Kevin Walsh
Lecturer

Profile

Biography

Having completed a PhD at the University of Leicester on Early Medieval Landscapes (more specifically on the riveting problem of the evolution of the sand-dune system around the early-medieval site of Green Shiel on Lindisfarne), he went to work as a research fellow in Aix-en-Provence with joint CNRS/Université de Provence laboratory, the Centre Camille Jullian. This part of the European Union funded Populus project considered methodologies in Mediterranean landscape Archaeology. He was responsible for the landscape reconstruction working party, and co-edited the recently published volume Environmental Reconstruction in Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology.

After the Mediterranean, the Caribbean beckoned, and after two years in Jamaica; teaching anything and everything from Human Evolution to the archaeology of Slavery, Kevin returned to Aix where he developed landscape projects with French colleagues on the Ste Victoire Mountain and in the French Alps.

His second area of interest relates to the politics (in its broadest sense) of heritage conservation and display, his book on this subject, The Representation of the Past, was published in 1992 by Routledge and is now available as an e-book.

Research

Overview

Walsh has established an international reputation for his work on high altitude landscapes, with two major projects investigating the long term history of human activity in the Alps. One of the first to take a fully diachronic approach to Alpine landscapes, he has used an innovative combination of survey, excavation and palaeoecological methods to establish full Holocene sequences of activity, and has used these to understand the changing use and perception of these dramatic landscapes over the long term. 

One of the cornerstones of this research has been the commitment to integrate geoarchaeological methods within a theoretically informed approach to landscape and society. Focussed in particular on the contribution of soils and sediments, Walsh’s arguments for a ‘Cultural Geoarchaeology’ have achieved a high profile through a series of papers in international journals.  

Future research will see further fieldwork in the Alps, and the development of new research in Greece. This will develop a transect linking existing projects at Stymphalos (high altitude) and Sikyon (coastal zone), the combination creating the basis for a long term cultural geoarchaeology of the Peloponnese.  In addition, Walsh will complete a major book for CUP; “Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology: An environmental perspective”.

Kevin also collaborates with a Centre National de la Recherche (CNRS) team based in Toulouse on a new mountain archaeology and environmental change project based in the Pyrenees. This project is part of the much broader CNRS initiative called Observatoire Homme-Milieu, Pyrénées – Haut Vicdessos (OHM).  The aim of this project is to bring together ecologists, palaeoecologists and archaeologists in a project that considers all aspects of human-environment dynamics in a mountain landscape.The link to the project web pages is listed below

Current projects

Research group(s)

Publications

Full publications list

Books

2007: with, Ph. Della-Casa (eds.) Interpretation of Sites and Material Culture from Mid-high Altitude Mountain Environments. Proceedings of the 2004 EAA session on Alpine archaeology: Preistoria Alpina.Vol. 42.

1999 : with, Ph. Leveau, Frédéric Trément, and G. Barker (eds.) Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology 2: Environmental Reconstruction in Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow

1992 : The Representation of the Past. London: Routledge (also in Kindle Format).

Other Publications

2011: (with F. Mocci) 'Mobility in the mountains: Late third and second millennia alpine societies' engagements with the high-altitude zones in the Southern French Alps' in European Journal of Archaeology, 14 (1-2): 88-115.

2011: (with Mocci, F.) 'Climb Every Mountain: High Altitude Archaeology in the French Alps' in Current World Archaeology, 46: 40-45.

2011: (with Quesnel, Y., Jrad, A., Mocci, F., Gattacceca, J., Mathé, P. E, Parisot, J. C, Hermitte, D., Dumas, V., Dussouillez, P.,  Miramont, C., Bonnet, S., and Uehara, M) (On line 12-5-2011). Geophysical Signatures of a Roman and Early Medieval Necropolis. in Archaeological Prospection  DOI: 10.1002/arp.411

2010: (with Mocci, F. S. Tzortzis, C. Bressy, B. Talon) 'Les Ecrins, un territoire d'altitude dans le contexte des Alpes occidentales de la Préhistoire récente jusqu' à l'Âge du Bronze (Hautes-Alpes, France)', in S. Tzortizi and X. Delestre (eds) Archéologie de la Montagne Européene, 211-225.

2010: (with Touflon, Ph. & B. Talon) 'Soil charcoal analysis: a reliable tool for spatially precise studies of past forest dynamics: a case study in the French southern Alps' in The Holocene, 20:1, 45-52.

2009: (with Mocci, F., S. Richer, M. Court-Picon, B. Talon, S. Tzortzis, J. M. Palet-Martinez, and C. Bressy) ' Archéologie et paléoenvironnement dans les Alpes méridionales françaises. Hauts massifs de l 'Argentiérois, du Champsaur et de l 'Ubaye (Hautes-Alpes et Alpes de Haute Provence) (Néolithique final – début de l 'Antiquité)' in Cahiers de Paléoenvironnement 6: 235-254.

2008: (with Tzortzis, S., F. Mocci, B. Talon, M. Court-Picon, V. Dumas, V. Py, and S. Richer) 'Dynamique du peuplement et activités agro-pastorales durant l'âge du Bronze dans les massifs du haut Champsaur et de l'Argentiérois (Hautes-Alpes)' in Garcia, D. & Richard, H. (eds) Le Peuplement de l 'arc alpin, 123-148.

2008 : 'Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology: Marginality and the Culture-Nature 'Divide' in Landscape Research, 33:5, 547-564.

2008 : (with Mocci F, Talon B, Tzortzis S, and Court-Picon M.) 'Structures Pastorales d'Altitude et Paléoenvironnement: Alpes méridionales du Neolithique final à l'Âge du Bronze, in J.-P. Jospin, & T. Favrie, (eds) Premiers Bergers des Alpes, 92-101.

2007 : (with Court-Picon, M., Mocci, F., Segard, M., Palet-Martinez, J.M.) 'Occupation de la montagne et transformation des milieux dans les Alpes méridionales au cours de l'Âge du Bronze: approche croisée des données palynologiques et archéologiques en Champsaur et Argentiérois (Hautes-Alpes, France)', in Mordant, C.; Richard, H. and Magny, M. (eds) Environnements et cultures à l'Âge du Bronze en Europe occidentale, 89-106.

2007 : with Mocci, F. & Palet-Martinez, J. M., "Nine thousand years of human/landscape dynamics in a high altitude zone in the southern French Alps (Parc National des Ecrins (Hautes-Alpes (05))", in Ph. Della Casa & K. Walsh (eds) Interpretation of Sites and Material Culture from Mid-high Altitude Mountain Environments. Preistoria Alpina.42: 9-22

2007 : with Garcia, D. & Mocci, F., "Archéologie de la vallée de l'Ubaye (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France) : présentation des premiers résultats d'un Projet collectif de Recherche", in Ph. Della Casa & K. Walsh (eds.) Interpretation of Sites and Material Culture from Mid-high Altitude Mountain Environments. Preistoria Alpina.42: 23-48

2007 : with Della Casa, Ph. "Introduction", in Ph. Della Casa & K. Walsh (eds.) Interpretation of Sites and Material Culture from Mid-high Altitude Mountain Environments. Preistoria Alpina.42: 5-8

2006: with Richer, S., 'Attitudes to altitude: changing meanings and perceptions within a "marginal" Alpine landscape - the integration of palaeoecological and archaeological data in a high altitude landscape in the French Alps' in World Archaeology, 38:3, 436-454.

2006 : (with F. Mocci, S. Tzortzis, J. M. Palet-Martinez, and M. Segard) 'Peuplement, pastoralisme et modes d'exploitation de la moyenne et haute montagne depuis la Préhistoire dans le Parc national des Ecrins (vallées du haut Champsaur et de Freissinières, Hautes-Alpes)' in A. Bouet and Fl. Verdin (eds), Territoire et Paysages de l'âge du Fer au Moyen-Age, Mélanges offerts à Philippe Leveau,197-212.

2005: (with F. Mocci, M. Court-Picon, J. M. Palet-Martinez, and S. Tzortzis) 'Dynamique du peuplement et activités agro-pastorales durant l'âge du Bronze dans les massifs du haut Champsaur et de la vallée de Freissinières (Hautes-Alpes, Parc national des Ecrins)' in Documents d'Archéologie Méridionale, 28: 25-44.

2005 : 'Risk and marginality at high altitudes: new interpretations from fieldwork on the Faravel Plateau, Hautes-Alpes' in Antiquity 79, 304: 289-305.

2005 : (with Ph. Leveau) 'Population sequences in a high altitude alpine environment: archaeological sites and historical and environmental time' in International Journal of Anthropology, 20: 3/4, 155-171.

2005 : (with F. Mocci, V. Dumas, and J.-M. Gassend) 'Aqueducs et structures hydrauliques de la villa antique de Richeaume (Puyloubier, 13)' in Gallia 62, 147-160.

2005 : (with F. Marty and F. Mocci) 'Le Pays d'Aix à l'Age du fer : Montagne Sainte-Victoire et haute vallée de l'Arc' in D. Garcia (ed.), [Dossier] Provence gauloise : une Celtique méditerranéenn, 27-31

2004 :‘Caring about sediments: The role of cultural geoarchaeology in Mediterranean landscapes' in Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 17:2, 223-245.

2004 : (with F. Mocci) ‘Perception d’un paysage marginal en Basse Provence: la montagne Sainte-Victoire et ses piémonts méridionaux, de la protohistoire à la fin de l’Antiquité' in Méditerranée 102, 1.2: 85-94.

2003 : (with F. Mocci) 'Fame and marginality: The archaeology of the Montagne Sainte Victoire (Provence, France)' in The American Journal of Archaeology 107, 1, 51-70. Article (PDF , 6,801kb)

2003 : (with F. Mocci) '9000 ans d'occupation du sol en moyenne et haute montagne : la vallée de Freissinières dans le Parc national des Ecrins (Freissinières, Hautes-Alpes)', Archéologie du Midi Médiéval. 185 à 198. T. 21.

2003 (with Segard, M., and Court-Picon, M) 'L'occupation de la haute montagne dans les Alpes occidentales. Apport de l'archéologie et des analyses paléoenvironnementales' in G. Boëtsch, W. Devriendt and A. Piguel (eds) , Aix-en-Provence : Edisud, . Permanence et Changements dans les Sociétés Alpines 17-30

2002: (with Leveau, Ph. Provansal, M., Bruneton, H., Palet-Martinez, J.-M., and Poupet, P.) "La crise environnementale de la fin de L'Antiquité et du Haut Moyen Age: Définition d'un modèle retour aux milieux réels" in Richard H. et Vignot, A. (eds.) Equilibres et Ruptures dans les écosystèmes durant les 20 dernières millénaires en Europe de L'Ouest, Actes du Colloque internationale de Besançon, septembre 2000: Besançon: Presse Universitaires Franc-comtoises, 2002, 291-303. (Annales Littéraires; 730, Série "Environnent, société et archangélique"; 3.

2001: "Collective amnesia and the mediation of painful pasts: The representation of France in the Second World War" In The International Journal of Heritage Studies, 7:1, 83-98

2000: with Ph. Leveau, G. Bertucchi, H. Bruneton, J.-P. Bost, and B. Tremmel "Le Troisieme siecle dans la Valle des Baux: Les fouilles de la partie basse et de l'emissaire oriental des moulins de Barbegal" Revue d'Archeologie Narbonnaise, 33, 387-439.

2000: 'Musei e memoria : la selezione e la rappresentazione del Passato ' in Franca Di Valerio, Vito Paticchia (eds), Un futoro per il passato : Memoria e musei nel terzo millennio, 21-38 Bologna : Clueb.

2000: with F. Marty and F. Mocci "Le peuplement du massif Sainte-Victoire et de la haute vallee de l'arc durant l'age du Fer" in Jean Chausserie-Lapree (ed.) Les Temps des Gaulois en Provence, Ville de Martigues, Musee Ziem.

External activities

Memberships

  • Research Fellow in the Centre Camille Jullian, CNRS, Aix-en-Provence, Co-organiser of Conference session at EAA, Lyon, 2004

Editorial duties

Invited talks and conferences

  • Invited talks at EAA, 2009, 2010
  • Invited lecture, Department of Archaeology, Tufts, Boston 2008

Performances

  • Contibuted to display panels in Ecrins National Park visitor centre, Vallouise, France.

  • Member of scientific committte for, and participated in the museum display "Premier Bergers des Alpes", Musee Dauphinois, Grenoble, France.

 

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Contact details

Dr Kevin Walsh
Department of Archaeology
University of York
The King's Manor
York
YO1 7EP

Tel: (44) 1904 323904
Fax: (44) 1904 323902