Professor Caroline Jackson

BA, MA, PhD

School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities

Professor of Archaeological Materials

On Study Leave for Semester 2

Professor Caroline Jackson
Profile picture of Professor Caroline Jackson
c.m.jackson@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2918
Room D03, Minalloy House

Full contact details

Professor Caroline Jackson
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Room D03
Minalloy House
10-16 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 3NJ
Profile

My undergraduate degree is in Archaeology and I took an MA and PhD in Archaeological Sciences, specialising in the study and analysis of archaeological materials.

Before starting as a lecturer at Sheffield, I held posts as a Research Assistant at the University of Toronto (working at Carthage) and the University of Cardiff, and worked as a Teaching Fellow in Archaeology at Sheffield.

I have excavated and conducted archaeological fieldwork projects in Italy (Florence and Rome), Tunisia, Swaziland, Croatia, Egypt and the UK, and have published articles on material originating from Egypt, UK, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Italy, France and North America.

Research interests

My research interests are very varied and diverse. For instance I have worked on lithics in Swaziland, conducted surveying work with the University of Cardiff at the Sacred Animal Necropolis in Saqqara and excavated at Amarna in Egypt.  Interests include:

  • Material culture in the Roman and Ancient Egyptian worlds.
  • The technology of glasses
  • The analysis of glasses to explore production and consumption patterns
  • Experimental archaeology
  • Craft production in Egypt
  • Provenance studies

My main research is however, on the study and scientific analysis of archaeological materials, specialising in glass and other vitreous materials such as faience.

The primary focus of this work is in Bronze Age Egypt and the Aegean mainly from production sites and on Roman glasses from consumption contexts.

I use scientific methods to analyse archaeological glass and experimental archaeology to elucidate patterns relating to provenance, trade and consumption in the ancient and historic world.

Current research projects

Recycling and reuse in the Roman world

This project uses the analysis of glass from consumption contexts throughout the Roman world to identify patterns of recycling in glasses, through chemical analysis.

This evidence informs our knowledge of production and consumption of glasses and how they moved within the Roman Empire.

Glass production in New Kingdom (Bronze Age) Egypt

This research gathers primary evidence from glass factories in Egypt (primarily Amarna) to identify glass production in Bronze Age Egypt and then to trace consumption throughout the Mediterranean.

Experimental reconstruction of the Amarna furnaces, in collaboration with Cardiff University, and scientific analysis of the excavated remains have shown Egypt was one of the first glass producers and that the products were transported by land and sea to the Aegean and beyond.

This research links different political regimes throughout the Mediterranean in the Late Bronze Age through the control and consumption of material culture.

Experimental reconstruction and understanding material choice

The experimental reconstruction of glassmaking practices allows an examination of the differences in the use of raw materials relating to geographic, climatic and regional factors and more allows an assessment of the influence of choice on manufacturing regimes and products from the Bronze Age Mediterranean to the later historic period in Northern Europe.

Shipwrecks

The material culture recovered from shipwrecks is instrumental for understanding long distance trade. This project examines the material culture from such wrecks from the Bronze Age to the 18th century.

Research group

I have supervised and co-supervised MA and PhD theses on a variety of topics ranging from ceramics in the early Bronze Age in the Aegean, Late Roman glass in Britain to the bead movements in the late historic period in the Great Lakes region of Canada and from analytical analyses of glasses to experimental reconstructions.

I am interested in supervising research students who have an interest in:

  • Material culture in the Roman world
  • The analysis of glasses to explore production and consumption patterns
  • Experimental archaeology

Current Research Students

  • Lee Eales- "The chemistry of medieval beer/ale" (joint supervision with the 
    Department of Animal and Plant Sciences)
  • Siân Evans- "A Woman in the Forge: Experiences, Perceptions and Mythology"
  • Nicholas Groat- "Reconstructing, charting, and exploring the development of early alcohol distillation through experiment"
  • Matthew Lester- "Sacred spaces? The characterisation of space and practice at the Early Bronze Age cult centre of Dhaskalio-Kavos, Keros, Greece."
  • Yvette Marks- "The inception and transmission of metallurgy: A regional approach"
  • David Montgomery- "Glass Imports to China on the Silk Road during the Han and Six Dynasties"
  • Charlotte Waller-Cotterhill- "One Foot in the Grave: An Experimental Examination of the Effectiveness and Development of the Anglesey Leg and an Analysis of Prosthesis during the Long Nineteenth Century"
Teaching activities

Undergraduate

  • Science in Archaeology (co-ordinator)
  • Egypt in the Age of Empire (co-ordinator)

Postgraduate

  • Applied Archaeological Science (co-ordinator)
  • Reconstructing Ancient Technologies: Ceramics and Glasses (co-ordinator)
  • Research Design: Planning, Execution and Presentation
Professional activities and memberships

Memberships

  • Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
  • Board Member of the Association for the History of Glass (President to 2012)
  • Council Member and Scientific Advisor for L’Association Internationale de l’Histoire du Verre
  • Member of the Society for Archaeological Sciences
  • Member of the Egypt Exploration Society

Other Activities

  • Appearances on BBC4 (Invention of materials) and Channel 4 (Time team) programmes.
  • Associate editor of Archaeometry (to 2007)
  • Past external examiner of undergraduate archaeology and archaeological science programmes at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London, Bournemouth University and at Keele University.
  • Past external examiner for MSc programmes at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London and PhD examiner at UK and international Universities.
Selected Publications

Books

  • Bayley J., Freestone, I.C. and. Jackson C.M (eds) 2015. Glass of the Roman World. Festschrift in honour of Jennifer Price. Oxford: Oxbow.

  • Keller, D., Price, J. and Jackson, C.M. (eds) 2014. Neighbours and Successors of Rome: Traditions of glass production and use in Europe in the Middle East in the later 1 st Millennium AD. Oxford, Oxbow.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Wager, E.C.W. 2008. Vitreous materials in the Late Bronze Age Aegean. Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology volume 9. Oxford: Oxbow Publications.

  • Vitali, V., Jackson, C.M., Argyroupoulos, V., Barret, M., Ozola, I., Pike, A., Roudesli, S. and Zouaoui H. 1993. Salvage Conservation at the Museum of Carthage: A Manual for Artifact Conservation. Museé de Carthage, Tunisia (published in both English and French).

  • Budd, P., Chapman, B., Jackson, C. Janaway, R. and Ottaway, B. 1991. (eds). Archaeological Sciences 1989. Oxbow Monograph 9.

Chapters

  • Cottam, S. and Jackson, C.M. 2018. Things that travelled: Precious Things for Special People? in D. Rosenow, I. Freestone, M. Phelps, (eds) Things that Travelled: Mediterranean Glass in the First Millennium AD, UCL Press, London. 92-106.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Cottam, S. 2018. Glass: a scientific study. In L.A. Pitcher con E. A. Arslan, P. Blockley, M. Volonté, Amoenissimis... aedificiis. Gli scavi di Piazza Marconi a Cremona. Volume II - I materiali, (Studi e Ricerche di Archeologia 5), SAP Società Archeologica S.r.l., Quingentole (MN), 2018, pp. 529-538.

  • Jackson, C.M. 2017. Blue Glass Beads, In J. Barnatt, B. Bevan and M. Edmonds, An Upland Biography, Landscape and Prehistory on Gardom’s Edge, Derbyshire. Oxford, Windgather Press, 177-181.

  • Nicholson, P.T., Parkes, P. and Jackson, C.M. 2015. A tale of two tiles: preliminary investigation of two faience ‘bricks’ In In A. Oppenheim and O. Goelet eds. The Art and Culture of Ancient Egypt: Studies in Honor of Dorothea Arnold. Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar, Vol. 19. New York, NY:  Egyptological Seminar of New York, 463-476.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Foster, H. 2015. Provenance studies and Roman glass. In I.C. Freestone, J. Bayley and C.M. Jackson (eds) Glass of the Roman World. Festschrift in honour of Jennifer Price. Oxford: Oxbow. 

  • Jackson,C.M. and Foster, H. 2014. The last Roman glass in Britain: recycling at the periphery of the empire. In D. Keller, J. Price and C.M. Jackson (eds). Neighbours and Successors of Rome: Traditions of glass production and use in Europe in the Middle East in the later 1st Millennium AD. Oxford, Oxbow. 6-14.

  • Keller, D., Price, J. and Jackson, C.M. 2014 Glass from the later first millennium AD: current state of research. In D. Keller, J. Price and C.M. Jackson (eds). Neighbours and Successors of Rome: Traditions of glass production and use in Europe in the Middle East in the later 1st Millennium AD. Oxford, Oxbow. 1-5.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Nicholson, P.T. 2013 Case Study: Glass at el-Amarna. In Koen Janssens (ed.). Modern Methods for the Analysis of Archaeological and Historic Glass. John Wiley/Blackwell, 345-353.

  • Jackson, C.M. 2012. On the provenance of Roman glasses. In I. Liritzis and C. M. Stevenson (eds) The Dating and Provenance of Obsidian and Ancient Manufactured Glasses. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 157-165.

  • Hyde A.E.L., Jackson C.M., Hassan I. and Howie L.A. 2011. Probability of damage to archaeological inclusions in a sandy matrix, in Jiang M., Liu F., Bolton M. (eds) Geomechanics and Geotechnics: from micro to macro. Vol 1, CRC Press. 253-257

  • Jackson, C.M. and Wager, E.C. 2011. Glass in the Aegean Bronze Age: value, meaning and status in A Vianello (ed) Exotica in the Prehistoric Mediterranean. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 115-123.

  • Jackson, C.M. 2010. Compositional case studies: Glass from the Gnalić Wreck. Quaderni Friulani di Archeologia XIX, Atti del Convegno Intorno all’Adriatico Trieste (Italia) - Piran/Pirano (Slovenja) 30-31 maggio 2009, 137-146

  • Jackson, C.M. 2009. Experimental Archaeology and Education: Theory without Practice is Empty; Practice without Theory is Blind in T.L. Kienlin and B.W. Roberts (eds) Metals and Societies, Studies in Honour of Barbara S. Ottaway. Universitätsforschungen Zur Prähistorischen Archäologie. Aus den Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften der Universität Bochum Fach Ur- und Frühgeschichte Band 169, Verlag Dr Rudolf Habelt GMBH, Bonn. 400-406.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Smedley, J.W. 2008. Theophilus and the use of beech ash as a glassmaking alkali. in M. Martinón-Torres and Th. Rehren (eds). Archaeology, History and Science. Integrating approaches to ancient materials. California: Left Coast Press, 117-130.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Wager, E.C.W. 2008. Vitreous Materials in the Late Bronze Age Aegean: a Window to the East Mediterranean in Jackson, C.M. and Wager, E.C.W. (eds). Vitreous materials in the Late Bronze Age Aegean. Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology volume 9. Oxford: Oxbow Publications, xi-xxiii.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Nicholson, P.T. 2007. Chapter 5: Compositional analysis of the vitreous materials found at Amarna. in P.T. Nicholson, Brilliant Things for Akhenaten: The Production of Glass, Vitreous Materials and Pottery at Amarna Site O45.1. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 101-116

  • Nicholson, P.T. and Jackson, C.M. 2007. Chapter 4: The furnace experiment. In P.T. Nicholson, Brilliant Things for Akhenaten: The Production of Glass, Vitreous Materials and Pottery at Amarna Site O45.1. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 83-100

  • Jackson, C.M. and Nicholson, P.T. 2007. Appendix 5: The data tables. In P.T. Nicholson, Brilliant Things for Akhenaten: The Production of Glass, Vitreous Materials and Pottery at Amarna Site O45.1. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 179-182

  • Jackson, C.M. 2006. Results of the analysis of the Gnalić glass in Lazar, I and Willmott, H. The glass from the Gnalić wreck. Univerza na Primorskem, Znanstveno-raziskovalno sredisce Koper. Annales Mediterranea, 87-93.

  • Cool, H.E.M. and Jackson, C.M. 2004. Roman vessel glass and glassworking waste in Dalwood, H & Edwards, R. Excavations at Deansway, Worcester 1988-9. Romano-British small town to late medieval city.  York, CBA Research Report 139, 439-449.

  • Shortland, A.J., Nicholson, P.T. and Jackson, C.M. 2001. Glass and faience at Amarna: different methods of both supply for production and subsequent distribution. The social context of technological change - Egypt and the Near East 1650-1150BC. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 147-160.

  • Nicholson P.T., Jackson, C.M., and Frazer, K.J. 2000 The North Ibis Catacomb At Saqqâra: 'The
    Tomb Of The Birds;. In W.J. Tait (ed). Studies in Honour of Harry Smith. Egypt Exploration Society Monograph. pp.209-214.

  • Nicholson P.T. and Jackson, C.M. 2000. Glass in L Ellis (ed). Archaeological Method and Theory: An Encyclopaedia, New York.: Garland Publishing.

  • Jackson, C.M. 1994. Appendix 1. Compositional data from the Romano-British glassmelting debris from Mancetter and Leicester in M.J. Baxter Exploratory Multivariate Analysis in Archaeology. Edinburgh University Press. 228-229.

  • Hunter J.R. and Jackson, C.M. 1993. In N.S.H. Rogers, The glass in Anglian and Other Finds from Fishergate The Archaeology of York 17/9, CBA. 1331-1345.

Journal Articles

  • Wang, K.-W, Lee, K. H, Chen, K.-T., Iizuka, Y. and Jackson, C.M. 2018. The Exchange of Glass Beads Reflected by the Raw Materials and Craft of Glass Remains at Jiuxianglan (舊香蘭遺 址 璃質遺留的原料及 工藝談玻璃珠的交換). Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology 89, 57-92.

  • Paynter, S. and Jackson, C.M. 2018. Clarity and brilliance: antimony in colourless natron glass. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

  • Jackson, C.M. and Nicholson, P.T. 2018. Identifying the Characteristics of the Earliest Glass Works from Excavations. Anatolian Archaeological Studies XXI, 85-94.

  • Wang, K.-W., Iizuka, Y., Hsieh, Y.-K., Lee, K.-H., Chen, K.-T., Wang, C.-F., Jackson, C.M. 2018. The anomaly of glass beads and glass beadmaking waste at Jiuxianglan, Taiwan. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

  • Paynter, S and Jackson, C.M. 2017. Mellow Yellow: An experiment in Amber, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

  • Jackson, C.M., Paynter, S., Nenna, M-D. and Degryse, P. 2016. Glassmaking using Natron from el-Barnugi (Egypt); Pliny and the Roman glass industry. Anthropololical and Archaeological Sciences. 

  • Jackson, C.M. 2016. Four Blue Beads from Gardom’s Edge. Journal of Glass Studies 58, 11-19.

  • Paynter, S. and Jackson, C.M. 2016. Re-used Roman Rubbish: a thousand years of recycling glass. Post-Classical Archaeologies 6, 31-52

  • Jackson, C.M., Cottam,S. and Lazar, I. 2015. The Green, Green Glass of Rome. Annales du19e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Piran 2012),109-117.

  • Nicholson P.T. and Jackson C.M. 2015. An 18th Dynasty Glass Chalice from Gurob, Egypt. Annales du 19 e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Piran 2012), 22-29.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Cottam, S. 2015. ‘A green thought in a green shade' Compositional and typological observations concerning the production of emerald green glass vessels in the 1st century A.D. Journal of Archaeological Science 

  • Jackson, C.M. and Paynter, S. 2015. A Great Big Melting Pot. Patterns of Glass Supply, Consumption and Recycling in Roman Coppergate, York. Archaeometry 

  • Jackson, C.M. 2014. The analysis of glass from shipwrecks. Studia Universitatis Hereditati 2, 23-34.

  • Wang, K-W. and Jackson, C.M. 2014. A review of Glass Compositions around the South China Sea region (the late 1st millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD): placing Iron Age glass beads from Taiwan in context. Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology 34, 51-60.

  • Jackson, C.M. 2014. Bracken and the Glassmakers Art. Fern Gazette 19(8), 281-294.

  • Devulder, V , Vanhaecke, F., Shortland, S., Mattingly, D., Jackson, C.M. and Degryse, P. 2014. Boron isotopic composition as a provenance indicator for the flux raw material in Roman natron glass, JAS 46, 107-113

  • Nicholson, P.T. and Jackson, C.M. 2013. Glass of Amenhotep II from Tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 99, 85-100.

  • Willmott, H., Miller, I and Jackson, C. 2012. Glass recipes and the output from a 19th-century glass works: examples from Percival, Vickers & co. Ltd, Manchester. Industrial Archaeology Review 34. 1, 51–64.

  • Nicholson P.T. and Jackson C.M. 2012. The Harrow Chalice: Early Glass or Early Fake? Annales du 18e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Thessaloniki 2009), 41-46.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Price, J. 2012. Analyses of late Roman glass from the Commandant’s House of the Fort at South Shields, Tyne and Wear, UK. Annales du 18e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Thessaloniki 2009), 181-188.

  • Jackson C.M., Greenfield, D. and Howie, L.A. 2012. An assessment of compositional and morphological changes in model archaeological glasses in an acid burial matrix. Archaeometry 54, 3 (2012) 489–507.

  • Foster, H. and Jackson, C.M. 2010. The composition of late Romano-British colourless vessel glass: glass production and consumption. Journal of Archaeological Science. 37(12), 3068-3080.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Nicholson, P.T. 2010. The Provenance Of Some Glass Ingots From The Uluburun Shipwreck. Journal of Archaeological Science 37, 295-301.

  • Jackson, C.M., Price, J. and Lemke, C. 2009. Glass production in the 1st century A.D. Insights into glass technology. Annales du 17e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Antwerp 2006), 150-156.

  • Foster, H. and Jackson, C.M. 2009. The composition of ‘naturally coloured’ late Roman vessel glass from Britain and the implications for models of glass production and supply. Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 189–204.

  • Jackson, C.M. and Smedley, J.W. 2008. Medieval and post-medieval glass technology: the chemical composition of bracken from different habitats through a growing season. Glass Technology: European Journal of Glass Science and Technology Part A., 49(5), 240–245.

  • Bingham, P.A. and Jackson, C.M. 2008. Roman blue-green bottle glass: chemical - optical analysis and high temperature viscosity modelling. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 302-309.

  • Smedley J.W. and Jackson. C.M. 2006 Medieval and post-medieval glass technology: Bracken as a sustainable source of alkali? Glass Technology: European Journal of Glass Science and Technology Part A. Volume 47(2), 39-47.

  • Baxter, M.J., Cool, H.E.M. and Jackson, C.M. 2006. Comparing glass compositional analysis. Archaeometry 48,397-412.

  • Telfer, A., Willmott, H., Jackson, C.M., Blackmore, L., Pearce, J. and Whittingham, L. 2006 Rich refuse: a rare find of late 17th -century and mid-18th century glass and tin-glazed wares from an excavation in the National Gallery, London. Post-Medieval Archaeology 40/1, 191-213

  • Foster, H. and Jackson, C.M. 2005. A Whiter Shade of Pale? Chemical and Experimental Investigation of Opaque White Roman glass gaming counters. Glass Technology 46 (5), 327-333.

  • Jackson, C.M. 2005. Making colourless glass in the Roman period. Archaeometry 47(4), 763-780.

  • Jackson, C.M., Smedley, J.W. and Booth, C.M. 2005. Glass by Design? Raw materials, recipes and compositional data. Archaeometry 47(4), 781-795.

  • Jackson, C.M. 2005 Glassmaking in Bronze Age Egypt. Science 308, 1750-1752.

  • Baxter, M.J., Cool, H.E.M. and Jackson, C.M. 2005. Further studies in the compositional variability of colourless Romano-British vessel glass. Archaeometry 47(1), 47-68.

  • Baxter, M.J., Beardah, C.C., Cool, H.E.M. and Jackson, C.M. 2005. Compositional data analysis of some alkaline glasses. Mathematical geology 37(2), 183-196.

  • Jackson, C.M and Smedley, J.W. 2004. Medieval and post-medieval glass technology: Melting characteristics of some glasses melted from vegetable ash and sand mixtures. Glass Technology 45(1), 36-42.

  • Jackson, C.M., Wager, E.C.W., Joyner, L., Day, P.M., Booth, C.A. and V. Kilikoglou. 200 Roman Glass-making at Coppergate, York? Analytical evidence for the nature of production. Archaeometry 45(3), 445-466.

  • Jackson, C.M., Cool, H.E.M. and Baxter, M.J. 2003. Identifying group and Meaning: An investigation of Roman colourless glass In D. Foy and M-D. Nenna (eds). Échanges et commerce du verre dans le monde antique Monographies Instrumentum 24, 33-39.

  • Smedley, J. W. & Jackson, C.M. 2002. Medieval and post medieval glass technology: A review of the use of bracken in glassmaking. Glass Technology 43(6), 221–224.

  • Smedley, J.W. and Jackson, C.M. 2002. Medieval and post-medieval glass technology: Batch measuring practices. Glass Technology 43(1), 22-27.

  • Baxter, M.J. and Jackson, C.M. 2001 Variable selection in artefact compositional studies Archaeometry 43(2), 253-268.

  • Nicholson, P.T. and Jackson, C.M. 2000. Tell el-Amarna and the Glassmakers’ Workshop of the Second Millennium B.C. In M-D. Nenna (ed) La Route du Verre: Ateliers primaires et secondaires du second millénaire av. J.-C. au Moyen Âge. Travaux de la Maison de l’Orient Mediterranéen No. 33. Lyon: Maison de l’Orient Mediterranéen-Jean Pouilloux. 11-21.

  • Shortland, A.J., Nicholson, P.T. and Jackson, C.M. 2000. Lead Isotopic Analysis of Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian Eyepaints And Lead Antimonate Colourants. Archaeometry 42(1), 153-157.

  • Cool, H.E.M., Jackson, C.M., and Monaghan J. 1999 Glass-making and the Sixth legion at York. Britannia.XXX, 147-161.

  • Jackson, C.M., Cool H.E.M. and Wager E.C.W. 1998. The manufacture of glass in Roman York. Journal of Glass Studies 40, 55-61.

  • Jackson, C.M., Nicholson P.T. and Gneisinger W. 1998. Glassmaking at Tell El-Amarna: an Integrated Approach. Journal of Glass Studies 40, 11-23.

  • Smedley J.W., Jackson, C.M. and Booth C.A. 1998. Back to the roots: The raw materials, glass recipes and glassmaking practices of Theophilus in P. McCray and W.D. Kingery (eds) The Prehistory and History of Glass and Glassmaking Technology. Ceramics and Civilisation Volume VIII, 145-165.

  • Nicholson P.T. and Jackson, C.M. 1998. Kind of Blue: Glass of the Amarna Period replicated. In P. McCray and W.D. Kingery (eds) The Prehistory and History of Glass and Glassmaking Technology. Ceramics and Civilisation Volume VIII. 105-120.

  • Nicholson P.T., Jackson, C.M., and Trott, K.M. 1997. The Ulu Burun glass ingots, cylindrical vessels and Egyptian glass. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 83, 143-153

  • Baxter, M.J., Cool H.E.M., Heyworth M.P. and Jackson, C.M. 1995. Variation in Roman colourless vessel glass. Archaeometry 37(1), 129-141.

Links

The Association for the History of Glass  Association internationale pour l’histoire du verre  Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology (SCAA)  Society of Glass Technology  The Society of Antiquaries