Dr Seren Griffiths
Senior Lecturer
My profile
Biography
Academic and professional qualifications
Seren is a heritage specialist and archaeologist. She researches public archaeology and heritage practice using interdisciplinary methods, she has period specialisms in European prehistory, with methodological specialisms in archaeological science. She is a 2020 BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker.
She is PI on the AHRC-funded £937, 000 project ‘TIME’, leading an international team.
Though still an Early Career Researcher, she has over 52 peer-reviewed (since 2011) and 85 ‘grey literature’ publications (since 2007).
In 2018, she was the youngest person to deliver the Golson Lecturer at Australian National University, spoke at the Hay Literary Festival, and delivered two conference plenary papers. In 2020, she delivered a prestigious research colloquium at Kiel University, Germany.
She was educated at Oxford University (MA (Oxon) and MSc) and Cardiff University (PhD).
She was CoI on an AHRC/EPSRC-funded project producing an immersive augmented reality and virtual reality app about the public archaeology landscape project I direct at Bryn Celli Ddu.
She has current research collaborations in Europe in Norway, France, Belgium, Germany, Albania and Spain, as well as in America and Australia.
She has worked in the field in Iran, South Africa, Albania, Ireland, and France, and in post-excavation in Germany, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Romania and Serbia. Her scientific dating research, has worked on sites spanning from the Late Upper Palaeolithic to Medieval. In commercial practice in the UK, she worked on major infrastructure projects in the field and in post-excavation including Cross Rail, the South Wales Gas Pipeline, road schemes including the A2 and A30, and major urban projects in Oxford, Stafford, Winchester, Bristol, Southampton and London as well as on commercial projects in France and Ireland.
Expert reviewer for external funding bodies
Peer review and editorial
I have peer-reviewed for journals including PLoS ONE, Antiquity, European Journal of Archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Archaeological Journal, Environmental Archaeology, Quaternary International, Quaternary Geochronology, Journal of Archaeological Science, Radiocarbon, Internet Archaeology, and AP: Online Journal in Public Archaeology.
Research outputs
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Books (authored/edited/special issues)
Griffiths, S. (2025) From Newgrange to Stonehenge: the times of people, places and practices 3500–1500 BCE/BC in Britain and Ireland. Bloomsbury.
Griffiths, S. (2022) Scientific Dating in Archaeology. Studying Scientific Archaeology.
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Chapters in books
Hijazi, S., Mainprize, C., Wareham, M., Bramble, S., Edwards, B., Griffiths, S. (2019) 'Public Archaeology at Bryn Celli Ddu: Sharing Prehistory.' In Williams, H., Pudney, C., Ezzeldin, A. (ed.) Public Archaeology. Arts of Engagement. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 81-90.
Griffiths, S. (2019) 'Afterword: public archaeology, arts of engagement.' In Williams, H., Pudney, C., Ezzeldin, A. (ed.) Public Archaeology: Arts of Engagment. Oxford: ArchaeoPress, pp. 268-269.
Griffiths, S. (2018) 'Time and Temporality.' The Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
Bayliss, A., Cartwright, C., Cook, G., Griffiths, S., Madgwick, R., Marshall, P., Reimer, P. (2017) 'Rings of fire and Grooved Ware settlement at West Kennet, Wiltshire.' In Bickle, P., Cummings, V., Hofmann, D., Pollard, J. (ed.) The Neolithic of Europe: Papers in Honour of Alasdair Whittle. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 249-278.
Griffiths, S. (2016) 'Beside the ocean of time: a chronology of Neolithic burial monuments and houses in Orkney.' The development of Neolithic house societies in Orkney. Oxford: Windgatherer, pp. 254-301.
Bayliss, A., Healy, F., Whittle, A., Germany, M., Griffiths, S., Hamilton, D., Hingam, T., Meadows, J., Shand, G., Jones, S., Allen, M., Wysocki, M.P. (2011) 'The Greater Thames estuary.' In Whittle, A., Healy, F., Bayliss, A. (ed.) Gathering Time: dating the Early Neolithic enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 348-346.
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Journal articles
Dunne, J., Szilágyi, M., Casanova, E., Griffiths, S., Knowles, T.T.J., Evershed, R.P., Hofmann, D. (2023) 'The Milky Way: Mobility and Economy at the Turn of the 3rd Millennium in Southern Central Europe.' Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 89pp. 23-50.
Jones, A.M., Griffiths, S., Brunning, R. (2023) 'The Early Bronze Age Log Coffin Burials of Britain: The Origins and Development of a Burial Rite(s).' Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 89pp. 51-81.
Edwards, B., Miket, R., Griffiths, S. (2023) 'The excavation of an Early Neolithic Enclosed Farmstead at Threefords North, Milfield, Northumberland.' Archaeologia aeliana, or, Miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity, 6th Series(1) pp. 1-48.
Ray, K., Thomas, J., Overton, N., Griffiths, S., Hoverd, T., Allen, M.J., Barclay, A., Birchenall, J., Challinor, D., French, C., Healey, E., Ixer, R., Roseveare, A., Roseveare, M., Rovira, I.G., Stanford, A., Wiltshire, I. (2023) 'Dorstone Hill: A Neolithic timescape.' Antiquity, 97(394) pp. 869-886.
Johnston, P., Booth, T., Carlin, N., Cramp, L., Edwards, B., Knight, M.G., Mooney, D., Overton, N., Stevens, R.E., Thomas, J., Whitehouse, N., Griffiths, S. (2023) 'The organics revolution: new narratives and how we can achieve them.' World Archaeology, 54(3) pp. 447-463.
Griffiths, S. (2023) 'Events, narrative and data: why new chronologies or ethically Bayesian approaches should change how we write archaeology.' Journal of Social Archaeology,
Griffiths, S., Brown, L., Carlin, N., Evans, T., Gaydarska, B., Hannah, E., McKeague, P. (2023) 'RADIOCARBON, BIG DATA and INTERNATIONAL HERITAGE.' Radiocarbon,
Blinkhorn, P., Griffiths, S. (2023) 'The Vikings and the origins of wheel-thrown pottery production in ninth century England.' Archaeological journal, 180(1) pp. 104-136.
Griffiths, S. (2022) 'A cereal problem? What the current chronology of early cereal domesticates might tell us about changes in late fifth and early fourth millennium cal BC Ireland and Britain.' Environmental Archaeology,
Griffiths, S. (2021) 'Dividing the Land: Time and Land Division in the English North Midlands and Yorkshire.' European Journal of Archaeology, 25(2) pp. 216-237.
Griffiths, S., Saunders, N.J. (2021) 'Forged in Conflict: Francis Buckley, the First World War, and British Prehistory.' International Journal of Historical Archaeology,
Edwards, B., Edwards, B.B., Griffiths, S., Reynolds, F.F., Stanford, A., Woods, M. (2021) 'The Bryn Celli Ddu Minecraft Experience: A Workflow and Problem-Solving Case Study in the Creation of an Archaeological Reconstruction in Minecraft for Cultural Heritage Education.' ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 14(2) pp. 1-16.
Gearey, B., Becker, K., Everett, R., Griffiths, S. (2020) 'On The Brink Of Armageddon? Climate Change, The Archaeological Record And Human Activity Across The Bronze Age–iron Age Transition In Ireland.' Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics and Literature, 120pp. 105-128.
Griffiths, S., Edwards, B., Reynolds, F. (2020) 'Public Archaeology: sharing best practice. Case studies from Wales.' Internet Archaeology, 55
Reynolds, F., Griffiths, S., Edwards, B. (2019) 'Bryn Celli Ddu: Hannes heneb Neolithig fwyaf tradiadol Cymru.' Y Naturiaethwr, 3pp. 28-35.
Griffiths, S. (2019) '“Humming with cross-fire and short on cover”.' Internet Archaeology, (53)
Borić, D.V.S., Higham, T., Cristiani, E., Dimitrijević, V., Nehlich, O., Griffiths, S., Alexander, C., Mihailović, B., Filipović, D., Allué, E., Buckley, M. (2018) 'High-Resolution AMS Dating of Architecture, Boulder Artworks and the Transition to Farming at Lepenski Vir.' Scientific Reports, 8
Elliott, B., Griffiths, S. (2018) 'Living Mesolithic Time: Narratives, Chronologies and Organic Material Culture.' Journal of World Prehistory, 31pp. 347-365.
Strattion, S., Griffiths, S., Kogălniceanu, R., Simalcsik, A., Morintz, A., Ştefan, C.E., Dumitraşcu, V., Ramsey, C., Nehlich, O., Beavan, N., Borić, D., Whittle, A. (2018) 'The emergence of extramural cemeteries in Neolithic southeast Europe: a formally modeled chronology for Cernica, Romania.' Radiocarbon, 61(1) pp. 319-346.
Borić, D., Hanks, B., Sljivar, D., Doonan, R., Kocic, M., Bulatovic, J., Griffiths, S., Jacanovic, D. (2018) 'Enclosing the Neolithic World: A Vinča Culture Enclosed and Fortified Settlement in the Balkans.' Current Anthroplogy, 59
Griffiths, S., Robinson, E. (2018) 'The 8.2 ka BP Holocene climate change event and human population resilience in northwest Atlantic Europe.' Quaternary International, 465pp. 251-257.
Garrow, D., Griffiths, S., Anderson-Whymark, H., Stuart, F. (2017) 'Stepping stones to the Neolithic? Radiocarbon dating the Early Neolithic on islands within the ?western seaways? of Britain.' Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 83pp. 97-135.
Griffiths, S. (2017) 'We?re All Cultural Historians Now: Revolutions In Understanding Archaeological Theory And Scientific Dating.' Radiocarbon, 59pp. 1347-1357.
Griffiths, S., Gearey, B. (2017) 'The mesolithic-neolithic transition and the chronology of the ?elm decline?.' Radiocarbon, 59pp. 1321-1345.
Bayliss, A., Marshall, P., Tyers, C., Ramsey, C.B., Cook, G., Freeman, S., Griffiths, S. (2017) 'Informing Conservation: Towards 14C Wiggle-Matching of Short Tree-Ring Sequences from Medieval Buildings in England..' Radiocarbon, 59pp. 985-1007.
Richards, C., Jones, A.M., MacSween, A., Sheridan, A., Dunbar, E., Reimer, P., Bayliss, A., Griffiths, S., Whittle, A. (2016) 'Settlement Duration and Materiality: Formal Chronological Models for the Development of Barnhouse, a Grooved Ware Settlement in Orkney.' Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 82pp. 193-225.
Macsween, A., Hunter, J., Sheridan, A., Bond, J., Ramsey, C.B., Reimer, P., Bayliss, A., Griffiths, S., Whittle, A. (2015) 'Refining the Chronology of the Neolithic Settlement at Pool, Sanday, Orkney: Implications for the Emergence and Development of Grooved Ware.' Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 81pp. 283-310.
Griffiths, S., Bonacchi, C., Moshenska, G., Richardson, L.J. (2015) 'OK computer? Digital community archaeologies in practice.' Internet Archaeology,
Griffiths, S., Edwards, B., Wilson, A., Karl, R., Labrosse, F., LaTrobe-Bateman, E., Miles, H., Moeller, K., Roberts, J., Tiddeman, B. (2015) 'Small Works, Big Stories. Methodological approaches to photogrammetry through crowd-sourcing experiences.' Internet Archaeology,
Borić, D.V.S., Griffiths, S. (2015) 'The Living and The Dead, Memory and Transition: Bayesian Modelling of Mesolithic and Neolithic Deposits from Vlasac, the Danube Gorges.' Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 34pp. 343-364.
Miles, H.C., Karl, R., Roberts, J.C., Wilson, A.T., Labrosse, F., Tiddeman, B., Griffiths, S., Edwards, B., Ritsos, P.D., Mearman, J.W., Möller, K. (2015) 'Alternative Representations of 3D-Reconstructed Heritage Data.' Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 9
Griffiths, S., Hall, M.A., Marwick, B., Emery, K.M. (2015) 'Peer comment.' Internet Archaeology, (39)
Griffiths, S., Sturt, F., Dix, J.K., Gearey, B., Grant, M.J. (2015) 'Chronology and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the sub-tidal zone: a case study from Hinkley Point.' Journal of Archaeological Science, 54pp. 237-253.
Miles, H.C., Wilson, A.T., Labrosse, F., Tiddeman, B., Griffiths, S., Edwards, B., Moller, K., Karl, R., Roberts, J.C. (2014) 'Crowd-sourced digitisation of cultural heritage assets.' Proceedings - 2014 International Conference on Cyberworlds, CW 2014, pp. 361-368.
Griffiths, S. (2014) 'Simulations and outputs.' Radiocarbon, 56(2) pp. 871-876.
Griffiths, S. (2014) 'Points in Time: The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition and the Chronology of Late Rod Microliths in Britain.' Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 33(3) pp. 221-243.
Bickle, P., Bentley, R.A., Dočkalová, M., Fibiger, L., Griffiths, S., Hamilton, J., Hedges, R., Hofmann, D., Mateiciucová, I., Whittle, A. (2014) 'Early neolithic lifeways in Moravia and Western Slovakia: Comparing archaeological, osteological and isotopic data from cemetery and settlement burials of the linearbandkeramik (LBK).' Anthropologie (Czech Republic), 52(1) pp. 35-72.
Griffiths, S. (2014) 'A Bayesian Radiocarbon Chronology of the Early Neolithic of Yorkshire and Humberside.' Archaeological journal, 171(1) pp. 2-29.
Wysocki, M.P., Griffiths, S., Hedges, R., Bayliss, A., Higham, T., Fernandez-Jalvo, Y., Whittle, A. (2013) 'Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monument, Kent.' Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 79pp. 61-90.
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Conference papers
Ritsos, P.D., Wilson, A.T., Miles, H.C., Williams, L.F., Tiddeman, B., Labrosse, F., Griffiths, S., Edwards, B., Möller, K., Karl, R., Roberts, J.C. (2014) 'Community-driven generation of 3D and augmented web content for archaeology.' pp. 25-28.