AUB - History and Archaeology

Paul Newson

Assistant Professor, Department of History and Archaeology, AUB, since 2008
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Durham University, 2004 -2006
PhD in Archaeology, University of Leicester, 2002
MA in Archaeology Institute of Archaeology, UCL, 1998

Research Interests

Rural Settlement in the Roman Near East: Social and Cultural Change,between the 1st and 8th Centuries AD

A huge body of work has been devoted to the impact of Roman hegemony on the provinces of Western Europe, but relatively little is understood of such processes in the corresponding provinces of the East, particularly in the Near East. The essential aim of my current research (both completed and ongoing) is to examine rural settlement and cultural change both spatially and diachronically within this under-appreciated region. My primary intention is to develop new methodologies and interpretations of long-term patterns of rural settlement and land-use and acculturation within the Near East between the first and eighth Centuries AD. By implementing landscape archaeological techniques, the influence of Roman control and interactions on the Near Eastern rural landscape, especially in terms of agricultural exploitation and production. Other key issues include the development history of villages and their spatial patterning, the relationship between country dwellers (be they sedentary or nomadic), and urban population centres.

Research projects

Landscape and Settlement of the Basalt Region of Homs, Syria
Settlement, Land Use and Water Management Systems in Roman Arabia
Land of Carchemish Project, Syria

Courses taught at AUB

Undergraduate Courses

Ancient Near East and Classical Civilizations (CVSP 201)

Archaeology of the Greek World – Bronze and Dark Ages (AROL 221)

Archaeology of the Greek World – Archaic and Classical Greece (AROL 222)

Archaeology of the Hellenistic World (AROL 223)

Introduction to the Roman World (AROL 224)

The Roman and Byzantine Near East (AROL 225)

Themes in Archaeological Theory

Recent Publications

Newson, P., Abdulkarim, M., McPhillips, S., Mills, P., Reynolds, P. and Philip, G. in press 2010. Landscape study of Dar es-Salaam and the basalt region north west of Homs, Syria. Berytus

Ali, I, Hamilton, D., Newson, P., Qasim, M. Young, R. and Zahir, M., 2008. New radiocarbon dates from Chitral, NWFP, Pakistan, and their implications for the Gandharan Grave Culture of northern Pakistan. Antiquity 82. www.antiquity.ac.uk

Newson, P., Barker, G., Daly, P., Mattingly, D. and Gilbertson, D. 2007. The Wadi Faynan field systems. In G. Barker, D. Mattingly and D. Gilberston (eds), Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Jordan: 141-74. Oxford: Oxbow and Council for British Research in the Levant.

Newson, P., Mattingly, D., Daly, P., Tomber, R., el-Rishi, H., Gilbertson, D., Grattan, J., Hunt, C., McLaren, S. and Pyatt, B. 2007. The Islamic and Ottoman periods. In G. Barker, D. Mattingly and D. Gilbertson (eds), Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Jordan: 349-68. Oxford: Oxbow and Council for British Research in the Levant.

Mattingly, D., Newson P., Grattan, J., Tomber, R., Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. and Hunt, C. 2007. The making of early states: the Iron Age and Nabataean periods. In G. Barker, D. Mattingly and D. Gilberston (eds), Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Jordan: 271-303. Oxford: Oxbow and Council for British Research in the Levant.

Mattingly, D., Newson, P., Creighton, O., Tomber, R., Grattan, J., Hunt, C., Gilbertson, D. and Pyatt, B. 2007. A landscape of imperial power: Roman and Byzantine Phaino. In G. Barker, D. Mattingly and D. Gilberston (eds), Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Jordan: 305-348. Oxford: Oxbow and Council for British Research in the Levant.

Complete list of publications