Eleni Asouti (BA, MSc, PhD)

Research interests

Environmental archaeology; Prehistory and palaeoecology of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and South India; Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of wood and charcoal macro-remains; Prehistory and socio-economics of human subsistence practices; Early Neolithic of the Middle East.

Main current projects

“Unfamiliar landscapes: the ecology of human settlement in the high plateau wetlands of Central Anatolia at the dawn of agriculture” 
(Dr. Eleni Asouti, Dr. Douglas Baird, Dr. Richard Chiverell, SACE & Dept. of Geography, University of Liverpool) (project website forthcoming). 
Epipalaeolithic-Early/Late Neolithic habitation at Pınarbaşı, Central Anatolia, Turkey (with Dr. Douglas Baird, SACE, Liverpool). 
Çatalhöyük, Central Anatolia (Neolithic), Turkey (with Prof. Ian Hodder, Stanford University, USA). 
The origins of agriculture in South India (Neolithic) (in collaboration with Dr. Dorian Fuller, Institute of Archaeology, UCL).

Articles in journals

Asouti, E. (2006) Beyond the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B interaction sphere. Journal of World Prehistory 20: 87-126. (pdf)

Asouti, E. and Austin, P. (2005) Reconstructing woodland vegetation and its exploitation by past societies, based on the analysis and interpretation of archaeological wood charcoal macro-remains. Environmental Archaeology 10(1): 1-18. (pdf)

Asouti E (2003) Woodland vegetation and fuel exploitation at the prehistoric campsite of Pınarbaşı, south-central Anatolia, Turkey: the evidence from the wood charcoal macro-remains. Journal of Archaeological Science 30(9): 1185-1201. (pdf)

Asouti, E. (2003) Wood charcoal from Santorini (Thera): new evidence for climate, vegetation and timber imports in the Aegean Bronze Age. Antiquity 77: 471-484. (pdf)

Asouti, E. and Griffiths, D. (2003) Identification of the wood used in the construction of the "Sunken Room" at Sidon. Archaeology & History in Lebanon 18: 62-69. (pdf)

Fairbairn, A., Asouti, E., Near, J. and Martinoli, D. (2002) Macro-botanical evidence for plant use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, south-central Anatolia, Turkey. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 11: 41-54. (pdf)

Asouti, E. and Hather, J. (2001) Charcoal analysis and the reconstruction of ancient woodland vegetation in the Konya basin, south-central Anatolia, Turkey: results from the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük East. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 10: 23-34. (pdf)

Books and book chapters

Asouti, E. and Fairbairn, A. (in press) Farmers, gatherers or horticulturalists? Reconstructing landscapes of practice in the Early Neolithic. In Finlayson, B. and Warren, G. (eds) Landscapes in Transition. CBRL Monographs.

Asouti, E. and Fuller, D. (2008) Trees and Woodlands of South India. Archaeological Perspectives. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California.

Asouti, E. (2005) Woodland vegetation and the exploitation of fuel and timber at Neolithic Çatalhöyük: report on the wood charcoal macro-remains. In Hodder, I. (ed.). Inhabiting Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-9 Seasons, pp. 213-258. McDonald Institute Monographs 38. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and British Institute at Ankara, Cambridge & London. (pdf1) (pdf2) (pdf3)

Asouti, E. (2005) Group identity and the politics of dwelling at Neolithic Çatalhöyük. In Hodder, I. (ed.) Çatalhöyük Perspectives: Themes from the 1995-9 Seasons, pp. 75-91. McDonald Institute Monographs/BIAA Monograph 40. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and British Institute at Ankara, Cambridge & London. (pdf1) (pdf2)

Asouti, E., Fuller, D. and Korisettar, R. (2005) Vegetation context and wood exploitation in the Southern Neolithic: preliminary evidence from wood charcoals. In Franke-Vogt, U. and Weisshaar, H.-J. (eds) South Asian Archaeology 2003. Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists (7-11 July 2003, Bonn), pp 335-340. Linden Soft/Verlag, Aachen. (pdf)

Fairbairn, A., Asouti, E., Russell, N. and Swogger, J. (2005) Seasonality. In Hodder, I. (ed.) Çatalhöyük Perspectives: Themes from the 1995-9 Seasons, pp. 93-108. McDonald Institute Monographs/BIAA Monograph 40. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and British Institute at Ankara, Cambridge & London. (pdf)

Asouti, E. (2003) The wood charcoal macro-remains: a preliminary report . In Peltenburg, E. (ed.) The Colonisation and Settlement of Cyprus-Investigations at Kissonerga-Mylouthkia: Lemba Archaeological Project, Cyprus, Vol. III.1, pp. 73-75. Jonsered, Paul Astroms Förlag. (pdf)

Asouti, E. and Fairbairn, A. (2002) Subsistence economy in Central Anatolia during the Neolithic - The archaeobotanical evidence. In Thissen, L., and Gerard, F. (eds) The Neolithic of Central Anatolia. Internal developments and external relations during the 9th - 6th millennia cal. BC, pp. 181-192. Istanbul, Ege Yayinlari. (pdf1) (pdf2)

Book reviews

Goren-Inbar, N., Werker, E. and Feibel, G.S. (2002) 'The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel - I: The Wood Assemblage', Oxbow Books. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 33 (2003): 207-211. (pdf)

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