معرفی
Jane Kershaw is the Gad Rausing Associate Professor of Viking Age Archaeology at the University of Oxford, specializing in Early Medieval and Viking-Age archaeology with a geographic focus on Northwest Europe, particularly Britain and Scandinavia. Her work centers on Scandinavian settlements in Britain, Viking silver economies, and gender/cultural identity through interdisciplinary archaeological, archaeometric, and numismatic approaches.
Her research critically examines the Viking Age (c. 750-1050 AD) through material culture analysis, with core interests in silver provenance, bullion economies, and gender dynamics. She integrates scientific methods like lead isotope analysis with traditional archaeology to investigate trade networks, resource exploitation, and cultural interactions across Eurasia, emphasizing how material practices shaped identity and social structures in frontier zones of the Viking world.
Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals dominant trends in archaeometric silver studies (80% of works), with strong focus on provenance methodologies, bullion economy mechanics, and cross-cultural exchange networks. Key themes include Islamic dirham circulation, Scandinavian settlement patterns, and innovative analytical techniques for non-destructive metal analysis, demonstrating consistent interdisciplinary rigor across temporal and geographic scales.
Her scientific awards include:
- ERC Starting Grant (Silver and the Origins of the Viking Age, 2019-ongoing)
- Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (Britain’s Viking Silver Hoards, 2017–2019)
- British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship (The Bullion Economy of Viking England, 2012-2017)
- Junior Research Fellowship, Balliol College, Oxford (2012-2014)
- Randall MacIver Studentship, Queen’s College, Oxford (2010-2011)
Dr Kershaw actively supervises doctoral research including Anthony Del Rio's DPhil on Viking-Age Scandinavian settlement in northern England. Her ERC-funded project coordinates an international team conducting large-scale silver analysis, while her British Academy and Leverhulme fellowships established foundational research on Viking bullion economies. She maintains extensive museum collaborations for hoard analysis and public engagement through media appearances.
She leads the ERC-funded "Silver and the Origins of the Viking Age" project with a dedicated research team, maintains an active research blog for public dissemination, and engages in knowledge exchange through BBC Radio 4's In Our Time program on Viking historical impacts.
