Cranfield University

Dr Andrew J Shortland

Reader in Forensic Archaeomaterials
Location: Shrivenham campus
E: a.shortland@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1793 785642
Department of Engineering and Applied Science

Current activities

Dr Shortland founded and runs the Centre for Archaeological and Forensic Analysis.

He is academic leader for the  Forensic Masters Programmes and runs several short course in related subjects.

Clients

Harvard University, Oxford University, University of Leuven, British Museum, London, Natural History Museum, London, the Getty Institute, Bonhams, Sotherbys. Many other art history and archaeological institutes, museums and private collectors.

Background

After reading a BA in geology at the University of Oxford, Dr Shortland spent a year working in the Earth Sciences Department using Pb isotopic techniques to provenance copper and bronze objects from the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean. Exploring the cross over between science and archaeology further, he continued at Oxford to read for a masters degree in Prehistoric Archaeology, before being recruited into the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall to work for six years in a series of security related posts. On leaving the MoD, Andrew returned to Oxford to undertake research in Egyptology, receiving a DPhil for work on vitreous materials from the site of Amarna in Middle Egypt.

After a number of years as Research Fellow and then University Research Lecturer at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology in Oxford Andrew moved to Cranfield University in 2005 and established the Centre for Archaeological and Forensic Analysis.

Dr Shortland’s work now concentrates on the identification and interpretation of material culture from the ancient and historical worlds. He is particularly involved in the analysis of glass, glaze and ceramics of a wide range of dates from the fourth millennium BC to the nineteenth century AD. Beyond vitreous materials, he is involved in the application of science more widely to questions arising from art history and archaeology and increasingly forensics. Much of his work involves using the latest techiques to answer questions about valuable or historically important objects. Typically these involve queries about provenance, date, identification of past restoration or conservation and even the detection of deliberate fakes and forgeries.

Dr Shortland uses a wide variety of different analytical techniques in his work including SEM-EDS, microprobe, XRF, XRD, Raman, LA-ICPMS, PIXE and optical microscopy.

Selected publications

2010

Degryse, P., Boyce, A., Erb-Satullo, N., Eremin, K., Kirk, S., Scott, R., Shortland, A.J. Schneider, J. and Walton, M., 2010, Isotopic discriminants between Late Bronze Age glasses from Egypt and the Near East, Archaeometry, 52, 3, 380-8.

Dee, M.W., Harris, S.A., Brock, F., Shortland, A.J., Higham, T.F., Rowland, J.M., and Bronk Ramsey, C., 2010 in press, Investigating the Likelihood of a Reservoir Offset in the Radiocarbon Record for Ancient Egypt, Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, early view.

Bronk Ramsey, C., Dee, M.W., Rowland, J.M., Higham, T.F.G., Harris, S.G., Brock, F., Quiles, A., Wild, E.M., Marcus, E.S. and Shortland, A.J., 2010, Radiocarbon-Based Chronology for Dynastic Egypt, Science, 328, 1554-7.

Scott, R.B., Shortland, A.J. and Power, M., 2010 in press, The interpretation of compositional groupings in 17th century window glass from Christ Church, Oxford, Annales du 18th Congres de lAssociation Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, Thessaloniki 2009.

Shortland, A.J., Degryse, P., Walton, M., Geer, M., Lauwers, V. and Salou, L., 2010 (in press), The evaporitic deposits of Lake Fazda (Wadi Natrun, Egypt) and their use in Roman glass production, Archaeometry.

Shortland, A.J., 2010, review of Craddock, P., Scientific investigation of copies, fakes and forgeries, Burlington Magazine, June 2010, 421.

2009

Dungworth, D. and Shortland, A.J., 2009, Analysis of the glass beads, in Bowsher, J. and Miller P. (eds.), The Rose and the Globe – playhouses of Shakespeare's Bankside, Southwark: excavations 1988–91, MOLA monograph. [Shortlisted for the English Heritage “Awards for the Presentation of Archaeological Research 2010”]

Dee, M. W., Bronk Ramsey, C., Shortland, A. J., Higham, T. F. G., Rowland, J. M. and Harris, S. A.,  2009 in press, Investigating the Likelihood of a Reservoir Offset in the Reinvestigation of the Chronological Discrepancies Uncovered by the Old and Middle Kingdom Monuments Project, Radiocarbon, 51.3

Shortland, A.J., 2009, Review of Pusch, E.B., and Rehren, Th., Hochtemperatur-Technologie in der Ramses-Stadt. Rubinglas für den Pharao, Journal of Archaeological Science, 31, 184.

Tite, M.S., Maniatis, Y., Kavoussanaki, D., Panagiotaki, M., Shortland, A.J., and Kirk, S., 2009, Colour in Minoan faience, Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 370-378.

Degryse, P. & Shortland, A.J., 2009, Trace elements in provenancing raw materials for Roman glass production. Geologica Belgica, 12 (3-4), 135-143.

Shortland, A.J., 2009, The implications of lead isotope provenancing for the source of pigments in Late Broanze Age Egyptian vitreous materials, in Degryse, P., Henderson, J. and Hodgins, G., Isotopes in Vitreous Materials, Studies in Archaeological Sciences, Leuven University Press, Leuven, Belgium, 99-112.

Shortland, A. J., Freestone, I.C. and Rehren, Th. (eds.), 2009, From mine to microscope: studies in ancient technology, Oxbow Books.

Shortland, A.J., 2009, Glass production, in Wendrich, W. (ed.), UCLA Encyclopaedia of Egyptology, http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/UEE/

Shortland, A. J., 2009, The tale of a fish: a foreign glass maker at Amarna?, in Shortland, A. J. Freestone, I.C. and Rehren, Th. (eds.), From mine to microscope: studies in ancient technology, Oxbow Books, 109-114.

Walton, M., Shortland, A.J. Kirk, S. and Degryse, P., 2009, Evidence for the trade of Mesopotamian and Egyptian glass to Mycenaean Greece, Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 1496-1503.

Shortland, A.J. and Schroeder, H., 2009, Analysis of first millennium glass vessels and beads from the Pichvnari Necropolis, Georgia, Archaeometry, 51, 947-965.

2008

Tite, M. S., Pradell, T. and Shortland, A. J., 2008, Discovery, production and use of tin-based opacifiers in glasses, enamels and glazes from the Late Iron Age onwards: a reassessment, Archaeometry 50, 67-84.

Hatton, G.D., Shortland, A.J., and Tite, M.S., 2008, The production technology of Egyptian blue and green frits from second millennium BC Egypt and Mesopotamia, Journal of Archaeological Science, 35, 1591-1604

Shortland, A.J., 2008, Cuneiform glass texts: a question of meaning, in Martinon-Torres, M. and Rehren, Th.,  Archaeology, History and Science, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, USA, 61-76.

Power, M. and Shortland, A.J., 2008, Van Linge glass in the Cathedral of Christ Church, Oxford, in Proceedings of the AIHV Conference, Antwerp 2005.

Tite, M. S. and Shortland, A. J., 2008, Production technology of faience and related early vitreous materials, Oxford University School of Archaeology Monograph, Volume 72, Oxbow Books, Oxford

Tite, M.S., Shortland, A.J., Hatton, G.D, Maniatis, Y., Kavoussanaki, D., Pyrli, M. and Panagiotaki, M., 2008, The scientific exanimation of Aegean vitreous materials: Problems and potential, in Jackson, C.M. and Wager, E.C., , Vitreous materials in the Late Bronze Age Aegean, Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology 9, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 105-125.

Shortland, A.J., Eremin, K., Kirk, S. and Armstrong, A., 2008, Reassessing Bronze Age manufacturing technologies at Nuzi, Mater.Res.Soc.Symp.Proc.  1047, 217-232.

2007

Shortland, A.J., Shishlina, N., Egorkov, A., 2007, Origin and production of faience beads in the North Caucasus and Northwest Caspian region in the Bronze Age, in Lyonnet B. (ed.), Les cultres du Caucase, leurs relations avec le Proche Orient, CNRS editions, Paris, 269-285.

Shortland, A. J. Rogers, N. and Eremin, K. 2007, Trace element discriminants between Egyptian and Mesopotamian Late Bronze Age glasses, Journal of Archaeological Science, 34.5, 781-9.

Shortland, A.J., 2007, Who were the glassmakers? Status, theory and method in mid-second millennium glass production, Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 26.3, 261-74.

Tite, M. S., Manti, P. and Shortland, A. J., 2007, A technological study of ancient faience from Egypt, Journal of Archaeological Science, 34, 1568-83.

Shortland, A.J. Hatton, G.D. and Tite, M.S., 2007, Scientific examination of vitreous materials and associated ceramics, in Nicholson, P.T., Brilliant things for Akhenaten, Egypt Exploration Society, London.

2006

Shortland, A.J. and Tite, M.S., 2006, Ancient exploitation and use of cobalt alums from the Western Oases of Egypt, Archaeometry 48.1, 153-168.

Shortland, A. J. and Eremin, K. 2006, The analysis of second millennium glass from Egypt and Mesopotamia, Part 1: new WDS analyses, Archaeometry 48.4, 581-605.

Shortland, A.J., Tite, M.S. and Ewart, I., 2006, Application of lead isotope analysis to a wide range of Late Bronze Age Egyptian materials, Archaeometry 48.4, 657-71.

Shortland, A.J. Hope. C.A. and Tite, M.S., 2006, Cobalt blue painted pottery from 18th Dynasty Egypt,  in Maggetti, M. and Messiga, B. (eds) Geomaterials in Cultural Heritage, Geological Society of London Special Publications, 257, 91-99.

Tite, M. S. and Shortland, A. J., Maniatis, Y., Kavoussanaki, D. and Harris S.A., 2006, The composition of the soda-rich and mixed plant ashes used in the production of glass, Journal of Archaeological Science, 33, 1284-92.

Peltenberg, E., Shortland, A.J. and Tite, M.S., 2006, Body ornaments, including non-figurative pendants, in Peltenberg, E. (ed.), The chalcolithic Cenetery of Souskiou-Vathyrkakas, Cyprus, Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 91-102.

2005

Shortland, A.J., Schachner, L., Freestone, I.C., Tite, M.S., 2005, Natron as a flux in the early vitreous materials industry: sources, beginnings and reasons for decline, Journal of Archaeological Science, 33, 1-10.

Shortland, A.J., 2005, The raw materials of early glasses: the implications of new ICPMS analyses, in Cool, H., Annales du 16th Congres de lAssociation Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, London 2003, 1-5.

Tite, M.S., Hatton, G.D, Shortland, A.J., Maniatis, Y., Kavoussanaki, D., Panagiotaki, M., 2005, Raw materials used to produce Aegean Bronze Age glass and related vistreous materials, in Cool, H., Annales du 16th Congres de lAssociation Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, London 2003, 10-3.

Panagiotaki, M., Papzoglou-Manioudaki, L., Chtzi-Spiliopoulou, G., Mangou, E., Maniatis, Y., Tite, M. and Shortland, A.J., 2005, A glass workshop at the Mycenaean Citadel of Tiryns in Greece, in Cool, H., Annales du 16th Congres de lAssociation Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, London 2003, 14-18.

Thompson, A., Richards, M., Shortland, A.J. and Zakrzewski, S., 2005, Isotopic palaeodiet studies of Ancient Egyptain fauna and humans, Journal of Archaeological Science, 32, 451-63.

Sheridan, A., Eremin, K. and Shortland, A.J., 2005, Understanding Bronze Age Faience in Britain and Ireland, Mater.Res.Soc.Symp.Proc.  852, OO7.2., 1-13.

Shortland, A.J. and Tite, M.S., 2005, Technological study of Ptolemaic-Early Roman faience from Memphis, Egypt, Archaeometry 47.1, 31-46.

Shortland, A.J., Schachner, L., Freestone, I.C., Tite, M.S., 2005, Natron as a flux in the early vitreous materials industry: sources, beginnings and reasons for decline, Journal of Archaeological Science, 33, 1-10.

Shortland, A.J., 2005, Shishak, King of Egypt: the challenges of Egyptian calendrical chronology, in Levy, T.E. and Higham, T. (eds.), The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating, Equinox, London, 43-56.

2004

Shortland, A.J., 2004, Evaporites of the Wadi Natrun: Seasonal and annual variation and its implication for ancient exploitation, Archaeometry 46, 497-516.

Ruckstuhl, B. and Shortland, A. J., 2004, Glassperlen, in Die spätbronzezeitlichen Ufersiedlungen von Zug-Sumpf. Band 3: Die Funde der Grabungen 1923-37, (ed. Bauer, I.), Kantonales Museum für Urgeschichte, Zug, Switzerland, 306-14.

Sheridan, A., and Shortland, A.J., 2004, “…beads which have given rise to so much dogmatism, controversy and rash speculation”: faience in Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland, in Shepherd. I.A. and Barclay, G.J.  Scotland in Ancient Europe, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 263-79.

Tite, M. S. and Shortland, A. J., 2004, Report on the scientific examination of a glazed brick from Susa: Glazes, in Persiens antike pracht – Band 2, (eds. T. Stöller, R. Slotta and A. Vatandoust), 388-390, Deutschen Bergbau-Museums Bochum, Bochum.

2003

Shortland A.J., 2003, The Qurneh burial, in Ives, R., Lines, D., Naunton, C. and Wahlberg, N. (eds), Current research in Egyptology 2002, British Archaeological Reports International Series, S1192.

Tite M.S. and Shortland, A.J., 2003, Production technology for copper- and cobalt-blue vitreous materials from the New Kingdom site of Amarna – a reappraisal, Archaeometry 45.2, p285-312.

Sheridan, A. and Shortland, A.J., 2003, Bronze age faience: unravelling a myth, Scottish Archaeological News, 41, p4.

Shortland A.J., 2003, Comments on J.L.Mass, M.T. Wypyski and R.E. Stone ‘Malkata and Lisht glassmaking technologies: towards a specific link between second millennium BC metallurgists and glassmakers’, Archaeometry, 45.1, p185-189.

Sheridan, A. and Shortland, A.J., 2003, Supernatural power dressing in the Bronze Age, British Archaeology, 70, March 2003.

Shortland, A.J., 2003, To the mines of the pharaohs, Oxford Today, 15.3, p18-21

2002

Tite, M. S., Shortland, A. J., and Paynter, S, 2002, The beginnings of vitreous materials the Near East and Egypt, in Reedy, C. and Hansen, E. (eds.), Accounts of Chemical Research, 35.8, Special Issue on Archaeological Chemistry, American Chemical Society, Washington, 585-593.

Shortland, A.J., 2002, An antimony bead from Jereblus Tahtani, Historical Metallurgy, 36.1, 1-5.

Shortland, A.J., 2002, The use and origin of antimonate colorants in early Egyptian glass, Archaeometry 44.4, p517-531.

Manley, B., Eremin, K., Shortland, A.J. and Wilkinson, C., 2002, The facial reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian queen, Journal of Audiovisual Media in Medicine, 25.4, 155-9.

2001

Shortland A.J. (ed.), 2001, The social context of technological change - Egypt and the Near East 1650-1150 BC, Oxbow Books.

Shortland A.J., Nicholson, P.T and Jackson, C.M., 2001, Glass and faience at Amarna: different methods of both supply for production, and subsequent distribution, in Shortland A.J. (ed.), The social context of technological change - Egypt and the Near East 1650-1150 BC, Oxbow Books, p147-61.

Shortland A.J., 2001, Social influences on the development and spread of glass and glazing technologies, in Shortland A.J. (ed.), The social context of technological change - Egypt and the Near East 1650-1150 BC, Oxbow Books, p211-223.

Tite, M. S., Shortland, A. J., and Paynter, S, 2001, The beginnings of glass and glazed pottery production in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, in Reedy, C. and Hansen, E. (eds.), Theory building in studies of technological innovation and style, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles.

Shortland A.J. and Doherty, C.J., 2001, Comments on ‘A geomorphological study of the Giza Necropolis with implications for the development of the site’, Archaeometry, 43.1, p159-161.

2000

Shortland, A.J. and Tite, M.S., 2000, Raw materials of glass from Amarna and implications for the origins of Egyptian glass, Archaeometry, 42.1 , p141-53

Shortland, A.J., Nicholson, P.T and Jackson, C.M., 2000, Lead isotopic analysis of 18th dynasty Egyptian eyepaints and lead antimonate colorants, Archaeometry 42.1, p153-9

Shortland, A.J., 2000, The number, extent and distribution of the vitreous materials workshops at Amarna, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 19.2, p115-34

Shortland, A.J., 2000, Vitreous materials at Amarna: the production of glass and faience in 18th dynasty Egypt, British Archaeological Reports International Series S827.

Shortland A.J., 2000. When, how and where – the application of science to Egyptology, in McDonald, A and Riggs, C., Current research in Egyptology 2000, British Archaeological Reports International Series 909, p90-6.

Shortland A.J., 2000, Depictions of glass vessels in two Theban tombs and their role in the dating of early glass, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 86, p159-61.

1998

Shortland, A.J. and Tite, M.S., 1998, The interdependence of glass and vitreous faience at Amarna, The Prehistory and History of Glassmaking Technology, The American Ceramics Society, USA, p251-268.

Tite, M.S., Shortland, A.J., Nicholson, P.N. and Jackson, C., 1998, The use of copper colorants in vitreous material in ancient Egypt, in Colinart, S. and Menu, M. (ed.), La couleur dans la peinture at l’émaillage de L’Égypte ancienne, Centro Universitario Europeo per I beni culturali, Ravello, p111-121.

Shortland, A.J., 1998, The beauties of hereafter, review of Friedman, F.D., 1998, Gifts of the Nile, Thames and Hudson, in Times Higher Education Supplement, 4 December 1998, p.27.