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Dr. J.R. (Jill) Hilditch

Faculty of Humanities
Capaciteitsgroep Archeologie
Photographer: Eduard Lampe
Visiting address
  • Turfdraagsterpad 9
  • Room number: 2.05
Postal address
  • Postbus 94203
    1090 GE Amsterdam
Contact details
Social media
  • Profile

    About Me

    I am an Associate Professor in Archaeology at UvA, specialising in the Bronze Age Aegean and ceramic studies. 

    Previous positions include Departmental Lecturer in Aegean Prehistory at the University of Oxford (2015-16) and postdoctoral researcher in Mediterranean Archaeology at UvA (2011-15). I have also held a postdoctoral fellowship in the Aegean Material Culture Lab at the University of Toronto (2009-11) and the Williams Fellowship in Ceramic Petrography in the Fitch Laboratory of the British School at Athens, Greece (2002-05).

    I obtained my PhD in 2009 from the University of Exeter, focusing on the Middle Bronze Age potting communities of Akrotiri on Thera, and I have an MSc in Archaeomaterials from the University of Sheffield (2001). My undergraduate degree was a joint honours programme in Archaeology and Geology at the University of Bristol (2000).

     

    Research interests

    I am an archaeologist specialising in ceramics, with research interests stretching across the Aegean and wider East Mediterranean region. My dual training in archaeology and geology has allowed me to become a leading specialist within the field of ceramic analysis, in particular ceramic petrography. My work anchors scientific data within broader approaches to material culture, in order to understand patterns of craft production and exchange in past societies, and addresses broad questions of human interaction and technological transmission across different spatial and temporal scales of analysis.

     

    3DWorkspace: An open science/interactive tool for 3D datasets

    NWO Open Science (2022-3)

    New tools are urgently needed for 3D datasets to improve accessibility, facilitate engagement/interaction with the datasets and promote two-directional knowledge transfer. 3DWorkSpace will adapt the open source Voyager 3D digital museum curation tool suite (Smithsonian Institute) to promote interactive engagement with traditionally complex digital datasets. Embedded structured guidance/training for gaining competence and skills for interpreting 3D datasets will allow broader narratives to be generated and open up new avenues for knowledge publication through the creation of annotated personal 3D collections that can be tailored to specific learning goals or interests.

     

    Tracing the potter's wheel: investigating technological trajectories and cultural encounters in the Bronze Age Aegean

    VIDI project (NWO) 2016-22

    This project will shed new light on the trajectories of technological innovations within the ancient Aegean, and offer alternative perspectives on how the humanities can address human-object-technology interactions within complex societies. The aim of the proposed project is to assess the appearance of the potter’s wheel as a technological innovation within two distinct chronological horizons of the Bronze Age Aegean: the later Early Bronze Age (ca.2500-2100BC) and the transition between the Middle and Late Bronze periods (ca.1800-1600BC). This approach uses the potter’s wheel as prism through which to investigate the transmission of craft knowledge during these two periods and the configuration of Aegean potting communities through time. A key project objective is to better understand the multi-scalar material, technological and social interactions that facilitated the transmission of the potter’s wheel in this region.

     

    Current collaborative projects

    • Keros-Naxos Seaways Project - Assistant Director and Lead Ceramicist 
    • Early LBA Akrotiri, Thera: the ceramic deposits from Sector Delta
    • Ayia Irini Northern Sector Project, Kea
    • Diachronic study of ceramic fabrics from Chalcolithic to Submycenaean Miletus, Turkey
    • Ceramic traditions and social practice at Bronze Age Phylakopi, Melos
  • Supervision

    Supervision

    I have supervision experience at (Research) MA and PhD levels, focusing on ceramic-based investigations, both analytical and methodological. I am happy to consider supervision within the following themes:

    • Ceramic production, material culture and technology
    • Aegean archaeology, particularly Neolithic and Bronze Age periods
    • Archaeological survey, specifically material culture-related issues
    • Petrographic analysis of archaeological materials

     

    Previous supervision:

    Dr Caroline Campolo-Jeffra (UvA) - Postdoctoral researcher: Tracing the potter's wheel: investigating technological trajectories and cultural encounters in the Bronze Age Aegean

    Loes Opgenhaffen (UvA) - PhD project: Visualising the potter's wheel. Developing integrated 'digital science' approaches for identifying wheel use in pottery production

    Ayla Krijnen (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) - PhD project: A Ceramic Compositional and Socio-Technological Perspective on FN Late to EH Late Geraki

     

     

  • Publications

    2024

    • Angelopoulou, A., & Hilditch, J. R. (in press). The ceramic study of the pits from Vathy, Astypalaia. In A. Vlachopoulos (Ed.), Recent research at Vathy, Astypalaia University of Ioannina.
    • Diamanti, C., Lambrakis, A., & Hilditch, J. R. (in press). Οι Παριανοί Πρωτοβυζαντινοί Αμφορείς: Μορφολογικά και Κεραμολογικά Χαρακτηριστικά: Parian Late Roman/Early Byzantine Amphoras: Morphological and Petrographic Characteristics. In E. Marmaras, D. Korres, G. Dardanos, L. Palaiokrassa, K. Chryssou, S. Psarras, & G. Gavalas (Eds.), 3rd International Cycladological Conference: The Cyclades through time: Space-People
    • Hilditch, J. R., & Jones, R. E. (in press). Summary of Ceramic Analysis of the 1896-9 Excavation Assemblage. In R. Barber (Ed.), The Unpublished Deposits of Phylakopi in the National Museum, Athens (Vol. 51, pp. 547-559). British School at Athens Supplementary Volumes.
    • Opgenhaffen, L., Jeffra, C. D., & Hilditch, J. R. (2024). Balancing data storage and user functionality: the 3D and archaeological data strategy of the Tracing the Potter’s Wheel Project’. In M. Hostettler, A. Buhlke, C. Drummer, L. Emmenegger, J. Reich, & C. Stäheli (Eds.), The 3 Dimensions of Digitalised Archaeology: State-of-the-art, Data Management and Current Challenges in Archaeological 3D-Documentation (pp. 131-149). SpringerOpen. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53032-6
    • Renfrew, A. C., Boyd, M. J., Legaki, I., Brodie, N., Gavalas, G., Hilditch, J. R., Wright, J., Gkouma, M., Herbst, J., & Krijnen, A. L. (in press). The Southeast Naxos Survey: the sanctuary at Keros and terrestrial and maritime networks of the Aegean Early Bronze Age. In E. Marmaras, D. Korres, G. Dardanos, L. Palaiokrassa, K. Chryssou, S. Psarras, & G. Gavalas (Eds.), 3rd International Cycladological Conference: The Cyclades through time: Space-People, Syros.
    • Renfrew, A. C., Marthari, M., Dellaporta, A., Boyd, M. J., Brodie, N. J., Gavalas, G., Hilditch, J. R., & Wright, J. (2024). Keros Island Survey: The sanctuary at Keros and the origins of Aegean ritual. (The sanctuary at Keros and the origins of Aegean ritual). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

    2023

    • Krijnen, A. L., Waagen, J., & Hilditch, J. R. (2023). Survey, ceramics and statistics: The potential for technological traits as chronological markers. In A. Meens, M. Nazou, & W. van de Put (Eds.), Fields, Sherds and Scholars: Recording and Interpreting Survey Ceramics (pp. 69-80). Sidestone Press. https://doi.org/10.59641/m11443py

    2022

    • Hilditch, J., & Krijnen, A. (2022). Ceramic Fabric Analysis. In I. Nikolakopoulou (Ed.), Bronze Age Telos, Dodecanese (pp. 173-214). Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. [details]
    • Renfrew, C., Boyd, M. J., Athanasoulis, D., Brodie, N., Carter, T., Dellaporta, K., Floquet, M., Gavalas, G., Georgakopoulou, M., Gkouma, M., Hilditch, J., Krijnen, A., Legaki, I., Margaritis, E., Marthari, M., Moutafi, I., Philaniotou, O., Sotirakopoulou, P., & Wright, J. (2022). The sanctuary at Keros in the Aegean Early Bronze Age: from centre of congregation to centre of power. Journal of Greek Archaeology, 7, 1-36. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.32028/jga.v7i.1709 [details]

    2021

    • Hilditch, J., Jeffra, C., & Opgenhaffen, L. (2021). The Tracing the Potter’s Wheel Project (TPW): An Integrated Archaeological Investigation of the Potter’s Wheel in the Bronze Age Aegean. Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica: Natural Sciences in Archaeology, 12(2), 345-355. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.17 [details]

    2020

    2019

    • Hilditch, J. (2019). The Middle Bronze Age Pottery. Fabrics and Technologies. Phases B-C. In I. Nikolakopoulou (Ed.), Akrotiri, Thera : Middle Bronze Age pottery and stratigraphy. - Volume I: Stratigraphy, ceramic typology and technology, weaving equipment (pp. 377-470). (Archaeological Society at Athens library series; No. 318). The Archaeological Society at Athens. [details]

    2018

    • Hilditch, J. (2018). The Fabric Study of the Pottery of Dhaskalio and Kavos. In C. Renfrew, O. Philaniotou, N. Brodie, G. Gavalas, & M. J. Boyd (Eds.), The Marble Finds from Keros and the Archaeology of Ritual (pp. 445-493). (The sanctuary on Keros and the origins of Aegean ritual practice; Vol. III), (McDonald institute monographs). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.33066 [details]

    2017

    • Gorogianni, E., Abell, N., & Hilditch, J. (2017). Aegean Fusion Cuisine: Ayia Irini, Kea as Cultural “Middle Ground". In J. Hruby, & D. Trusty (Eds.), From cooking vessels to cultural practices in the late Bronze Age Aegean (pp. 57-71). Oxbow Books. [details]

    2016

    • Abell, N., & Hilditch, J. (2016). Adoption and Adaptation in Pottery Production Practices: Investigating Cycladic Community Interactionsthrough the Ceramic Record of the Second Millennium BC. In E. Gorogianni, P. Pavuk, & L. Girella (Eds.), Beyond Thalassocracies: Understanding processes of Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation in the Aegean (pp. 155-171). Oxbow Books. [details]
    • Gorogianni, E., Abell, N., & Hilditch, J. (2016). Reconsidering Technological Transmission: The Introduction of the Potter’s Wheel at Ayia Irini, Kea, Greece . American Journal of Archaeology, 120(2), 195-220. https://doi.org/10.3764/aja.120.2.0195 [details]
    • Hilditch, J. (2016). Ceramic analysis in Greece. Archaeological Reports (London), 62, 89-102. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0570608416000089 [details]
    • Hilditch, J., Pirrie, D., Knappett, C., Momigliano, N., & Rollinson, G. (2016). Taking the rough with the smooth: Using automated SEM-EDS to Integrate Coarse and Fine Ceramic Assemblages in the Bronze Age Aegean. In E. Sibbesson, B. Jervis, & S. Coxon (Eds.), Insights from Innovation: New Light on Archaeological Ceramics: Papers presented in honour of Professor David Peacock's contributions to archaeological ceramic studies (pp. 74-96). Highfield Press. [details]

    2015

    • Hilditch, J. R. (2015). Milesian imports and exchange networks in the southern Aegean. In O. Kouka, I. Kaiser, & P. Diamantopoulos (Eds.), Ein Minoer Im Exil: Festschrift in honour of Prof. Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier (pp. 151-160)
    • Hilditch, J. R. (2015). The Fabrics of the Ceramics at Kavos. In A. C. Renfrew, O. Philaniotou, N. Brodie, G. Gavalas, & M. J. Boyd (Eds.), Kavos and the Special Deposits. The sanctuary at Kavos and the Special Deposits - Vol II (pp. 215-233). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
    • Knappett, C. J., & Hilditch, J. R. (2015). Colonial cups? The Minoan plain handleless cup as iconic inter-regional object. In C. Glatz (Ed.), Pots, Palaces and Politics: The Evolution and Socio-Political Significance of Plain Ware Traditions in the 2nd Millennium BC Near East and East Mediterranean (pp. 91-113). Left Coast Press.

    2014

    • Hilditch, J. R. (2014). Analyzing technological standardization: revisiting the Minoan conical cup. In A. Kotsonas (Ed.), Mediterranean ceramics: standardization, variation and people’s choices (late 2nd to late 1st millennium BC) (pp. 21-33). (Babesch Supplement). Peeters.

    2013

    • Hilditch, J. (2013). Agia Irini on Keos. In R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine, & S. R. Huebner (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Vol. 1, pp. 183-184). Wiley-Blackwell. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02005 [details]
    • Hilditch, J. (2013). Agios Kosmas in Attica. In R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine, & S. R. Huebner (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Vol. 1, pp. 185-186). Wiley-Blackwell. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02007 [details]
    • Hilditch, J. (2013). Chalandriani on Syros. In R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine, & S. R. Huebner (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Vol. 3, pp. 1426). Wiley-Blackwell. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02037 [details]
    • Hilditch, J. (2013). Keros. In R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine, & S. R. Huebner (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Vol. 7, pp. 3738). Wiley-Blackwell. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02094 [details]
    • Hilditch, J. (2013). Manika. In R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine, & S. R. Huebner (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Vol. 8, pp. 4259). Wiley-Blackwell. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02113 [details]
    • Hilditch, J. (2013). Poliochni. In R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine, & S. R. Huebner (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Vol. 10, pp. 5378). Wiley-Blackwell. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02152
    • Hilditch, J. (2013). Saliagos. In R. S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. B. Champion, A. Erskine, & S. R. Huebner (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Vol. 11, pp. 6017). Wiley-Blackwell. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02162
    • Hilditch, J. R. (2013). The Fabrics of the Ceramics at Dhaskalio. In A. C. Renfrew, N. Brodie, G. Gavalas, & M. J. Boyd (Eds.), Dhaskalio. The sanctuary at Keros: excavations at Dhaskalio-Kavos, Keros 2006 – 2008 (pp. 465-482). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

    2012

    • Hilditch, J., Knappett, C. J., Power, M., & Pirrie, D. (2012). Iasos Pottery Fabrics and Technologies. In N. Momigliano (Ed.), Bronze Age Carian Iasos: Structures and finds from the area of the Roman Agora (c. 3000-1500 BC) (pp. 58-106). (Archeologica; No. 166). Giorgio Bretscheider Editore. [details]

    2011

    • Knappett, C., Pirrie, D., Power, M. R., Nikolakopoulou, I., Hilditch, J., & Rollinson, G. K. (2011). Mineralogical analysis and provenancing of ancient ceramics using automated SEM-EDS analysis (QEMSCAN®): a pilot study on LB I pottery from Akrotiri, Thera. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(2), 219-232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.08.022 [details]

    2008

    • Ammerman, A., Iliopoulos, I., Bondioli, F., Filippi, D., Hilditch, J. R., Manfredini, A., Pennisi, L., & Winter, N. (2008). The clay beds of the Velabrum and the earliest tiles in Rome. Journal of Roman archaeology, 21, 7-30. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047759400004359
    • Hilditch, J. R., Kiriatzi, E., Psaraki, K., & Aravantinos, V. (2008). EHII Pottery from Thebes: An Integrated Typological, Technological and Provenance Study. In Y. Facorellis (Ed.), Archaeometry Studies in the Aegean: Reviews and Recent Developments: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium of the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry (pp. 263-268). Archaeopress.

    2007

    • Hilditch, J. R. (2007). Petrographic analysis of the ceramic fabrics. In C. Renfrew, C. Doumas, L. Marangou, & G. Gavalas (Eds.), Keros, Dhaskalio Kavos: The Investigations of 1987-1988, KEROS I (pp. 238-263). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

    2024

    • Hilditch, J., & Revello-Lami, M. (Eds.) (2024). Ceramic Perspectives on Connectivity in the Ancient Mediterranean. Amsterdam University Press.

    2022

    • Hilditch, J., Waagen, J., Huurdeman, H., Lanjouw, T., Opgenhaffen, L., & van Wissen, L. (2022). 3DWorkSpace - an open science/interactive tool for 3D datasets. TMA: tijdschrift voor mediterrane archeologie, 34(67), 49. https://www.academia.edu/96226414 [details]

    2018

    2015

    2018

    • Hilditch, J. R., & Jeffra, C. D. (2018). As the world turns: technological approaches to assessing ceramic production within and beyond the palaces in the LB Aegean. Paper presented at 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Cologne/Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
    • Opgenhaffen, L., Jeffra, C. D., & Hilditch, J. R. (2018). Power to the people: 3D archives for exploring ancient ceramic technology. Paper presented at Centre for Digital Heritage meeting 2018, Lund, Sweden.

    Prize / grant

    Media appearance

    Others

    • Hilditch, J. (organiser) & Molloy, B. (organiser) (9-2017). European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) 23rd Annual Meeting, Maastricht. Session #340 - Hidden Stories: 3D techniques as tools for exploring archaeological assemblages (organising a conference, workshop, ...).

    2023

    • Opgenhaffen, L. (2023). Tradition in transition: Visualising innovation and change in past potting and present archaeological practice. [Thesis, fully internal, Universiteit van Amsterdam]. [details]

    2021

    • Hilditch, J., Campolo-Jeffra, C. & Opgenhaffen, L. (2021). Tracing the Potter's Wheel - Experimental Reference Collection. Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS). https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-x3m-n36v
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