Dr Chris Hunt

Dr Chris Hunt

Qualifications

BA MSc PhD FGS FRGS

Reader in Palaeoecology

Email: c.hunt@qub.ac.uk

Address

School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology (GAP)
Queens University Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN
Northern Ireland, UK

Telephone

+44 (0) 28 90 975147

Current Teaching:

GAP1001 Evolution: Humans and Ideas
ARP2006 Ancient Economies and Landscapes
ARP2003 Thinking Through Things: Theorizing Global Archaeology
GAP3050 Mediterranean Landscapes and Culture

Current Administrative Roles:

Director of Research for the Environmental Change (EC) Cluster
Careers Liaison Officer, Dissertation Tutor, Archaeology & Palaeoecology
Course leader - MSc Dating & Chronology

Current Research: Environmental Change

Dispersal of later hominids and modern human groups, Human-environment interactions, Archaeopalynology - especially the development of new techniques

Cyrenaica Prehistory Project

CI on this major project examining transitions to modernity in Cyrenaica, Libya, coordinating the environmental side of the project and working with a group of Research Students at Queen’s (David Simpson, Annita Antoniadou and Evan Hill) and colleagues at Cambridge, Royal Holloway, Birkbeck, ANU Canberra, University of Wollongong, University of the Canaries. The project is carrying out landscape and environmental survey and is excavating a number of sites, most notably the Haua Fteah.

Living on the Edge

PI on this project investigating the way people lived on the islands in Sligo Bay in the West of Ireland by surveying the surviving archaeological features, sampling middens and coring to produce environmental histories.

Cultured Rainforest Project

CI on this project investigating the way people have coexisted with and modified the rainforests of central Borneo and working with Samantha Jones and colleagues from Cambridge, Oxford, Sussex, Leicester and Sarawak. We have demonstrated for the first time a prehistory of human habitation and exploitation in the interior, and a 50,000-year rainforest history.

Publications:

Hunt, C. O., Gilbertson, D. D. & Rushworth, G. 2012 A 50,000-year record of Late Pleistocene tropical vegetation and human impact in lowland Borneo. Quaternary Science Reviews 37, 61-80.

Hunt, C.O. & Premathilake, R. 2012 Early Holocene vegetation, human activity and climate from Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Quaternary International 249, 105-119.

Hunt, C. O., Brooks, I., Meneely, J., Brown, D., Buzaian, A. & Barker, G. 2011 The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2011: Late-Holocene environments and human activity from a cave fill in Cyrenaica, Libya. Libyan Studies 42, 77-87.

Wimbledon, W. A. P., Casellato, C. E., Rehakova, D., Bulot, L. G., Erba, E., Gardin, S., Verreussel, R. M. C. H., Munsterman, D. K. & Hunt, C. O. 2011 Fixing a basal Berriasian and Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) Boundary – is there perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel? Revista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 117, 2, 295-307.

Hunt, C. O., Reynolds, T. G., el-Rishi, H. A., Buzian, A., Hill, E., Barker, G. W., 2011 Resource pressure and environmental change on the North African littoral: Epipalaeolithic to Roman gastropods from Cyrenaica, Libya. Quaternary International 244, 15-26. doi10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.045

Barker, G. , Lloyd-Smith, L., Barton, H., Cole, F., Hunt, C., Piper, P., Rabett, R., Paz, V. & Szabo K. 2011 Foraging-farming transitions at the Niah Caves, Sarawak, Borneo.  Antiquity 85, 1-18.

Barker, G., Hunt, C. & Carlos, J.  2011. Transitions to farming in Island Southeast Asia: archaeological, biomolecular and palaeoecological perspectives, in G. Barker & M. Janowski (ed.) Why cultivate? Anthropological and archaeological approaches to foraging-farming transitions in Southeast Asia. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 59–72.

Khalert, T., Kytmannow, T. & Hunt, C. 2011  An eye in the sky – Island archaeology and the use of low-altitude aerial photography (LAAP). Archaeology Ireland 25, 2, 15-18.

Hunt, C. O. & el-Rishi, H.  2010   Human activity in the ancient metal-smelting and farming complex in the Wadi Faynan, SW Jordan, at the desert margin in the Middle East. In Martini, I. P. & Chesworth, W. (eds.) Landscapes and Societies: Selected Cases.  Springer-Verlag, 121-134.

Hunt, C., Davison, J., Inglis, R., Farr, L., Barker, G., Reynolds, T., Simpson, D. & el-Rishi, H. 2010 Site formation processes in caves: the Holocene sediments of the Haua Fteah, Cyrenaica, Libya. Journal of Archaeological Science 37, 1600–1611.

Simpson, D. J. & Hunt, C. O. 2009 Scoping the past human environment: a case study of pollen taphonomy at the Haua Fteah, Cyrenaica, Libya. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 24, 2, 27-46.

Schembri, P., Pedley, M., Hunt, C. & Stoddart, S. 2009 The environment of Malta and Gozo and of the Xaghra Circle. Chapter 2 in Malone, C., Stoddart, S., Bonnanno, A. & Trump, D. (eds.) Mortuary customs in Prehistoric Malta. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 17-39.

Barker, G., Antoniadou, A., Barton, H., Brooks, I., Candy, I., Drake, N., Farr, L., Hunt, C., Abdulhamid Ibrahim, A., Inglis, R., Jones, S., Morales, J., Morley, I., Mutri, J., Rabett, R., Reynolds, T., Simpson, D., Twati, M. & White, K. 2009 The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2009: the third season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the 2007-2008 fieldwork. Libyan Studies 40, 55-94.

Faulkner, T. L. & Hunt, C. O. 2009 Holocene deposits from Neptune’s Cave, Nordland, Norway: Environmental interpretation and relation to the deglacial and emergence history of the Velfjord–Tosenfjord area. Boreas, 38, 691–704.

Rabett, R., Barker, G., Hunt, C. O., Naruse, T.,Piper, P., Raddatz, E., Reynolds, T., Nguyêń Van Son, Stimpson, C., Szabó K., Nguyêń Cao Tâń, Wilson, J. 2008 The Tr`ang An Project: Late-to-Post-Pleistocene Settlement of the Lower Song Hong Valley, North Vietnam. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Ser. 3, 19, 1, 83-109.

Barker, G., Basell, L., Brooks, I., Burn, L., Cartwright, C., Cole, F., Davison, J., Farr, L., Grün, R., Hamilton, R., Hunt, C., Inglis, R., Jacobs, Z., Leitch, V., Morales, J., Morley, I., Morley, M., Pawley, S., Pryor, A. Reynolds, T., el-Rishi, H., Roberts, R., Simpson, D., Stimpson, C., Touati, M. & van der Veen, M. 2008 The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2008: the second season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the initial (2007) fieldwork. Libyan Studies 39, 175-221.

Hunt, C. & Vella, N. C. 2008 A view from the countryside: pollen from a field at Mistra Valley, Malta. Malta Archaeological Review 7, 57-65.

Hunt, C. O., Gilbertson, D. D. & Rushworth, G. 2007 Modern humans in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, during Oxygen Isotope Stage 3: palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Great Cave of Niah. Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 1953-1969.

Hunt, C. O., Gilbertson, D. D. & El-Rishi, H. A. 2007 An 8000-year history of landscape, climate and copper exploitation in the Middle East: the Wadi Faynan and the Wadi Dana National Reserve in southern Jordan. Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 1306-1338.

Hunt, C. O., Rushworth, G. & Dykes, A. P. 2007 UV-fluorescence microscopy and the coherence of pollen assemblages in environmental archaeology and Quaternary geology. Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 4, 562-571.

Barker, G., Hunt, C. & Reynolds, T. 2007 The Haua Fteah, Cyrenaica (Northeast Libya): renewed investigations of the cave and it’s landscape. Libyan Studies 38, 2-22.

Palmer, C., Gilbertson, D., el-Rishi, H., Hunt, C., Grattan, J., McLaren, S. & Pyatt, B. 2007 The Wadi Faynan today: landscape, environment, people. Ch. 2 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 25-58.

El-Rishi, H. Hunt, C., Gilbertson, D., Grattan, J., McLaren, S., Pyatt, B., Duller, G., Gillmore, G. & Phillips, P. 2007 The past and present landscapes of the Wadi Faynan: geoarchaeological approaches and frameworks. Chapter 3 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 59-96.

McLaren, S., Reynolds, T., Gilbertson, D., Grattan, J., Hunt, C., el-Rishi, H., Barker, G. & Duller, G. 2007 Pleistocene environments and human settlement. Chapter 6 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 177-198.

Barker, G., Hunt, C., McLaren, S., Reynolds, T., el-Rishi, H., Gilbertson, D. & Grattan, J. 2007 Early Holocene environments and early farming. Ch. 7 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 199-226,

Barker, G., Adams, R., Creighton, O., el-Rishi, H., Gilbertson, D., Grattan, J., Hunt, C., Newson, P., Pyatt, B. & Reynolds, T. Chalcolithic (c.5000-3600 cal. BC) and Bronze Age (c.3600-1200 cal. BC) settlement in Wadi Faynan. Ch. 8 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 227-270.

Mattingly, D., Newson, P., Grattan, J., Tomber, R., Barker, G. & Hunt, C. 2007 The making of early states: the Iron age and Nabatean periods. Ch. 9 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 271-304.

Mattingly, D., Newson, P., Creighton, O., Tomber, R., Grattan, J., Hunt., C., Gilbertson, D., el-Rishi, H. & Pyatt, B. 2007 A landscape of imperial power: Roman and Byzantine Phaino. Ch. 10 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 305-348.

Newson, P., Mattingly, D., Daly, P., Tomber, R., el-Rishi, H., Gilbertson, D., Grattan, J., Hunt, C., McLaren, S. & Pyatt, B. 2007 The Islamic and Ottoman periods. Chapter 11 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 349-368.

Hunt, C., Mattingly, D., Barker, G. & Gilbertson, D. 2007 Published radiocarbon dates from the Faynan region. Appendix 2 in (eds.) Barker, G., Gilbertson, D. & Mattingly, D. Archaeology and Desertification: The Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, Southern Jordan. Oxford, Oxbow Books, CBRL Levant Series Volume 6, 445-464.

Barker, G., Barton, H., Bird, M., Daly, P., Datan, I., Dykes, A., Farr, L., Gilbertson, D., Harrisson, B., Hunt, C., Higham, T., Kealhofer, L., Krigbaum, J., Lewis, H., McLaren, S., Paz, V., Pike, A., Piper, P., Pyatt, B., Rabett, R., Reynolds, T., Rose, J., Rushworth, G., Stephens, M., Stringer, C., Thompson, J. & Turney, C. 2007 The ‘human revolution’ in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo). Journal of Human Evolution 52, 243-261.

Grattan, J.P., Gilbertson, D.D. & Hunt, C.O. 2007 The local and global dimensions of metalliferous pollution derived from a reconstruction of an eight thousand year record of copper smelting and mining at a desert-mountain frontier in southern Jordan. Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 83-110.

External Grant Funding:

2010 £8,800 Heritage Council. Living on the Edge (PI)

2009 £16,410 Heritage Council. Living on the Edge (PI)

2007 £60000 AHRC. The Cultured Rainforest. (CI: PI is Graeme Barker, Cambridge)