Sheffield Centre for the Archaeology of Childhood

Description

The University of Sheffield's Centre for the Archaeology of Childhood convenes researchers interested in investigating childhood's historical experience and nature. This area of study has recently been rejuvenated by significant contributions from both archaeologists and historians, and now covers various aspects of youth, including education, play, work, upbringing, religion, and significant life events from conception to maturity and death. Archaeologists gather diverse evidence of past childhoods, encompassing the spaces children occupied, objects they interacted with, and children's physical remains.

The Centre amalgamates archaeological researchers with a range of chronological, theoretical, and methodological expertise. Their research spans the study of material culture, human skeletal remains, and stable isotope data, from broad landscapes to single objects or individuals. Often, an interdisciplinary approach is employed, integrating allied subjects like History and Anthropology to enrich the investigations. As the sole research cluster in the UK dedicated to the archaeology of childhood, it mirrors the substantial concentration of archaeologists specialising in infancy and childhood at Sheffield. Collectively and individually, the Centre's mission is to illuminate the worlds inhabited and crafted by infants and children throughout history. The Centre has received funding from the Pamela Staunton Bequest and the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield.

Over the forthcoming three years, the Centre aims to: • Recruit outstanding doctoral and post-doctoral researchers to augment its research base • Secure substantial external funding to support its world-class research • Disseminate and endorse its activities via members' attendance at national and international conferences and events, and through organising events in Sheffield and globally • Host a visiting lecturer and conduct a masterclass in a pertinent subject area each semester

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

Founding year

2015

Contact details

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University affiliation(s)

University of Sheffield
Sheffield