Christine E. Morris is an Irish

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

, who is the Andrew A. David Professor in Greek Archaeology and History at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. An expert on religion in the Aegean Bronze Age, her work uses archaeological evidence to examine the practice and experience of belief. She is a member of the Standing Committee for Archaeology for the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

Career

Educated at

Churchill College Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

at the University of Cambridge, and at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, Morris worked for the

British School at Athens The British School at Athens (BSA; ) is an institute for advanced research, one of the eight British International Research Institutes supported by the British Academy, that promotes the study of Greece in all its aspects. Under UK law it is a reg ...

prior to her first appointment at

in 1994. She is the Andrew A. David Professor in Greek Archaeology and History and an expert on the Aegean Bronze Age, with a particular focus on material cultures, including ceramics and figural sculpture, as well as inter-cultural relationships and religious practice. In collaboration with

Alan Peatfield Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, Morris has argued that

Minoan religion Minoan religion was the religion of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization of Crete. In the absence of readable texts from most of the period, modern scholars have reconstructed it almost totally on the basis of archaeological evidence such as Minoa ...

should be viewed as experiential and shamanistic, and that perhaps the Minoan figurines represent altered states of consciousness. Morris has also argued for greater emphasis to be played on the role of the individual in figural craft practice. The most widely cited of Morris' works is ''Ancient Goddesses: the Myths and Evidence'', co-edited with Lucy Goodison. In it they establish a theoretical framework for the consideration of the ancient goddess, as well as questioning how goddess figurines were used. It was described by Christine Gudorf as a "critical survey of existing archaeological evidence of prehistoric goddesses in Europe and the ancient Near East". She is a member of the Standing Committee for Archaeology for the

. In 2014 she was elected a fellow of

Selected publications

* * Bodies in ecstasy: shamanic elements in Minoan religion in, editor(s) Diana Stein, Sarah Kielt Costello, Karen Polinger Foster, ''The Routledge Companion to Ecstatic Experience in the Ancient World'', London, Routledge, 2021, pp.264 – 283 * Images from a usable past: the Classical themes of Irish Coinage, 1928–2002 in, editor(s) Donncha O'Rourke & Isabelle Torrance, ''Classics and Irish Politics 1916–2016'', Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020, pp.393–406 *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Christine E. Academics of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Alumni of University College London Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Irish women archaeologists Women classical scholars Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Irish archaeologists 21st-century Irish archaeologists Irish classical scholars