{{short description|British archaeologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox academic | name = Helena Hamerow | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FSA|FBA}} | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|18 September 1961}}<ref>{{cite news | title = Birthdays | newspaper =The Guardian | pages = 39 | publisher = Guardian News & Media | date = 18 Sep 2014 }}</ref> | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | residence = | occupation = {{hlist|Archaeologist|academic}} | education = University of Wisconsin–Madison<br/>University of Oxford | discipline = Archaeology | sub_discipline = {{hlist|Early Medieval Period|agriculture in the Middle Ages}} | awards = | workplaces = {{plain list| * Somerville College, Oxford * Durham University * St Cross College, Oxford * School of Archaeology, University of Oxford }} | notable_works = ''The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology'' (2011) | thesis_title = The pottery and spatial development of the Anglo-Saxon settlement at Mucking, Essex | thesis_year = 1988 }} '''Helena Francisca Hamerow''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|FSA|FBA}} (born 18 September 1961) is an American archaeologist, best known for her work on the archeology of early medieval communities in Northwestern Europe. She is Professor of Early Medieval archaeology and former head of the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford.
==Early life and education== The daughter of Theodore S. Hamerow, Hamerow attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1979 to 1983, where she earned a BA in Anthropology. She continued her education at the University of Oxford, where she completed her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in 1988.<ref name="Oxford Univ Press">{{cite book |title=About the Author |isbn=978-0198723127 |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |year=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref name="Historic England" /> Her doctoral thesis was titled "The pottery and spatial development of the Anglo-Saxon settlement at Mucking, Essex".<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=DPhil |last=Hamerow |first=Helena F. |date=1987 |title=The pottery and spatial development of the Anglo-Saxon settlement at Mucking, Essex |publisher=University of Oxford |url= https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990112153390107026 |access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref>
==Academic career== Having completed her doctorate, Hamerow was a Mary Somerville research fellow at Somerville College, Oxford from 1988 to 1990. In 1991, she was appointed as a lecturer in early medieval archaeology at Durham University. In 1996, Hamerow returned to Oxford as Professor of Early Medieval Archaeology, where she continues today. She is also a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford, where she was vice-master from 2005 to 2008. She was director of the Institute of Archaeology from 2002 to 2005, and head of the School of Archaeology from 2010 to 2013.<ref name="Oxford Univ Press" /><ref name="WW 26" />
Hamerow was an elected member of the Council of the University of Oxford,<ref name="Members of Council">{{cite web |title=Members of Council |url=https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/council/members-council |website=Univ. of Oxford Governance and Planning |accessdate=23 May 2020}}</ref> serving from 2016 to 2020.<ref name="WW 26" />
She is a commissioner of Historic England, and a former vice-president of the Royal Archaeological Institute.<ref name="Historic England">{{cite web |title=Professor Helena Hamerow |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/about/who-we-are/commission/biographies-of-members/ |website=Historic England |accessdate=22 May 2020}}</ref> She served as president of the Society for Medieval Archaeology from 2014 to 2016.<ref name="WW 26">{{cite web |title=Article Hamerow, Prof. Helena Francisca, (born 18 Sept. 1961), Professor of Early Medieval Archaeology, University of Oxford, since 1996 (Director, Institute of Archaeology, 2002–05 and 2024–25; Head, School of Archaeology, 2010–13); Fellow, St Cross College, Oxford, since 1996 (Vice-Master, 2005–08) |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U255797 |website=Who's Who 2026 |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=17 January 2026 |date=1 December 2025}}</ref> ===Research=== Hamerow's research centres on the archaeology of rural communities during the Anglo-Saxon era, specifically the impact on farmers and the early medieval settlements by the founding of monasteries, kingdoms and towns.<ref name="Univ of Oxford news">{{cite web |title=Professor Helena Hamerow |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-events/find-an-expert/professor-helena-hamerow |website=Univ of Oxford News and Events |accessdate=22 May 2020}}</ref> She has researched and written on the settlement archaeology of the North Sea regions from the period 400—900 AD. She has participated in several projects on the Upper Thames Valley during the Anglo-Saxon period, notably at Sutton Courtenay and Dorchester-on-Thames.<ref name="Oxford Archeology">{{cite web |title=Helena Hamerow |url=https://oxfordarchaeology.com/ourpeople?oacq=helena+hamerow |website=Oxford Archaeology |accessdate=22 May 2020}}</ref> Hamerow is currently leading a four year project funded by the European Research Council (ERC): ''Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: The Bioarchaeology of an Agricultural Revolution''. The project's aim is to investigate the "agricultural revolution" that occurred in Europe between 800 and 1200 AD, as a result of the expansion of cereal farming.<ref name="Univ of Leicester">{{cite web |title=Feeding Anglo-Saxon England (FeedSax): The Bioarchaeology of an Agricultural Revolution |url=https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/research/projects/feeding-anglo-saxon-england-feedsax |website=University of Leicester |accessdate=22 May 2020 |archive-date=13 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513141143/https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/research/projects/feeding-anglo-saxon-england-feedsax |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The University of Oxford holds an archive of unpublished material from excavations by Sonia Chadwick Hawkes. Hamerow, who was a student of Hawkes, led a project to digitise the archive. It concluded in 2007 and was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Römisch-Germanische Kommission.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Novum Inventorium Sepulchrale - Kentish Anglo-Saxon graves and grave-goods in the Sonia Hawkes archive |url=https://digital.humanities.ox.ac.uk/project/novum-inventorium-sepulchrale-kentish-anglo-saxon-graves-and-grave-goods-sonia-hawkes |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=digital.humanities.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Novum Inventorium Sepulchrale |url=https://inventorium.arch.ox.ac.uk/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=inventorium.arch.ox.ac.uk}}</ref>
Hamerow is co-director of the ongoing excavation at Dorchester-on-Thames, the ''Discovering Dorchester'' research project. She was instrumental in the project's design in 2007 and has continued to co-lead the project since the beginning. The project is sponsored by three co-partners: Oxford's School of Archeology, Oxford Archaeology, and the Dorchester Museum. The site is notable for the large quantity of important archeological remains dating from the prehistoric period to the medieval era.<ref name="Discover Dorchester">{{cite web |title=Discovering Dorchester-on-Thames |url=https://oxfordarchaeology.com/research-case-studies/663-discovering-dorchester-on-thames |website=Oxford Archaeology |accessdate=22 May 2020 |archive-date=18 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018045102/https://oxfordarchaeology.com/research-case-studies/663-discovering-dorchester-on-thames |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Hamerow is principal investigator (PI) of the multi-disciplinary project, ''Origins of Wessex'', which has been investigating the development of the kingdom of Wessex in the Upper Thames Valley. The area is renowned for its heavy concentrations of Anglo-Saxon archaeology. The project team is currently excavating a large Anglo-Saxon settlement at Long Wittenham in Oxfordshire. The site is well known for having an exceptionally furnished Anglo-Saxon cemetery and many large Anglo-Saxon buildings.<ref name="Origins of Wessex">{{cite web |title=The Origins of Wessex |url=http://projects.arch.ox.ac.uk/wessex.html |website=University of Oxford School of Archaeology |accessdate=22 May 2020 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605152818/http://projects.arch.ox.ac.uk/wessex.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Media== ===British television=== Hamerow has appeared on BBC Four's ''Digging for Britain'' in 2010 and ''King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons'' in 2013.<ref name="Univ of Oxford news" /> From 2008 to 2010, she appeared on two episodes of the long-running archaeology TV series, ''Time Team''.<ref name="IMDB">{{cite web |title=Helena Hamerow |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3017185/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 |website=IMDB |accessdate=22 May 2020}}</ref>
===Open letter to the ''Guardian''=== In 2008, the British government announced that all human remains uncovered during archaeological excavations in England and Wales were to be reburied within two years.<ref name="Pia">{{cite journal |last1=Pearson |first1=Mike |last2=Schadla-Hall |first2=Tim |last3=Moshenka |first3=Gabe |title=Resolving the Human Remains Crisis in British Archaeology |journal=Papers from the Institute of Archaeology |year=2011 |volume=21 |page=5 | doi=10.5334/pia.369 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 2011, Hamerow was one of forty leading archaeologists who published an open letter to the Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke in the ''Guardian'', asking for more time to study ancient human remains found in archaeological excavations. Later that year, in response to the letter, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) began issuing licences to museums, allowing them to keep human remains for analysis. They also renewed negotiations with representatives of English Heritage and the Institute for Archaeologists to develop a new policy for the retention and burial of human remains.<ref name="Pia" />
==Awards and honours== Hamerow was elected as a Fellow to the Society of Antiquaries of London in May, 1996.<ref name="Society of Antiquaries">{{cite web |title=Helena Francisca Hamerow |url=https://www.sal.org.uk/our-fellows/directory/helena-francisca-hamerow/ |website=Society of Antiquaries London |accessdate=22 May 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.<ref name="FBA">{{cite web |title=Professor Helena Hamerow FBA |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/helena-hamerow-fba/ |website=The British Academy |access-date=8 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
==Selected publications== ===Books=== * {{cite book |editor1-last=Hamerow |editor1-first=Helena |editor2-last=MacGregor |editor2-first=Arthur |title=Image and Power in the Archaeology of Early Medieval Britain: Essays in Honour of Rosemary Cramp |date=2001 |publisher=Oxbow |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1842170519}} *{{cite book |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |title=Early Medieval Settlements: the Archaeology of Rural Settlements in Northwest Europe 400-900 |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199273188}} *{{cite book |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |last2=Hinton |first2=David |last3=Crawford |first3=Sally |title=The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology (Oxford Handbooks) |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199212149}} *{{cite book |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |title=Rural Settlements and Society in Anglo-Saxon England |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199203253}} *{{cite book|last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |last2=McKerracher |first2=Mark |author3=The Feedsax Team |title=Feeding Medieval England: A Long 'Agricultural Revolution', 700–1300 |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2025 |isbn=9780198878520}}
===Journals=== *{{cite journal |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |title=The development of Anglo-Saxon rural settlement forms |journal=Landscape History |date=2010 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=5–22 |doi=10.1080/01433768.2010.10594612 |s2cid=140697238 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271944155 |accessdate=22 May 2020}} *{{cite journal |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |title='Special Deposits' in Anglo-Saxon Settlements |journal=Medieval Archaeology |date=2013 |pages=1–30 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/SPECIAL-DEPOSITS-IN-ANGLO-SAXON-SETTLEMENTS-BY-TYPE_fig1_233665936 |accessdate=22 May 2020}} *{{cite journal |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |last2=Cameron |first2=Esther |last3=Byard |first3=Anni |last4=During |first4=Andreas|display-authors=1 |title=A high-status seventh-century female burial from West Hanney, Oxfordshire |journal=The Antiquaries Journal |date=2015 |volume=95 |issue=95 |pages=91–118 |doi=10.1017/S0003581514000742 |s2cid=162758325 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273129971 |accessdate=22 May 2020}} *{{cite journal |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helen |title=Furnished female burial in seventh-century England: gender and sacral authority in the Conversion Period |journal=24 |date=2016 |volume=Medieval Europe |issue=4 |pages=423–447}} *{{cite journal |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helen |last2=Bogarrd |first2=Amy |last3=Charles |first3=Mike |last4=Ramsey |first4=Christopher |display-authors=1|title=Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: the bioarchaeology of an agricultural revolution |journal=Antiquity |date=2019 |volume=93 |issue=368 |pages=pdf |doi=10.15184/aqy.2019.27 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332321250 |accessdate=22 May 2020|doi-access=free |hdl=2381/44161 |hdl-access=free }}
==References== {{reflist}} {{scholia|author}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamerow, Helen}} Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:American women archaeologists Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:Fellows of the British Academy Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Category:Living people Category:1961 births Category:Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Category:American women historians Category:Academics of Durham University Category:21st-century American historians Category:21st-century American archaeologists Category:Fellows of St Cross College, Oxford Category:Historians of the University of Oxford Category:American expatriates in England