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Alexander Heath BA and MA (Cardiff)

Mr Alexander Heath

(he/him)

BA and MA (Cardiff)

Teams and roles for Alexander Heath

Overview

My thesis is titled: Building Communities: Communal Commensality and Cult Practice. How and why did practiced communal commensality at sanctuary sites influence the character of community groups in late-eighth – fifth centuries Boiotia?

This thesis aims to track changes in commensal behaviour from a series of sanctuary sites across Boiotia, largely by investigating changes in the morphometric data of deposited ceramics. Employing the theoretical frameworks of 'New Materialism', these dedicated objects are interpreted as physically tangible extensions of the actor’s self, where they are investigated as an expression of one’s personhood. Through investigating practices at select sites across Boiotia, this thesis therefore not only aims to answer questions surrounding whether different modes of 'human-thing' entanglements were active in different practicing communities, but also feasting's role in the creation of collective and regionally shared forms of identity; namely that associated with the Archaic Boiotian koinon. 

Biography

I pursue the interdisciplinary and practical study of the ancient world – combining Classics, Epigraphy, Anthropology, Archaeology, and Digital Archaeology. I completed my BA in Ancient History and Archaeology at Cardiff University in 2022, writing my dissertation: From Maidenhood to Motherhood: The Social Dialogue of Marriage in Classical Attic Funerary Sculpture. 

Afterward, I sought to refine my Archaeological skillsets here at Cardiff by pursuing an MA in Archaeology, writing my thesis: Creating Navigable Communities in Late Eighth and Seventh Century BC Attica. How were funerary practices and grave goods developed and employed as tools for social negotiation? 

Following working for a year in the commercial sector, I returned to the university and am now researching for my PhD in Archaeology, with my thesis being: Building Communities: Communal Commensality and Cult Practice. How and why did practiced communal commensality at sanctuary sites influence the character of community groups in late-eighth – fifth centuries Boiotia?

My love for excavation has saw me experience a plethora of archaeology from Neolithic and Early Bronze age archaeology in Serbia, 25th Dynasty Egyptian, Mesolithic to Early Modern British sites, and Late Bronze Age to Hellenistic Greek sites. It was during these excavations that my interest in digital methods of archaeological research began, seeing its incorporation into my PhD thesis.

 

Honours and awards

BA in Ancient History and Archaeology - First Class (hons.).

MA in Archaeology - Distinction.

PhD in Archaeology - (underway).

Contact Details

Email [email protected]

Campuses John Percival Building, Room Room 2.64, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU

Research themes

Specialisms

  • Greek and Roman archaeology
  • Communal Commensality
  • Morphometric Studies
  • Early Iron Age Greece
  • Archaic Boeotia