{{Short description|Archaeologist and university teacher}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = <!-- see MOS:CREDENTIAL and MOS:HONORIFIC --> | name = Sarah Semple | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FBA}} | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = <!-- use only if different from full/othernames --> | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1973|7}} <!-- {{birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | death_cause = | citizenship = <!-- use only when necessary per WP:INFONAT --> | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = | title = | boards = <!--board or similar positions extraneous to main occupation--> | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = <!--notable national-level awards only--> | website = | education = | alma_mater = <!--will often consist of the linked name of the last-attended higher education institution--> | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source--> | era = | discipline = Archaeologist | sub_discipline = {{hlist|Archaeology of the United Kingdom|Archaeology of northwest Europe|early medieval period|landscape archaeology|material culture}} | workplaces = {{plain list| * St Cross College, Oxford * University of Chester * University of Durham}} | doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles--> | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source--> | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''Sarah Jane Semple''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FBA}} (born July 1973) is a British archaeologist and academic, specialising in the early medieval period, landscape archaeology and material culture of northwest Europe. Having worked at St Cross College, Oxford and the University of Chester, she has taught at the University of Durham since 2006.<ref name="bio DU">{{cite web |title=Professor Sarah Semple |url=https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/s-j-semple/ |website=www.durham.ac.uk |publisher=Durham University |access-date=1 November 2025 |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref name="Conversation">{{cite web |title=In Conversation with Professor Sarah Semple |url=https://gefrintrust.org/conversationwithsarahsemple/ |website=The Gefrin Trust |access-date=1 November 2025 |date=2025}}</ref>
==Biography== Semple was born in July 1973.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sarah SEMPLE |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/IqahuHTXmtzbPE_P4NxZe-UXWg8/appointments |website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |publisher=Companies House |access-date=1 November 2025 |language=en}}</ref> She studied medieval archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.<ref name="Conversation" /> She then worked in commercial archaeology, before joining The Queen's College, Oxford for postgraduate study.<ref name="bio DU" /> In 2003, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in the University of Oxford's School of Archaeology with a doctoral thesis titled "Anglo-Saxon attitudes to the past: a landscape perspective: a study of the secondary uses and perceptions of prehistoric monuments in Anglo-Saxon society".<ref name="thesis">{{cite thesis |last= Semple |first= Sarah |date= 2003 |title= Anglo-Saxon attitudes to the past: a landscape perspective: a study of the secondary uses and perceptions of prehistoric monuments in Anglo-Saxon society |degree= DPhil |publisher= University of Oxford |url= https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990155134690107026 |accessdate= 1 November 2025}}</ref>
Having completed her DPhil, she was a post-doctoral research fellow at St Cross College, Oxford.<ref name="bio DU" /> Then, in 2004, she was appointed a lecturer at the University of Chester.<ref name="Trustees">{{cite web |title=Trustees |url=https://gefrintrust.org/tgt-trustees/ |website=The Gefrin Trust |access-date=7 December 2025}}</ref> In 2006, she moved to Durham University.<ref name="Conversation" />
In January 2026, she was elected as the next president of the Society for Medieval Archaeology.<ref name="Meet">{{cite web |title=Meet Our New President: Professor Sarah Semple |url=https://medievalarchaeology.co.uk/meet-our-new-president-professor-sarah-semple/ |website=The Society for Medieval Archaeology |access-date=17 January 2026 |date=5 January 2026}}</ref>
==Honours== In 2024, she was awarded the Landscape Archaeology Medal by the British Academy.<ref name="medal">{{cite web |title=The British Academy Landscape Archaeology Medal |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/prizes-medals/landscape-archaeology-medal/ |website=The British Academy |access-date=1 November 2025 |language=en |date=2025}}</ref> In July 2025, she was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.<ref>{{cite web |title=The British Academy welcomes 92 new Fellows in 2025 |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/agm-welcomes-92-new-fellows-2025/ |website=The British Academy |access-date=1 November 2025 |language=en |date=18 July 2025}}</ref>
==Selected works==
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Carver |editor1-first=Martin |editor2-last=Sanmark |editor2-first=Alex |editor3-last=Semple |editor3-first=Sarah |editor1-link=Martin Carver |title=Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon paganism revisited |date=2010 |publisher=Oxbow Books |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1842173954}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Jones |editor1-first=Richard |editor2-last=Semple |editor2-first=Sarah |title=Sense of place in Anglo-Saxon England |date=2012 |publisher=Shaun Tyas |location=Donington, Lincolnshire |isbn=978-1907730177}} * {{cite book |last1=Semple |first1=Sarah |title=Perceptions of the prehistoric in Anglo-Saxon England: religion, ritual, and rulership in the landscape |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0199683109}} * {{cite book |last1=Semple |first1=Sarah |last2=Sanmark |first2=Alexandra |last3=Iversen |first3=Frode |last4=Mehler |first4=Natascha |title=Negotiating the North: meeting-places in the Middle Ages in the North Sea zone |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group |location=Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY |isbn=9781003045663 |doi=10.4324/9781003045663}} {{openaccess}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Lund |editor1-first=Julie |editor2-last=Semple |editor2-first=Sarah |title=A cultural history of objects |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |location=London; New York |isbn=978-1474298681 |series=The Cultural Histories Series}}
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Semple, Sarah}} Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century British archaeologists Category:Fellows of St Cross College, Oxford Category:British women archaeologists Category:Medieval archaeologists Category:Archaeologists of Europe Category:Academics of the University of Chester Category:Academics of Durham University Category:Fellows of the British Academy Category:Alumni of the UCL Institute of Archaeology Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford