Art & Archaeology

Researcher: Dr. Antonia Thomas. Research Area: Art & Archaeology

Dr. Antonia Thomas is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute based in Orkney, Scotland.

Antonia’s work focusses on Art and Archaeology in its broadest sense, from the interpretation of prehistoric art, to the intersections between contemporary art practice and the archaeological imagination.

She is interested in various aspects of visual and material culture, such as stone-carving and sculpture, photographic theory, vernacular buildings, prehistoric architecture, graffiti and mark-making, and contemporary archaeology. Antonia has published widely on these subjects and has collaborated on several transdisciplinary art and archaeology projects.

Talking to Antonia about her latest research she continues....“My two favourite subjects are Art, and, Archaeology. I feel so lucky to be able to combine these in my teaching and research! We run a variety of Art and Archaeology courses here at the UHI, from summer workshops to postgraduate modules."

 “One of the best aspects of my job is getting to know new people and places. I have been really lucky this year to be invited to speak at some amazing places. I was in Aarhus, Denmark, in February discussing Neolithic art in Orkney as part of a research seminar in the Department of Archaeology. Professor Jens Andresen at Aarhus has been excavating an amazing site on the island of Bornholm, which has produced these lovely carved ‘sunstones’ - it was brilliant to be able to compare these with the carvings we have here in Orkney. And then in July, I was the guest of Renmin University in Beijing, where I presented at a seminar on Cultural Heritage. China is such a culturally rich and fascinating country, and I can’t wait to go back! I am hoping to set up some art/archaeology projects there in the near future with my Chinese colleagues.

And then in September I was in Shetland at the Shoormal conference, to talk about the relationship between contemporary art and archaeology in Orkney. You can read a version of my paper from the conference in the latest edition of Art North magazine.

The highlight of my year however is always when our popular accredited Art and Archaeology stand-alone courses start up again in January and I get to meet the new students. It is always such a diverse group, and every year’s so different. And, some exciting news for the near future – we're soon going to be launching a brand new, unique MA programme in Contemporary Art and Archaeology! As well as the opportunities for researching Art and Archaeology for an MRes, or PhD, I can’t wait to see what projects emerge.”

Selected publications (for full list see Antonia’s UHI research page)

• Thomas, A. in press. (expected 2019). ‘Duration and representation in archaeology and photography’. In L. McFadyen & D. Hicks (eds.), Archaeology and Photography: Time, Objectivity and Archive. London, Bloomsbury.
• Thomas, A. 2019. ‘Parallel Visions: Art, Archaeology and Landscape in Orkney’. Art North 1(3), pp.28-30.
• Thomas, A. 2019. ‘Image and process in an architectural context: decorated stonework from the Ness of Brodgar’. In A. Jones & M. Diaz-Guardamino (eds.), Making a Mark: Image and Process in Neolithic Britain and Ireland, pp.142-163. Oxford, Windgather.
• Thomas, A., Lee, D., Frederick, U. & White, C. 2017. ‘Beyond Art/Archaeology: Research and Practice after the ‘Creative Turn’’. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 4(2): 219-229. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.33150 
• Thomas, A. 2016. Art and Architecture in Neolithic Orkney: Process, Temporality and Context. UHI Archaeology Institute Research Series: 1. Oxford, Archaeopress.[download link]
• Thomas, A. 2014. ‘Creating contexts: between the archaeological site and art gallery’. In A. Cochrane & I.A. Russell (eds.) Art and Archaeology: Collaborations, Conversations, Criticisms, pp.141-155. One World Archaeology Series, Volume 11. New York, Springer-Kluwer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8990-0_11 
• Card, N. & Thomas, A. 2012. ‘Painting a picture of Neolithic Orkney: decorated stonework from the Ness of Brodgar’. In A. Cochrane & A. Jones (eds.), Visualising the Neolithic, pp.111-124. Oxford, Oxbow Books.

Interested in studying Art and Archaeology with us? Email antonia.thomas@uhi.ac.uk for more information on any of these courses.