Staff profile

• Archaeological theory
• Colour studies in prehistory
• Field survey techniques
• Fragmentation in archaeology
• Prehistory of central and Eastern Europe
• Tripolye mega-sites and the problem of European Neolithic urbanism

Authored book

• Chapman, J., Gillings, M., Shiel, R., Magyari, E., Gaydarska, B., & Bond, C. (2010). The Upper Tisza Project. Studies in Hungarian landscape archaeology. Book 3: Settlement patterns in the Zemplén Block. (BAR International Series 2088). Archaeopress
• Chapman, J., Gillings, M., Shiel, R., Gaydarska, B., & Bond, C. (2010). The Upper Tisza Project. Studies in Hungarian landscape archaeology. Book 4: Lowland settlement in North East Hungary: excavations at the Neolithic settlement site of Polgár-10. Archaeopress
• Chapman, J., Gillings, M., Vicze, M., Shiel, R., Cousins, S., Gaydarska, B., & Bond, C. (2010). The Upper Tisza Project. Studies in Hungarian landscape archaeology. Book 5: Upland settlement patterns in North East Hungary: excavations at the multi-period site of Regéc-95. (BAR International Series 2090). Archaeopress
• Chapman, J., Gillings, M., Shiel, R., Magyari, E., Gaydarska, B., & Bond, C. (2010). The Upper Tisza Project. Studies in Hungarian landscape archaeology. Book 2: Settlement patterns in the Bodrogköz Block. (BAR International Series 2087). Archaeopress
• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (2006). Parts and wholes. Fragmentation in prehistoric context. Oxbow Books
• Chapman, J., Shiel, R., Passmore, D., Magyari, E., & Gillings, M. (2003). The Upper Tisza Project: studies in Hungarian landscape archaeology: Introduction and Archaeological Field Survey in the Polgár Block. (E-Book). AHDS Archaeology

Chapter in book

• Chapman, J. Early Food Production in Southern Europe. In C. Renfrew, & P. Bahn (Eds.), The Cambridge World Prehistory (1803 - 1817). CUP
• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. Low-density agrarian cities: a principle of the past and the present. In J. Müller, K. Rassmann, & M. Videiko (Eds.), Tripolye-Megasites and European Prehistory 4100-3400 BCE (289 - 300). EAA
• Chapman, J., Gaydarska, B., & Hale, D. Nebelivka: Assembly Houses, ditches and social structure. In J. Müller, K. Rassmann, & M. Videiko (Eds.), Tripolye-Megasites and European Prehistory 4100-3400 BCE (117 - 132). EAA
• Chapman, J. Burn or bury? Mortuary alternatives in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Central and Eastern Europe. In A. Diachenko, F. Menotti, S. Ryzhov, K. Bunyatyan, & S. Kadrow (Eds.), The Cucuteni-Trypillia cultural complex and its neighbours. Essays in memory of Vlodomyr Kruts. Astrolyabia
• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. Spondylus gaederopus / Glycymeris exchange networks in the European Neolithic and Chalcolithic. In D. Hofmann, C. Fowler, & J. Harding (Eds.), Handbook of the European Neolithic (639 - 656). Routledge
• Chapman, J., Videiko, M., Gaydarska, B., Burdo, N., & Hale, D. Nebelivka: in search of the history and meaning of a Tripillye Copper Age mega-site. In S. Hansen, P. Raczky, A. Anders, & A. Reingruber (Eds.), Neolithic and Copper Age between the Carpathians and the Black Sea (419 - 436). Habelt
• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (2017). The Cucuteni – Trypillia ‘Big Other’ – Reflections on the Making of Millennial Cultural Traditions. In D. H. Werra, & M. Woźny (Eds.), Between history and archaeology : papers in honour of Jacek Lech (267-277). Archaeopress
• Chapman, J. (2015). The Balkan Neolithic and Chalcolithic. In D. Hofmann, C. Fowler, & J. Harding (Eds.), Handbook of the European Neolithic (157 - 174). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199545841.013.068
• Burdo, N., Videiko, M., Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (2013). Houses in the Archaeology of the Tripillia—Cucuteni Groups. In D. Hofmann, & J. Smyth (Eds.), Tracking the Neolithic house in Europe. Sedentism, architecture and practice (95-115). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5289-8_5
• Chapman, J., & Palincas, N. (2012). Gender in Eastern European prehistory. In D. Bolger (Ed.), A companion to gender prehistory (413 - 437). Wiley
• Chapman, J. (2012). The shell, the pin and the earring: Balkan Copper Age mortuary costumes in context. In A. Cochrane, & A. M. Jones (Eds.), Visualising the Neolithic. Oxbow Books
• Chapman, J. (2012). From the Varna cemetery to the Tripolye mega-sites: new arenas of power. In T. L. Kienlin, & A. Zimmermann (Eds.), Beyond elites. Alternatives to hierarchical systems in modeling social formations (225 - 242). Rudolf Habelt
• Chapman, J. (2012). The negotiation of place value in the landscape. In J. K. Papadopoulos, & G. Urton (Eds.), The construction of value in the ancient world (66 - 89). UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
• Chapman, J. (2011). Enchantment and enchainment in later Balkan prehistory: towards an aesthetic of precision and geometric order. In A. Hadjikoumis, E. Robinson, & S. Viner (Eds.), The dynamics of neolithisation in Europe : studies in honour of Andrew Sherratt (153-176). Oxbow Books
• Chapman, J., Gaydarska, B., Skafida, E., & Souvatzi, S. (2011). Personhood and the life cycle of Spondylus rings: an example from Late Neolithic, Greece. In F. Ifantidis, & M. Nikolaidou (Eds.), Spondylus in prehistory : new data and approaches – contributions to the archaeology of shell technologies (139-160). Archaeopress
• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (2010). Fragmenting hominins and the presencing of Early Palaeolithic social worlds. In R. Dunbar, C. Gamble, & J. Gowlett (Eds.), Social brain, distributed mind (417-452). Oxford University Press ; British Academy
• Chapman, J. (2010). ‘Deviant’ burials in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Central and South Eastern Europe. In K. Rebay-Salisbury, M. Sørensen, & J. Hughes (Eds.), Body parts and bodies whole : changing relations and meanings (30-45). Oxbow Books
• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (2009). The fragmentation premise in archaeology: from the Paleolithic to more recent times. In W. Tronzo (Ed.), The fragment : an incomplete history (131-153). Getty Research Institute
• Chapman, J. (2009). Approaches to trade and exchange in earlier prehistory (Late Mesolithic – Early Bronze Age). In A. Jones (Ed.), Prehistoric Europe : theory and practice (333-355). Wiley
• Chapman, J. (2009). Object fragmentation in past landscapes. In B. David, & J. Thomas (Eds.), Handbook of landscape archaeology (187-201). Left Coast
• Chapman, J. (2009). Houses, households, villages and proto-cities in Southeastern Europe. In D. Anthony, & J. Chi (Eds.), The lost world of Old Europe : the Danube valley, 5000-3500 BC (74-89). Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
• Chapman, J. (2009). Notes on memory-work and materiality. In I. Barbiera, A. Choyke, & J. Rasson (Eds.), Materializing memory : archaeological material culture and the semantics of the past (7-16). Archaeopress
• Chapman, J., & Richter, E. (2009). Geometric order and scientific principles: a view from the mesolithic, neolithic and chalcolithic of Central and South East Europe. In G. Bodi (Ed.), In medias res praehistoriae. Miscellanea in honorem annos LXV peragentis Professoris Dan Monah oblata (21-58). Editura Universităţii Alexandru Ioan Cuza
• Chapman, J. C. (2008). Interaction, trade and exchange: approaches to trade and exchange in earlier prehistory (late mesolithic - early bronze age). In A. Jones (Ed.), Prehistoric Europe : theory and practice (333-355). John Wiley and Sons
• Chapman, J. (2008). Meet the ancestors: settlement histories in the Neolithic. In D. Bailey, A. Whittle, & D. Hofmann (Eds.), Living well together ? settlement and materiality in the Neolithic of South-East and Central Europe (68-80). Oxbow Books
• Chapman, J. (2007). Engaging with the exotic: the production of early farming communities in South-East and Central Europe. In M. Spataro, & P. Biagi (Eds.), A short walk through the Balkans. The first farmers of the Carpathian Basin and adjacent regions (207 - 222). Società per la preistoria i protostoria della regione Friuli-Venezia Giulia
• Chapman, J., Gaydarska, B., & Hardy, K. (2006). Does enclosure make a difference? A view from the Balkans. In A. Harding, S. Sievers, & N. Venclová (Eds.), Enclosing the past : inside and outside in prehistory (20-43). J. R. Collis
• Chapman, J. C. (2003). From Franchthi to the Tiszazug: two Early Neolithic worlds. In E. Jerem, & P. Raczky (Eds.), Morgenrot der Kulturen : Frühe Etappen der Menschheitsgeschichte in Mittel- und Südosteuropa (89-108). Archaeolingua
• Chapman, J. (1999). Deliberate house-burning in the prehistory of central and eastern Europe. In J. Nordbladh (Ed.), Glyfer och arkeologiska rum : En vänbok till Jarl Nordbladh (113-116). University of Göteborg Press

Conference Paper

• Gaydarska, B., Chapman, J., Raduncheva, A., & Koleva, B. (2007, December). The châine opératoire approach to prehistoric figurines: an example from Dolnoslav, Bulgaria. Presented at Image and Imagination., Cambridge

Edited book

• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (Eds.). (2010). From surface collection to prehistoric lifeways. Making sense of the multi-period site of Orlovo, South East Bulgaria. Oxbow Books
• O’Connor, B., Cooney, G., & Chapman, J. (Eds.). (2010). Materialitas. Working stone, carving identity. Oxbow Books

Journal Article

• Chapman, J., Videiko, M., Gaydarska, B., Burdo, N., & Hale, D. (in press). An Answer to Roland Fletcher’s Conundrum?: Preliminary Report on the Excavation of a Trypillia Mega-Structure at Nebelivka, Ukraine
• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (in press). Fragmentation in Archaeology: Sorting through the Pieces
• Videiko, M., Chapman, J., Burdo, N., Gaydarska, B., Terziiska-Ignatova, S., Ivanova, S., & Rud, V. (in press). Research project “Early urbanism in prehistoric Europe: the case of the Trypillia mega-sites” in 2013
• Chapman, J., Wallduck, R., & Trianaphyllou, S. (in press). Disarticulated human bone disposal during the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic in the Balkans and Greece
• Bentley, R. A., Carrignon, S., Gaydarska, B., Chapman, J., Buchanan, B., & O'Brien, M. J. (2024). Modelling cultural responses to disease spread in Neolithic Trypillia mega-settlements. Journal of the Royal Society. Interface, 21(219), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2024.0313
• Gaydarska, B., Millard, A., Buchanan, B., & Chapman, J. (2023). Place and Time at Trypillia Mega-Sites: Towards a New Synthesis of Analyses and Social Theory. Journal of urban archaeology, 7, 115-145. https://doi.org/10.1484/j.jua.5.133453
• Chapman, J. (2020). The Vinča group - (Almost) 40 years on John Chapman (independent scholar). Quaternary International, 560-561, 5-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.06.014
• Gaydarska, B., Nebbia, M., & Chapman, J. (2020). Trypillia Megasites in Context: Independent Urban Development in Chalcolithic Eastern Europe. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 30(1), 97-121. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959774319000301
• Albert, B., Innes, J., Krementskiy, K., Millard, A., Gaydarska, B., Nebbia, M., & Chapman, J. (2020). What was the ecological impact of a Trypillia mega-site occupation? Multi-proxy palaeo-environmental investigations at Nebelivka, Ukraine. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 29(1), 15-34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00730-9
• Spataro, M., Cubas, M., Craig, O. E., Chapman, J. C., Boroneanţ, A., & Bonsall, C. (2019). Production and function of Neolithic black-painted pottery from Schela Cladovei (Iron Gates, Romania). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11(11), 6287-6304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00918-0
• Frantz, L. A., Haile, J., Lin, A. T., Scheu, A., Geörg, C., Benecke, N., Alexander, M., Linderholm, A., Mullin, V. E., Daly, K. G., Battista, V. M., Price, M., Gron, K. J., Alexandri, P., Arbogast, R.-M., Arbuckle, B., Bӑlӑşescu, A., Barnett, R., Bartosiewicz, L., Baryshnikov, G., …Larson, G. (2019). Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(35), 17231-17238. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1901169116
• Chapman, J., Gaydarska, B., & Nebbia, M. (2019). The Origins of Trypillia Megasites. Frontiers in digital humanities, 6, Article 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2019.00010
• Chapman, J. (2018). Climatic and human impact on the environment?: A question of scale. Quaternary International, 496, 3-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.08.010
• Nebbia, M., Gaydarska, B., Millard, A., & Chapman, J. (2018). The Making of Chalcolithic Assembly Places: Trypillia Megasites as Materialised Consensus Among Equal Strangers?. World Archaeology, 50(1), 41-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1474133
• Higham, T., Slavchev, V., Gaydarska, B., & Chapman, J. (2018). AMS Dating of the Late Copper Age Varna Cemetery, Bulgaria. Radiocarbon, 60(02), 493-516. https://doi.org/10.1017/rdc.2018.9
• Chapman, J. (2017). The Standard Model, the Maximalists and the Minimalists: New Interpretations of Trypillia Mega-Sites. Journal of World Prehistory, 30(3), 221-237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-017-9106-7
• Chapman, J., Videiko, M. Y., Hale, D., Gaydarska, B., Burdo, N., Rassman, K., Mischka, C., Müller, J., Korvin-Piotrovskiy, A., & Kruts, V. (2014). The Second Phase of the Trypillia Mega-site Methodological Revolution: A New Research Agenda. European Journal of Archaeology, 7(3), 369-406. https://doi.org/10.1179/1461957114y.0000000062
• Magyari, E., Chapman, J., Fairbairn, A. S., Francis, M., & de Guzman, M. (2012). Neolithic human impact on the landscapes of North-East Hungary inferred from pollen and settlement records. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 21(4-5), 279-302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-012-0350-6
• Kostov, R. I., Protochristov, C., Stoyanov, C., Csedreki, L., Simon, A., Szikszai, Z., Uzonyi, I., Gaydarska, B., & Chapman, J. (2012). Micro-PIXE Geochemical Fingerprinting of Nephrite Neolithic Artifacts from Southwest Bulgaria. Geoarchaeology, 27(5), 457 - 469. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21417
• Gaydarska, B., Gurova, M., Chernakov, D., Blake, E., & Chapman, J. (2012). A place to live, a place to bury and a place to hoard: Understanding deposition on and off the Bulgarian tell of Kosharna
• Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (2011). Can we reconcile individualisation with relational personhood? A case study from the Early Neolithic?. Documenta Praehistorica, 38, 21-44. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.38.3
• Magyari, E., Chapman, J., Passmore, D., Allen, J., Huntley, J., & Huntley, B. (2010). Holocene persistence of wooded steppe in the Great Hungarian Plain. Journal of Biogeography, 37(5), 915-935. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2009.02261.x
• Chapman, J., Magyari, E., & Gaydarska, B. (2009). Contrasting subsistence strategies in the Early Iron Age ?: new results from the Alföld Plain, Hungary and the Thracian Plain, Bulgaria. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 28(2), 155 - 187. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.2009.00323.x
• Chapman, J. (2009). The Danube and settlement prehistory – 80 years on. European Journal of Archaeology, 12(1-3), 145-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461957109342798
• Magyari, E., Chapman, J., Gaydarska, B., Marinova, E., Deli, T., Huntley, J., Allen, J., & Huntley, B. (2008). The ‘oriental’ component of the Balkan flora: evidence of presence on the Thracian Plain during the Weichselian late-glacial. Journal of Biogeography, 35(5), 865-883. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01849.x
• Higham, T., Chapman, J., Gaydarska, B., & Slavchev, V. (2008). The first AMS dates for the Varna cemetery