he was also made a Guest Professor in the School of Archaeology at Jilin University, China, having helped to develop collaboration between Durham University, the Palace Museum in Beijing, and Jilin. Robin is now Associate Editor of Antiquity.

In recent years, Robin has also participated in collaborative work with a variety of archaeological scientists, including post-docs and PhD students, on human bioarchaeology (aDNA and stable isotope analyses) and archaeometry (physical and chemical analyses of ceramic fabrics and of pigments) applied to Central Mediterranean prehistory, adding to my long-standing commitment to radiocarbon dating in this region.

Robin's impact on public archaeology has been enhanced by his work as an archaeological advisor to the National Trust, my related Durham and NT-funded ‘Archaeological Wows’ research project, an AHRC Newton-Khalidi-funded museum modernization project in Jordan (Co-I Shatha Abu-Khafajah), associated publications such as my edited volumes, the Oxford Handbook of Public Archaeology and Museums and Archaeology, and postgraduate student research.

Affiliated research