Joanna Sofaer

An archaeological training is one of close observation and sensory perception: the core of archaeological practice is the ability to appreciate similarities and differences in the material world - form, materials, technique - and to understand their significance and meaning for human history. In this respect, jewellery is particularly fascinating because our connection with the material world is at its most intimate in the ornamentation of the body.

In With an Archaeologist’s Eye Joanna Sofaer draws on her archaeological background to create contemporary jewellery inspired by ancient aesthetics, techniques, and materials. Though never reproduction, her work is nonetheless a form of practice-based enquiry that explores a desire to adorn the body that is as old as humanity itself.

Joanna Sofaer (FSA) is Professor of Archaeology at University of Southampton, Humanities in the European Research Area Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fellow, and Director of Archaeology for the Creative Industries. Her primary research areas are creativity in prehistoric material culture, craft, the past as inspiration for contemporary creative practice, and archaeologies of the body. She has directed and partnered on several high-profile international projects and co-directs the excavation at the important Bronze Age tell settlement at Százhalombatta-Földvár, Hungary. She is author of over 160 publications including Creativity in the Bronze Age. Understanding Innovation in Pottery, Textile and Metalwork Production (Cambridge University Press, 2018), Clay in the Age of Bronze: Essays in the Archaeology of Prehistoric Creativity (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and The Body as Material Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2006).