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Alison Weisskopf

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Alison Ruth Weisskopf
Born
1960
Died11 January 2018
NationalityBritish, German
OccupationArchaeologist
Academic background
Alma materUniversity College London
ThesisVegetation, agriculture and social change in Neolithic north central China, a phytolith study (2010)
Doctoral advisorArlene Rosen
Academic work
DisciplineArchaeobotany
Sub-disciplinePhytolith analysis
InstitutionsUniversity College London

Alison Weisskopf (1960–2018) was a British-German archaeologist specialising in archaeobotany, specifically the analysis of ancient phytoliths.[1]

Education and career

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Weisskopf studied at the UCL Institute of Archaeology as a mature student. She was awarded her bachelor's degree in 2003, writing a dissertation on phytoliths from the Bronze Age site of Krasnoe Smarskoe in the Samara Valley in Russia. She went on to obtain a master's degree in palaeoecology of human societies in 2005, again analysing phytoliths as well as macro-botanical remains for her dissertation research, on the Neolithic site of Sanganakallu in Deccan, India. Her doctoral thesis was titled Vegetation, agriculture and social change in Neolithic north central China, a phytolith study.[2] It was published in the British Archaeological Reports series in 2014.[3]

After obtaining her PhD in 2010, Weisskopf held a series of research positions at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, working on the origins of evolution of rice agriculture in East and Southeast Asia.[4]

Weisskopf was diagnosed with late stage cancer in 2010 and died on 11 January 2018.[5]

Selected publications

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  • Fuller, D Q and Weisskopf, A R 2011 The Early Rice Project: from Domestication to Global Warming. Archaeology International, 13(14): 44–51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ai.1314
  • Fuller, D Q, Weisskopf, A R and Castillo, C C 2016 Pathways of Rice Diversification across Asia. Archaeology International, 19: 84–96. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ai.1915
  • Weisskopf, A R 2014 Millets, Rice and Farmers: Phytoliths as Indicators of Agricultural, Social and Ecological Change in Neolithic and Bronze Age Central China. BAR International Series 2589. Oxford: Archaeopress.
  • Weisskopf, A R, Harvey, E, Kingwell-Banham, E, Kajale, M, Mohanty, R, and Fuller, D Q 2014 Archaeobotanical implications of phytolith assemblages from cultivated rice systems, wild rice stands and macro-regional patterns. Journal of Archaeological Science, 51: 43–53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.04.026
  • Weisskopf, A R, Qin, L, Ding, J, Ding, P, Sun, G and Fuller, D Q 2015 Phytoliths and rice: from wet to dry and back again in the Neolithic Lower Yangtze. Antiquity, 89(347): 1051–1063. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.94

References

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  1. ^ "Alison Weisskopf". Google Scholar.
  2. ^ "Alison Weisskopf (1960-2018)". UCL Institute of Archaeology. 17 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Millets, Rice and Farmers Phytoliths as indicators of agricultural, social and ecological change in Neolithic and Bronze Age Central China". BAR Publishing.
  4. ^ "Alison Weisskopf (1960-2018)". UCL Early Rice Project. 5 July 2018.
  5. ^ Fuller, Dorian (16 January 2018). "In Memoriam Alison Weisskopf (1960-2018)". The Archaeobotanist.