Dr Steve Mills

Position:Lecturer in IT Applications

Email:millssf1@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone:+44 (0)29 208 75655
Fax:+44 (0)29 208 74929
Extension:75655
Location:Room 4.27

Research Interests

Sound recording during PhD in Romania study area

Auditory Archaeology: An approach that studies the important influence and significance of the sound environment in past daily life. Auditory archaeology was developed as a set of techniques and principles during AHRB-funded doctoral research in the Teleorman River Valley Neolithic landscape, Romania. The approach has been applied at Çatalhöyük, Turkey, a Neolithic settlement tell in a different landscape setting to the Romanian case study and which benefits from the presence of excavated and reconstructed prehistoric buildings. Recent research within a post-medieval (1750 - 1900 AD) mining landscape in Cornwall applies the techniques developed in auditory archaeology in the existing framework and context of Historic Landscape Characterisation developed by English Heritage. A pilot project has been completed, please visit the project webpages: Applying auditory archaeology to Historic Landscape Characterisation.

Măgura Past & Present project artwork. © 2011 Măgura Past and Present project.

Neolithic of south-east Europe: Southern Romania Archaeological Project (SRAP). A multi-disciplinary, international collaboration to examine trends in Neolithic and Eneolithic (6000-3600 BC) land-use, settlement patterns and river dynamics centred on Măgura village in the Teleorman River Valley, 85 km southwest of Bucureşti, Romania.

Drawing on SRAP research, the EU funded Măgura Past & Present project uses artistic and scientific interventions, exhibitions, workshops, conferences, publications and a website to integrate the local community, artists and scientists in the research, presentation and promotion of Măgura’s heritage.

3D representation of Romanian Neolithic pit-features

New Media and the senses: the role of new digital technologies for investigating and representing (pre)historic and modern sensoriums. This research is a collaboration with Professor Ruth Tringham, Dept. of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. Please visit our blog to find out more about Remediated Places.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS): the application of GIS to surveyed and excavated archaeological features that integrates field, laboratory and post-excavation data. This provides an integrated computer environment that can be used to analyse, interpret and disseminate the spatial relationships prevalent in the varied data-sets generated during archaeological field projects.

Selected Publications

Mills, S. (ed.) 2011. Interventions: Măgura past & present. Bucureşti: Renaissance.

Interventions: Măgura Past & Present (ed. S. Mills) [14.8 Mb]

Mills, S. and Mirea, P. (eds) 2011. The Lower Danube in prehistory: landscape changes and human-environment interactions. Proceedings of the international conference, Alexandria, 3-5 November 2010. Bucureşti: Renaissance. [Online] Available at: http://www.muzeulteleorman.ro/publicatii%20The%20lower%20Danube%20in%20Prehistory.html [Accessed 14/06/2011].

Mills, S. 2011. The potential of Historic Landscape Characterisation for the Lower Danube region. In S. Mills and P. Mirea (eds), The Lower Danube in prehistory: landscape changes and human-environment interactions. Proceedings of the international conference, Alexandria, 3-5 November 2010, 203-219. Bucureşti: Renaissance.

Mills, S. in prep. New survey and GIS investigation of the Battle Moss multiple stone row alignments. In A. Baines, K. Brophy and A. Pannett (eds), 'Megalithic overkill': the multiple stone rows of Caithness and Sutherland in their context. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland monograph series.

Mills, S. 2010. The contribution of sound to archaeology. In E. Ţânţăreanu (ed.), Buletinul Muzeului Judeţean Teleorman. Seria Arheologie 2, 179-195. Bucureşti: Renaissance.

Mills, S. 2009. High-resolution study and raster interpolation of early Neolithic pit features at Măgura 'Buduiasca' Teleorman County, Southern Romania. In E. Ţânţăreanu (ed.), Buletinul Muzeului Judeţean Teleorman, Vol 1, 55-66. A PDF version of this article is available:

High-resolution study and raster interpolation of early Neolithic pit features at Măgura 'Buduiasca' Teleorman County, Southern Romania [2.5 Mb]

Mills, S. 2005. Sensing the place: sounds and landscape archaeology. Chapter in (un)settling the Neolithic. pp 79-89. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Mills, S. 2005. Auditory archaeology at Çatalhöyük. Çatalhöyük 2004 archive report.[Online] Available at: http://www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_reports/2004/ar04_40.html [Accessed 29/06/2011].

Bailey, D.W., Andreescu, R., Howard, A.J., Macklin, M.V. and Mills S 2002. Alluvial landscapes in the temperate Balkan Neolithic: transitions to tells. Antiquity, Vol 76, pp 349-355.

For a full list of publications please see the following document: