AGES

Archaeological, Geographical & Environmental Sciences

Dr Timothy Taylor

Reader in Archaeology

Archaeological Sciences

Room:	Phoenix SW 1.23
Tel:	(01274) 233537
Email:	T.F.Taylor@Bradford.ac.uk

Tim has A-levels in art, biology, history and physics; he read Archaeology and Anthropology at St John’s College, Cambridge (1979-82; MA 1985) and did research on the later prehistoric cultures of central and southeastern Europe (Christ Church, Oxford 1984; Kliment Okhridski University, Sofia 1985; Randall MacIver Studentship, The Queen’s College, Oxford, 1985-8, returning to Cambridge as Junior Research Fellow in Archaeology at King’s College in 1988). In 1990, Tim took up a lectureship in archaeology in Archaeological Sciences at Bradford, receiving his PhD from Bradford for Publications in Eastern European Archaeology in 1994, and becoming a Reader in 2004. His books The Prehistory of Sex and The Buried Soul have been published in the UK and US and translated into several languages. Tim’s teaching covers Introduction to World Archaeology, Theoretical Archaeology and the MA course in archaeology.

Professional activities

• Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (since 2002)
• Visiting Professor, University of Vienna (2003)
• National Committee member of the Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG)
• Editor of the Journal of World Prehistory
• Contributor to the internet salon http://www.edge.org, with a high profile in public archaeology through radio and television appearance (including History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, BBC Timewatch)
• Member of the Society of American Archaeology
• Member of CIFA (Centre for International Forensic Assistance); Centrex (UK National Crime Faculty) listed for expert advice on ritual killing and human sacrifice

Research

Current research focusses on two areas, one theoretical and one empirical. The first concerns materiality, with papers so far given in 2007 on ‘Artificials’ to the University of Durham Centre for Advanced Research, Darwin, Science and Belief symposium, and the ‘Brno effect’ to the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas (both in prep. for publication), and work underway on a monograph treatment under the provisional title Artificials (see also 2006c). This area of theory incorporates and develops long-standing interests in evidential archaeology in areas such as cannibalism, slavery, death rituals, symbolism, sexuality & gender, skeuomorphism, and maintain a strong interest in explanatory form which has been a consistent part of publication output since 2000. Current collaborations include one with A.Wilson et al. on the structuring of death rituals among the Inca, using a unique interdisciplinary approach integrating high resolution isotope and DNA data with historical and archaeological evidence. The second research area concerns fieldwork and excavation as part of the Craven’s Ancient Landscapes project (2006b; 2007a) with its special concern for the cave archaeology and holocene environmental record of the southwestern Dales in the Craven fault zone. The project currently involves three PhD students (Rushworth: NERC-funded palaoenvironmental work; Spicer: theory of Neolithic transition; Neil: comingled animal/human deposits in caves) and collaborations with Graeme Swindles (AGES, Bradford), Terry O’Connor (York), Thomas Lord (Winskill Centre, Settle), the cavers John & Wendy Thorp, English Heritage and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. Collaborative papers in press include with O’Connor and Lord on the timing of the first neolithic in the Yorkshire Dales.

Publications Since 2000

Taylor, T. F. 2010. The Artificial Ape. New York: Palgrave MacMillan

Kouhpar, M. M. & T. Taylor 2008. A Metamorphosis in Sasanian Silverwork. In D. Kennet and P. Luft (ed.) Current Research in Sasanian Archaeology, Art & History: BAR International Series 1810. 127-35. Oxford: BAR

Taylor, T. F. 2008. Artificials, or why Darwin was wrong about humans. In R. A. Bentley (ed.) The Edge of Reason: Science and Religion in Modern Society: 95-106. London: Continuum

Taylor, T. F. 2008. Prehistory vs. archaeology: terms of engagement. Journal of World Prehistory 21: 1-18.

Taylor, T. F. 2008. Skeuomorphism. In J. Brockman (ed.) What are you optimistic about? Today's leading thinkers on why things are good and getting better: 300-302. London: Free Press

Taylor, T. F. 2008. Materiality. In R. A. Bentley, H. D. G. Maschner and C. Chippindale (ed.) Handbook of Archaeological Theories: 297-320. Lanham: AltaMira

Taylor, T. 2007. Nice to eat you. Sunday Herald Glasgow:

Taylor, T. F. 2007. Why can't we just cook her? Contribution to. W. Janieson's Father knows less or: can I cook my sister? 247-8.New York: Puttnam

Taylor, T. F. 2007. Screening biases: archaeology, television and the banal. In T. Clack and M. Brittain (ed.) Media's past: archaeology in contemporary popular culture: London: Routledge

Wilson, A. S., T. Taylor, M. C. Ceruti, J. A. Chavez, J. Reinhard, V. Grimes, W. Meier-Augenstein, L. Cartmell, B. Stern, M. P. Richards, M. Worobey, I. Barnes & M. T. P. Gilbert 2007. Stable isotope and DNA evidence for ritual sequences in Inca child sacrifice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 16456-16461.

Taylor, T. 2006. The human brain is a cultural artefact. In J. Brockman (ed.) What is your dangerous idea?: 258-62. London: Free Press / New York: Simon & Schuster (paperback 2007. New York: Harper Perennial)

Taylor, T. 2006. The Origins of Human Sexual Culture: Sex, Gender and Social Control. Journal of Psychology 18: 69-105 (also published in Kauth, M.R. (ed) 2006 Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality. Binghamton (NY): Haworth Press.

Taylor, T. 2006. Why the Venus of Willendorf has no face. Archäologie Österreichs 17: 26-9.

Taylor, T. F. 2006. From Wildness to wildscape: questions from archaeological theory. In (ed.) Rethinking Craven's limestone landscape: North Craven Historical Research Group. 26-27. Settle: Hudson History

Taylor, T. 2005. Untitled essay. In J. Brockman (ed.) What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it? 64-6. London: Free Press / New York: Simon & Schuster

Taylor, T. 2005. Ambushed by a grotesque: archaeology, slavery and the third paradigm. In M. Parker Pearson and I. J. N. Thorpe (ed.) Warfare, Violence and Slavery in Prehistory: BAR International Series 1374. 225-33. Oxford: BAR

Taylor, T. 2005. Comments VII: A cunning duplicate in mind: materiality and the interpretive dilemma. Archaeometry 47: 196-8.

Taylor, T. 2004. Prehistoric European Art 500 BC - AD 400. In J. Onions (ed.) The Atlas of World Art: 53-4. London: Calman & King

Taylor, T. 2003. Unpalatable but true: cannibalism was routine. Daily Telegraph

Taylor, T. 2003. A platform for studying the Scythians. Antiquity 77: 413-5.

Taylor, T. 2003. Untitled essay. In J. Brockman (ed.) The new humanists: science at the edge: 372-4. New York: Barnes & Noble

Taylor, T. 2002. The Buried Soul: how humans invented death. London: 4th Estate (Revised paperback edn. 2003 London: 4th Estate; US edn. 2004. Boston: Beacon; US paperback edn. 2005. Boston: Beacon).

Taylor, T. 2001. Herodotus and the people eaters. In (ed.) Olbia ta antichnii svit: Kyiv: Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine/British Academy

Taylor, T. 2001. Northeastern European Iron Age. In P. N. Peregrine and M. Ember (ed.) Encyclopedia of Prehistory 4: Europe: 210-221. New York: Kluwer Academic/ Plenum (HRAF)

Taylor, T. 2001. Explanatory tyranny. Nature 411: 419.

Taylor, T. 2001. The edible dead. British Archaeology 59: 8-12.

Taylor, T. 2001. East-Central European Iron Age. In P. N. Peregrine and M. Ember (ed.) Encyclopedia of Prehistory 4: Europe: 79-90. New York: Kluwer Academic / Plenum (HRAF)

Taylor, T. 2001. Believing the ancients: quantitative and qualitative dimensions of slavery andthe slave trade in later prehistoric Eurasia. World Archaeology 33: 27-43.

Taylor, T. & C. M. Freeth 2001. Skeuomorphism in Scythia: deference and emulation. In (ed.) Olbia ta antichnii svit: Kyiv: Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine/British Academy