Professor, Department of Anthropology
B.A. (Toronto), MSc (Southampton), MA, PhD (University College London)
Champlain College E1.3, ext.7877, jamesconolly@trentu.ca
Research Interests: landscape archaeology; historical ecology; geoinfomatics; geoarchaelogy; lithic raw materials and technologies (Great Lakes)
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James_Conolly
https://www.researchgate.net/lab/Kenneth-Kidd-Archaeological-Research-La...
My interests lie at the intersection of archaeology and geography, and I integrate methodological and theoretical approaches from both disciplines. My early academic work focused on the economic and geographic patterning of European Neolithic and Bronze Age societies.
I worked for twenty years in the Mediterranean region, including the Catalhoyuk Project (1992 to 2002), the Kythera Island Project (1998 to 2003), and the Antikythera Survey Project (2005 to 2010). Since 2010, my geographic interests have shifted and I now conduct field and laboratory research mainly in the Great Lakes region. I am particularly interested in the use of the waterways between Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay by ancestral First Nations, early European missions and explorers, and the impacts of nineteenth-century European farming and mercantile colonialism on regional ecology.
Current Research Project
My SSHRC-funded project (Kawartha Lakes Project: 2016-2026) addresses the cultural and environmental history of the lakes, rivers and wetlands in the Kawartha Lakes area of Ontario to understand long-term changes in ecology, economy, settlement and land-use patterns. Our ongoing research involves applications of remote sensing and other geospatial methods of analysis, alongside the study of material culture (technology, design and function) and environmental data obtained from archaeological and geoarchaeological field research, both terrestrial and underwater.
Graduate Student Opportunities
The Kawartha Lakes project currently supports seven graduate students involved in study of ceramic residues, underwater landscapes, historical ecology, and lithic and ceramic assemblages from recent and past excavation programs. If you are interested in joining our team and participating in applied archaeological and community focused research, there are further opportunities for Masters students interested in lithic, ceramic and faunal analysis, chronological modelling, GIS and ecological modelling, experimental archaeology, and field excavation.
Selected Publications
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James_Conolly
Conolly J. 2015. An early hunter‐gatherer cemetery in the Canadian Lower Great Lakes. Archaeology International 18: 45‐50. http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ai.1805
Conolly J, Dillane J, Dougherty K, Elaschuck K, Csenkey K, Wagner T, Williams J. 2014. Early collective burial practices in a complex wetland setting: an interim report on mortuary patterning, palaeodietary
analysis, zooarchaeology, material culture and radiocarbon dates from Jacob Island (BcGo‐17), Kawartha Lakes, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 38: 106‐133.
College S, Conolly J. 2014. Wild plant use in European Neolithic subsistence economies: a formal assessment of preservation bias in archaeobotanical assemblages and the implications for understanding changes in plant diet breadth. Quaternary Science Reviews 101: 193‐206.
Bevan A and Conolly J. 2013. Mediterranean Islands, Fragile Communities and Persistent Landscapes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781107033450
College S, Conolly J, Manning K, Dobney K and Shennan S. (eds.) 2013. The Origins and Spread of Domestic Animals in Southwest Asia and Europe. UCL Institute of Archaeology/Left Coast Press. ISBN:
9781611323221
Conolly J, Manning K, Colledge S, Dobney K, Shennan S. 2012. Species distribution modelling of ancient cattle from early Neolithic sites in SW Asia and Europe.The Holocene http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683612437871
Conolly J. 2008. Geographical Information Systems and landscape archaeology. In B. David and J. Thomas (eds.) Handbook of Landscape Archaeology. World Archaeological Congress (WAC) Research Handbook Series. Left Coast Press. pp. 583-595.
Conolly J, Colledge S and Shennan S. 2008. Founder effect, drift, and adaptive change in domestic crop use in early neolithic Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 2797- 2804.
Conolly J and Lake M. 2006. Geographical Information Systems in Archaeology. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 0521793300
Colledge S and Conolly J. (eds.) 2007. The Origins and Spread of Domestic Plants in Southwest Asia and Europe. California: UCL Institute of Archaeology/Left Coast Press. ISBN: 9781598749885