Professor Josh Pollard

Research interests

• Monumentality (and especially the conditions under which monument buidling occurs)
• Depositional practices and materiality
• Cultural perceptions of the environment
• Approaches to the study of settlement and routine
• British later prehistory, and especially the Neolithic

Current research

Among other commitments, I am currently preparing elements of the AHRC-funded Living with Monuments Project for publication, and still exploring the relationships between occupation, place-making and monument creation.

My research has taken in themes relating to monumentality (and especially the conditions under which monument buidling occurs), depositional practices and materiality, cultural perceptions of the environment, and approaches to the study of settlement and routine. These have been articulated through a focus on British later prehistory, and especially the Neolithic. Over the last 25 years I have been involved - in collaboration with colleagues in the UCL and the Universities of Bournemouth, Manchester and UHI - in major fieldwork projects investigating the great monument complexes of Avebury (the AHRC-funded ‘Living with Monuments Project’ and ‘Longstones Project’) and Stonehenge (the ‘Stones of Stonehenge’ and AHRC-funded ‘Stonehenge Riverside Project’).

I have also researched and published on other topics, including the archaeology of contact on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and the links between contemporary art and archaeology.

Research projects