Hella EckardtFSA is an archaeologist specializing in Roman archaeology and material culture, currently serving as a professor at the University of Reading.[1] Since 2018, she has been the Editor of the journal Britannia.
Eckardt gave the keynote speech at the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference 2017, entitled "Roman Objects, Migrants and Identities in the Age of Brexit and trump". Her paper discussed how developing technologies, such as aDNA, that affect how we see geography and race in the past will influence modern perspectives on those topics.[6]
Romans Revealed
Along with Mary Lewis and Gundula Müldner, Eckardt led a project researching the archaeological evidence for immigration in Roman Britain and how these people interacted. The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (£337,000)[7] and the results were used to inform displays at the Yorkshire Museum and create educational resources for Key Stage 2 pupils.[8] The team produced the 'Romans Revealed' website (romansrevealed.com) aimed at school children to give more information on Roman Britain, broadening the history taught in schools which usually focuses on men from Italy. The AHRC provided additional funding (62,000) while the Runnymede Trust also supported the project to help the website addressed what children wanted to learn about.[9][7]
Front Cover Image of Hella Eckardt (editor), Roman diasporas: archaeological approaches to mobility and diversity in the Roman empire
Select bibliography
Eckardt, H. and Walton, P. 2021. Bridge over troubled water: The Roman finds from the River Tees at Piercebridge in context (Britannia Monograph 34). London, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.
Eckardt, H. 2018. Writing and power in the Roman world: literacies and material culture. Cambridge University Press, New York. ISBN9781108418058
Eckardt, H. 2014. Objects and Identities: Roman Britain and the north-western provinces. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN9780199693986
Eckardt, H. and Crummy, N. 2008. Styling the body in late Iron Age and Roman Britain: a contextual approach to toilet instruments (Instrumentum Monograph No. 36). Instrumentum, Montagnac. ISBN9782355180095