Prof Rebecca Sweetman

Prof Rebecca Sweetman

Professor

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 2606
Email
rs43@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Research areas

Rebecca joined the School of Classics in 2003. She is an archaeologist who specialises in Mediterranean archaeology in particular in Roman and Late Antique Crete, the Cyclades and the Peloponnese (especially Sparta). Her original research focus started with Roman and Late Antique art and architecture (in particular mosaics and religious buildings). Her work on Knossos and Crete led to application of ideas of Globalization and network theory (published in her book on Roman and Late Antique Crete and in an article in AJA). Thanks to funding from the AHRC she undertook a survey of the Late Antique churches of the Peloponnese in order to discuss (strategic) processes of Christianization and use of memory, space, place and displacement. The resulting work was published in the AJA and ABSA. In 2018 she was awarded a major Leverhulme prize which she used to complete the first monograph on the Cyclades in the Roman and Late Antique periods (forthcoming with CUP in 2024). In this research Rebecca explored the economy and society of the islands using network theory and ideas of insularity and resilience.

Areas of Rebecca's research also include archaeology and well-being. With Alison Hadfield she undertook a project on the value of haptic experiences with archaeology for well-being and esteem. This work has been the focus of publications (along with Akira O'Connor) and an impact case study.

Rebecca is currently seconded as Director of the British School at Athens. She keeps a close connection with St Andrews and continues to supervise St Andrews PhD students. She has started a new project on female social and geographic mobility of the 3rd and 4th century in the Eastern Mediterranean and also continues the work on haptic experiences with archaeology at the BSA. 

PhD supervision

  • Rowan Munnery
  • Zofia Guertin
  • Alison Hadfield
  • Deanna Cunningham
  • Arend Bronkhorst

Selected publications

 

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