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l.e.bennison-chapman@hum.leidenuniv.nl
T +31-71-527 2037
Lucy Bennison-Chapman studied Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Liverpool. She received her PhD in July 2015. She was the inaugural NINO Postdoctoral Research fellow, based at Leiden University with a project investigating the use and function of non-literate administration systems and recording devices in the Near East from the late Neolithic into the 1st millennium BC. The proceedings of her conference Bookkeeping Without Writing are forthcoming. From 1 December 2021, Lucy remains with NINO as a Visiting Research Fellow. In the Autumn semester of 2022 Lucy is teaching the OIKOS course “Communicating through clay in the Ancient Near East”.
Near Eastern Archaeology: Anatolia, Mesopotamia and the Levant; Early farming communities, the Neolithic; Administration systems, Early writing; Material culture; Symbolism; Non-literate recording systems; Early Historic Mesopotamia; Craft specialisation.
NINO (Sep 2019-ongoing): The origins and development of non-written administrative technologies in the ancient Near East
An investigation into the functioning of non-written information storage and related administrative technologies in the Near East from the late Neolithic period (c. 6,000 BC) into the 1st millennium BC. This project aims to trace the development, use and role of tokens, alongside sealings, seals, bullae and written texts from the first attested use of tokens as administrative tools c. 6,000 BC into the Early Historic period.
Boncuklu Höyük, Konya Province, Turkey (2006-ongoing). Directed by Prof. D. Baird, University of Liverpool (UK)
Çatalhöyük Research Project, Konya Province, Turkey (2010-2019). Directed by Prof. I. Hodder, Stanford University (USA)
Tell Sabi Abyad Project, north Syria (2009-2010). Directed by P.M.M.G. Akkermans, Leiden University
Kadhima Project, Kuwait (2009-2010). Directed by Dr. D. Kennett, University of Durham
Thesis: The Role and Function of “Tokens” and Sealing Practices in the Neolithic of the Near East: The question of early recording systems, symbolic storage, precursors to writing, gaming, or monitoring devices in the world’s first villages.
Dissertation: To What Extent Might Identity be represented in the Mortuary Practices of Third Millennium BC Upper Euphrates Sites? A study of burial practices in the Early Bronze Age.
Dissertation: A Study of the Function, Form and Symbolism of Early Bronze Age Female Figurines from Anatolia and North Syria.
Bennison-Chapman, L.E. 2021, “Large Clay Balls at Çatalhöyük East” in The Matter of Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2009-2017 seasons. Çatalhöyük Research Project Series 14, ed. I. Hodder, London/Oxford, British Institute at Ankara/Oxbow Books, pp. 161-192.
Bennison-Chapman, L.E. 2021, “A ‘Token’ Story? The small geometric clay objects at Neolithic Çatalhöyük” in The Matter of Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2009-2017 seasons. Çatalhöyük Research Project Series 14, ed. I. Hodder, London/Oxford, British Institute at Ankara/Oxbow Books, pp. 193-214.
Bennison-Chapman, L.E. 2020, “Review of: The Emergence of Pottery in West Asia. Tsuneki, A., O. Nieuwenhuyse & S. Campbell (eds.). Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2017”. Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXVII (5/6): 669-71.
Schotsmans, E., Busacca, G., Bennison-Chapman, L., Lingle, L., Milella, M., Tibbetts, B., Tsoraki, C., Vasić, M. & Veropoulidou, R., 2020, “Pigment Use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük”. Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 83.3 (Twenty-Five Years of Research at Çatalhöyük Part Two), pp. 156-167. https://doi.org/10.1086/710215
Mickel, A., Filipowicz, P. & Bennison-Chapman, L., 2020, “Ethnography, Engagement, Evaluations, and Endings: The Achievements and Limitations of Community Outreach at Çatalhöyük”. Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 83.3 (Twenty-Five Years of Research at Çatalhöyük Part Two), pp. 182-190. https://doi.org/10.1086/710253
Bennison-Chapman, L.E. 2020, “Conscious ‘Tokens’?” in: Consciousness, Creativity, and Self at the Dawn of Settled Life, ed. I. Hodder, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 107-132. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108753616
Bennison-Chapman, L.E. 2019, “Clay objects as ‘tokens’? Evidence for early counting and administration at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Mesopotamia”. Levant, vol. 50.3, pp. 305-337. https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2019.1658501
Bennison-Chapman, L.E. 2019, “Reconsidering ‘Tokens’: The Neolithic Origins of Accounting or Multifunctional, Utilitarian Tools?” Cambridge Archaeological Journal, vol. 29.2, pp. 233-259. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774318000513
Bennison-Chapman, L.E. & Hager, L.D. 2018, “Tracking the Division of Labour through Handprints: Applying Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to clay ‘tokens’ in Neolithic West Asia”. Journal of Archaeological Science, 99, pp. 112-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.09.004