AEA Awards
John Evans Dissertation Prize
John Evans (1941–2005) was an inspirational environmental archaeologist, responsible for advancing the discipline and fostering many of today’s top researchers in the field. His many books continue to make a contribution to practical and theoretical aspects of environmental archaeology. To honour the memory of John and his achievements within environmental archaeology, the Association for Environmental Archaeology (AEA) has an annual competition for the best undergraduate and Masters dissertations in any aspect of environmental archaeology.
An obituary of Professor John G. Evans was published in The Independent.
The Award
A choice of prizes of £75 (please note that international students may be liable for the transfer costs) or 3-year membership subscriptions to the AEA will be awarded to the best undergraduate and Masters dissertation, which may be on any aspect of environmental archaeology worldwide. Abstracts from the winning dissertations will be published in the AEA newsletter (this is a condition of entry that all entrants will be agreeing to on submission of their dissertation). The John Evans Dissertation Prize winners will also be encouraged to submit an abridged version of their dissertation for publication in the Association’s journal, Environmental Archaeology, subject to the usual review process.
Nominate a Dissertation
We invite each Department of Archaeology (or other relevant department) to submit the dissertation of their best candidate at undergraduate and Masters level. Submissions from individual students are not accepted. English is the preferred technical language of submission although the committee will also accept submissions in other languages, but these must be accompanied by an English summary (max. 2 pages) to conform to the submission rules. Departments wanting to submit in languages other than English should contact the prize administrator to determine whether the submission can be accommodated.
Submissions are accepted year-round, though dissertations must be submitted by 20th December for consideration in that year’s prize – dissertations submitted after this date will be automatically included in the following year’s competition. Please note that only digital copies (preferably PDF) of dissertations will be accepted, and these should be sent to the prize administrator, who should also be contacted for further information.
2023 awardees
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Elizabeth Joanna Jackson (University of Glasgow)
Believe the leaves: A medium scale synthesis of pollen records covering the Mesolithic of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
Postgraduate
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Rainie E. Hoogendoorn (Bournemouth University)
Microfauna; more than an agent for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. A taphonomic and quantitative analysis to investigate the accumulation of small vertebrates in an Iron Age pit at Winterborne Kingston, Dorset, England.
2022 awardees
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Susan Dyke (University of the Highlands and Islands)
Escape to the country. A palynological investigation of Shieling activity at Braehour, Caithness, Scottish Highlands
Postgraduate
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Vera Haponava (University of Warsaw)
Medieval and early modern diet in Polack region, Belarus
2022 awardees
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Susan Dyke (University of the Highlands and Islands)
Escape to the country. A palynological investigation of Shieling activity at Braehour, Caithness, Scottish Highlands
Postgraduate
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Vera Haponava (University of Warsaw)
Medieval and early modern diet in Polack region, Belarus
2021 awardees
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Alice Hayes (University of York)
‘Parry’ fractures: useful or misleading evidence for interpersonal violence in osteoarchaeology?
Postgraduate
Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Marie Middleton (University College London)
Livestock management strategies in North Africa, pre- and post- Arab conquest
Previous awardees
2020
2020
2020
Undergraduate: Synnøve Gravdal Heimvik (University of Edinburgh)
Of Rodents and Men: A Study of the Microfaunal Remains from Çamlıbel Tarlası
Postgraduate: Georgina Compton (University of Bournmouth)
Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth: a Isotopic Analysis and Osteobiographical Narrative of the Equid Burials at Umm el-Marra
2018
2020
2020
Undergraduate: Aina Fiolsegui (University of York)
Sulphur isotope variability in pre-Columbian populations of South America: Paleodietary and paleoecological implications
Postgraduate: Margherita Zona (University of York)
Isotopic and ZooMS Analysis of Islamic and Christian Animal Remains from Granada: Exploring the potential for differing husbandry practices at the time of the Reconquista
2017
2020
2017
Undergraduate: Calum Edward (University of Plymouth)
Investigating potential climatic and anthropogenic change, through sub-fossil non-biting midge (Chironomidae) larvae analysis, surrounding the Black Loch of Myrton crannog, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
Postgraduate: Eleanor Green
(University of York)
Give a dog a bone: Investigating the potential of studying prehistoric dogs via the ancient DNA analysis of canid coprolites from Bridge River, British Columbia, Canada
2016
2016
2017
Undergraduate: Nora Batterman (University of Leicester)
Exotics and Empire. An Investigation into Roman Conceptions of the ‘Wild’
Postgraduate: Samantha Preslee (University of York)
Using ancient proteomics tools to identify the exploitation of birds eggs in archaeological contexts
2015
2016
2015
Undergraduate: Blessing Chidimuro (University of York)
Assessing the Effectiveness of Using Bone Apatite in Palaeodietary Reconstructions: Bone Mineral Stable Isotope Analysis of Individuals from England, Spain and Italy
Postgraduate: Lisa Phan (University of Cambridge)
Late Pleistocene lithic technology at Hang Trống cave, Vietnam: Climate Change and Hoabinhian Lithic Organization
2014
2016
2015
Undergraduate: Texas Nagel (James Cook University)
Understanding the Tests of Time: Using Foraminifera to Refine Knowledge of Archaeological Site Formation Processes”
Postgraduate: Sarah E. Oas (Simon Fraser University)
Revising Bosumpra: Examining 10,000 years of plant use at the Bosumpra rockshelter, Ghana
2013
2013
2013
Undergraduate: Tristan Henser‐Brownhil (University of York)
Pathogen Degredation and Persistence: Are Ancient Pathogens a Biohazard for Archaeologists?
Postgraduate: Alice Berg (Tell Aviv University)
Plant Economy and Ecology in Early Bronze Age Tel Bet Yerah
2012
2013
2013
Undergraduate: Kirsten Barr (University of Reading)
Bronze Age Ungulate Footprint-Tracks of the Severn Estuary: Species and Age Identification and an Interpretation of Husbandry Practices
Postgraduate: Amanda D Wynne (University of Reading)
Palaeoenvironmental Impact of Medieval Colonisation and Expansion at Radzyń Chełmiński, North-Central Pola
2011
2013
2011
Undergraduate: Bennjamin J. Penny-Mason (University of Reading)
Evaluating the application of faecal pollen analysis to archaeological and forensic science: an experimental approach
Postgraduate: Andrea K. Thompson (Université de Montréal)
A Zooarchaeological Analysis of a Late Dorset Faunal Assemblage from the KcFs-2 Site (Nunavik, Quebec)
2010
2010
2011
Undergraduate: Emily Blake (University of Durum)
Red herring or dietary reality? The utilisation of aquatic resources in the Upper Palaeolithic
Postgraduate: James Walker (University of Cambridge)
Complementing the seasonal round of Mesolithic Oronsay, Scotland, using intraspecific isotopes δ18 values from shellfish Littorina