Hella Eckardt is an archaeologist specializing in Roman archaeology and material culture, currently serving as a professor at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

. Since 2018, she has been the Editor of the journal ''

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

''.

Career

Eckardt studied for a bachelor's degree at the

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

, a master's degree at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, before completing her doctorate at the

. She was elected as a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

in 2006. In 2018, Eckardt won the Archaeologist of the Year award, organised by ''

Current Archaeology ''Current Archaeology'' is a British monthly archaeology magazine. Summary ''Current Archaeology'' describes itself as the "United Kingdom's best selling archaeology magazine", a claim substantiated by British Archaeological Jobs and Resources o ...

''. Eckardt is currently the Editor of the journal ''

'', published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. Eckardt gave the keynote speech at the

Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference The Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) is an academic organisation and conference for the discussion of archaeological theory in Roman archaeology. History The first Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference was organised by Elean ...

2017, entitled "Roman Objects, Migrants and Identities in the Age of Brexit and trump". Her paper discussed how developing technologies, such as aDNA, that affect how we see geography and race in the past will influence modern perspectives on those topics.

Romans Revealed

Along with Mary Lewis and Gundula Müldner, Eckardt led a project researching the archaeological evidence for immigration in

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

and how these people interacted. The project was funded by the

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...

(£337,000) and the results were used to inform displays at the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...

and create educational resources for

Key Stage 2 Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11 years. England and Wales Legal definition The ...

pupils. The team produced the 'Romans Revealed' website (romansrevealed.com) aimed at school children to give more information on Roman Britain, broadening the history taught in schools which usually focuses on men from Italy. The AHRC provided additional funding (62,000) while the Runnymede Trust also supported the project to help the website addressed what children wanted to learn about.

Select bibliography

*Eckardt, H. and Walton, P. 2021. ''Bridge over troubled water: The Roman finds from the River Tees at Piercebridge in context'' (Britannia Monograph 34). London, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. *Eckardt, H. 2018. ''Writing and power in the Roman world: literacies and material culture''. Cambridge University Press, New York. *Eckardt, H. 2014. ''Objects and Identities: Roman Britain and the north-western provinces''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. *Eckardt, H., Muldner, G. and Lewis, M. 2014. "People on the move in Roman Britain". ''

World Archaeology ''World Archaeology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of archaeology. It was established in 1969 and originally published triannually by Routledge & Kegan Paul. In 2004 it changed to a quarterly publication schedule while ...

'' 46 (4). pp. 534–550. *Eckardt, H. and Crummy, N. 2008. ''Styling the body in late Iron Age and Roman Britain: a contextual approach to toilet instruments'' (Instrumentum Monograph No. 36). Instrumentum, Montagnac.

References

External links

Roman Revealed website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eckardt, Hella Living people Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Reading Academics of the University of Reading Historians of ancient Rome Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London British women archaeologists British women historians Year of birth missing (living people)