Dr Louise Iles
BSc, MSc, PhD
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Wenner-Gren Hunt Fellow
Full contact details
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Minalloy House
10-16 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 3NJ
- Profile
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I joined the º£½ÇÉçÇø of Sheffield in 2016 as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of Archaeology, mapping the development of early iron production in sub-Saharan Africa. I am now a , completing a writing project that explores gender, knowledge, innovation and participation in African iron metallurgy.
My BSc, MSc and PhD were obtained from the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, and during this time I also took part in the graduate attachment scheme of the British Institute in Eastern Africa, spending six months in eastern Africa working on various . My PhD thesis examined the trajectory of iron production in western Uganda.
After my PhD, I was a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Department of Archaeology, º£½ÇÉçÇø of York, with a year's secondment to the School of Anthropology, º£½ÇÉçÇø of Arizona, where I had the privilege of working in Professor David Killick's lab. My research explored the iron metallurgy of the Pare Mountains, northern Tanzania, with a particular emphasis on environmental impact.
- Qualifications
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- 2011- PhD – º£½ÇÉçÇø College London
- Research interests
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My research focus is the iron metallurgy of sub-Saharan Africa. I've led research projects in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, but have worked on metal assemblages from around the world, including Mali, Togo, India, Cambodia, the UK and China.
I have a particular interest in the networks through which technology spreads, the use of plants in metal technologies, and the role of gender in technology - research challenges which I explore using a combination of archaeological, ethnographic and archaeological science approaches.
Current collaborations
- Iron metallurgy in Bassar, Togo: Early Iron Age and Late Iron Age technologies- Philip de Barros (Palomar College) David Killick (º£½ÇÉçÇø of Arizona)
- Iron objects of Munsa and Ntusi, Uganda- Peter Robertshaw (California State º£½ÇÉçÇø) Andrew Reid (º£½ÇÉçÇø College London) Funded by the British Institute in Eastern Africa, and the British Society for the History of Science
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Selected Publications
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Journal Articles
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- Iles, L. 2020. . Science and Technology in Archaeological Research
- de Barros, P., Iles, L., Frame, L. & Killick, D. 2020.. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 55: 3- 43
- Iles, L. 2018. . Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 49: 88-99
- Iles, L., Heckmann, M., Lang, C., Stump, D. and Lane, P. 2018. I. African Archaeological Review
- Iles, L. 2018. . Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 49: 88-99
- Iles, L. 2016. . Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 23: 1219-1241
- Iles, L. and Lane, P. 2015. . Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 50: 372-401
- Gurdasani, D., Carstensen, T., Tekola-Ayele, F., Pagani, L., Tachmazidou, I., Hatzikotoulas, K., Karthikeyan, S., Iles, L. et al. 2015. . Nature 517 (7534): 327-332
- Iles, L. 2014. . Journal of Archaeological Science 49: 423-441
- Iles, L. 2013. . Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 48: 65-90
- Iles, L. 2009. . Ethnobotany Research and Applications 7: 283-291
- Iles, L. and Martinón-Torres, M. 2009. . Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 2314-2326
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Chapters
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- Iles, L. 2017. . In: T. Spear (ed.) Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. New York: OUP
- Iles, L. 2015. Iron production in Uganda: memories of a near-forgotten industry. In: H. Orange (ed.) Reanimating Industrial Spaces: conducting memory work in post-industrial societies. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, 158-175
- Iles, L. and Childs, S. T. 2014. Ethnoarchaeological and historical methods. In: B. Roberts and C. Thornton (eds.) Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective: methods and syntheses. New York: Springer, 193-216
- Iles, L. 2014. The use of plants in iron production: insights from smelting remains from Buganda. In: C. Stevens, S. Nixon, M. Murray and D. Fuller (eds.) The Archaeology of African Plant Use. San Francisco: Left Coast Press, 267-274
- Iles, L. 2013. Applying ethnographic presents to archaeological pasts: the relevance of memories of iron production in western Uganda. In: J. Humphris and Th. Rehren (eds.) The World of Iron. London: Archetype, 281-287
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Links