Jennifer Foster is an English scholar of
prehistoric and
medieval archaeology, who specializes in the study of artifacts, particularly metalwork.
Career
Foster is a scholar of
prehistoric and
medieval archaeology, who specializes in the study of artifacts.[1] She formerly worked at the
British Museum, and at the
University of Oxford's
Ashmolean Museum.[1] She teaches at the
University of Reading.[2] For the last 30 years she has taught archaeology to continuing education students at the university, with classes such as "The Ethics of Archaeology" and "The Legend and Archaeology of King Arthur."[1] She has given talks on subjects such as experimental archaeology, and
Sutton Hoo.[3][4]
Personal life
Foster is married to
Martin Bell,[5] a professor of archaeological science at the University of Reading.[6]
Publications
In addition to a number of articles and chapters, Foster has written four monographs, including one on
Iron Age and Roman boar figurines, one on the
Lexden tumulus,[7] and one an introduction to European archaeology before the Roman conquest, based on the collection in the British
Ashmolean Museum.[8]
Foster's first book, Bronze Boar Figurines in Iron Age and Roman Britain,[9] described and illustrated 22 examples of bronze
boars from the
Iron Age and
Roman Britain, and described the animal's millennia-long role in European cultures;[10] a related article that came out the same year, "A Boar Figurine from Guilden Morden, Cambs.", detailed the
Guilden Morden boar, a sixth- or seventh-century Anglo-Saxon copper alloy figure of a boar that may have once served as the crest of a helmet.[11] In a 1995 article she argued that Iron Age smiths creating high quality metalwork in Britain might have travelled around stopping at different sites, rather than having a fixed abode, and would produce multiple pieces at each site, as at
Gussage All Saints, Dorset.[12]
Foster, Jennifer (2002). Life and Death in the Iron Age. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.
ISBN1-85444-179-5.
Chapters
Foster, Jennifer (1993). "The identification of male and female graves using grave goods". In Struck, Manuela (ed.). Römerzeitliche Gräber als Quellen zu Religion, Bevölkerungsstruktur und Sozialgeschichte: internationale Fachkonferenz vom 18.-20. Februar 1991 im Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. Archäologische Schriften des Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. Vol. 3. Mainz: Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. pp. 207–212.
ISBN3-928957-02-3.
Foster, Jennifer (1995). "Metalworking in the British Iron Age: The Evidence from Weelsby Avenue, Grimsby". In
Raftery, Barry;
Megaw, Vincent & Rigby, Val (eds.). Sites and Sights of the Iron Age: Essays on Fieldwork and Museum Research Presented to Ian Mathieson Stead. Oxbow Monographs in Archaeology. Vol. 56. Oxford: Oxbow. pp. 49–61.
ISBN1-900188-00-7.
Foster, Jennifer (2013). "Decorated wooden shaft inside a hollowed-out bone [from Peterstone]". The Bronze Age in the Severn Estuary. By
Bell, Martin. CBA Research Reports. Vol. 172. York:
Council for British Archaeology. pp. 192–193.
ISBN978-1-902771-94-6.
Foster, Jennifer (2014). "Hidden Faces and Animal Images on Late Iron Age and Early Roman Horse Harness Decorated Using the Champlevé Technique". In
Gosden, Chris; Crawford, Sally & Ulmschneider, Katharina (eds.). Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections. Oxford: Oxbow Books. pp. 56–67.
doi:
10.2307/j.ctvh1dqs8.9.
ISBN978-1-78297-655-4.
JSTORj.ctvh1dqs8.9.
Bell, Martin & Walker, Michael J. C. (2005). Late Quaternary Environmental Change: Physical and Human Perspectives. London: Routledge.
ISBN978-0-13-033344-5.