Richard Hodges (archaeologist)

Richard Hodges
File:President of The American University of Rome Dr. Richard Hodges.JPG Dr. Richard Hodges, President of The American University of Rome (2012).
11th President of The American University of Rome
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2012 (2012-07-01)
Preceded by	Robert Marino Andrew Thompson (acting)
Personal details
Born	Richard Hodges (1952-09-29) September 29, 1952 Bath, England, United Kingdom.
Residence	Rome, Lazio, Italy.
Alma mater	University of Southampton
Profession	Archeologist
Website	Office of the President of The American University of Rome

Richard Hodges OBE, FSA (born 29 September 1952) is a British archaeologist and president of The American University of Rome. A former professor and director of the Institute of World Archaeology at the University of East Anglia (1995–2007), as of 2009 Hodges is also the former Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia (October 2007- 2012). His published research primarily concerns trade and economics during the early part of the Middle Ages in Europe. His earlier works include Dark Age Economics (1982), Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe (1983) and Light in the Dark Ages: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo Al Volturno (1997).

Research and Career

In his influential work Dark Age Economics (1982) he cited extensive archaeological evidence for a network of trade outposts called emporia that encircled the North Sea. These emporia rose and flourished between the 7th and 9th centuries, and varied from simple settlements of no more than a dock and several warehouses to complex settlements with gridded streets and permanent populations such as those found at Dorestad and Quentovic. After increased Viking activity in the later half of the 9th century, nearly all emporia were either absorbed into better-defended settlements nearby or abandoned. He has subsequently developed and expanded on this hypothesis in more recent works such as, Mohammed Charlemagne and the origins of Europe (1983), The Anglo-Saxon Achievement (1989) and Towns and Trade in the Age of Charlemagne (2000).

He has taught archaeology at University of Sheffield, the University of Siena (Italy), and the University of Copenhagen. From 1988-1995 he served as Director of the British School at Rome. He became head of the Prince of Wales' Institute of Architecture in 1996.

In late 2007, Hodges was appointed Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. In June 2011, Hodges announced that he planned to fulfill his 5-year contract as Williams Director but would step down effective June 30, 2012; at the time of this announcement, he was "in the running" to become the president of a European academic institution. If that position was not offered to him, he planned to return to the University of East Anglia.

As of July 1, 2012, Hodges has taken up the position of president of The American University of Rome.

Hodges has excavated in Italy, at San Vincenzo al Volturno, and in Albania, at Butrint.

Publications

• 1981. The Hamwih Pottery: the local and imported wares from thirty years' excavations in Southampton and their European context. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report.
• 1982. Edited (with G. Barker) Archaeology and Italian Society. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
• 1982. Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Town and Trade. London/New York : Duckworth / St Martins Press (new edition 1989).
• 1983. Edited (with P. Davey) Ceramics and Trade. Sheffield: Department of Archaeology and Prehistory Sheffield University.
• 1983. (with D. Whitehouse). Mohammed Charlemagne and the origins of Europe: Archaeology and Pirenne thesis. London / Ithaca: Duckworth / Cornell (new edition 1989). Revised French edition published as Mahomet, Charlemagne et les origines de l'Europe Paris: Pierre Zech.
• 1985. Edited (with J. Mitchell) San Vincenzo al Volturno: the archaeology, art and territory of an early medieval monastery. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports
• 1988. Primitive and Peasant Markets. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• 1988. Edited (with B. Hobley) The Rebirth of Towns in the West AD 700-1050. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report.
• 1989. The Anglo-Saxon Achievement: Archaeology and the beginnings of English Society. London/Ithaca : Duckworth /Cornell.
• 1991. Early Medieval archaeology in Western Europe: its history and development. Bangor: Headstart History
• 1991. Wall-to-Wall History: The Story of Roystone Grange. London: Duckworth (Winner of British Archaeological book of the year 1992).
• 1991. Edited (with K. Smith) Recent Developments in the Archaeology of the Peak District. Sheffield: Department of Archaeology and Prehistory Sheffield University.
• 1993. Edited San Vincenzo al Volturno 1: the 1980-86 excavations. London: British School at Rome.
• 1995. Edited San Vincenzo al Volturno 2: the 1980-86 excavations part 2. London: British School at Rome
• 1995. (with J. Mitchell). La basilica di Giosue a San Vincenzo al Volturno. Montecassino: Edizione CEP. Revised English edition published in 1996 as The Abbey of Abbot Joshua at San Vincenzo al Volturno.
• 1996. Edited (with G.P. Brogiolo, S. Gelichi, R. Francovich & H. Steuer) Archaeology and History of the Middle Ages. XIII International Congress of Prehistoric & Protohistoric Sciences Forli.
• 1997. Light in the Dark Ages. The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno. London / Ithaca: Duckworth / Cornell University Press.
• 1998. Edited (with W. Bowden) The Sixth Century. Production, distribution and consumption. The Hague: E. J. Brill (Volume 2 in the European Science Foundation's Transformation of the Roman World project).
• 2000. Towns and Trade in the Age Charlemagne. London: Duckworth.
• 2000. Visions of Rome. Thomas Ashby, Archaeologist. London: British School at Rome.
• 2003. (with Riccardo Francovich) Villa to Village. London: Duckworth.
• 2004. (with W. Bowden and K.Lako) Byzantine Butrint Oxford: Oxbow Books.

External links

• The American University of Rome
• University of Pennsylvania Faculty Page about Richard Hodges