Lyndelle Webster

BSc, BEng, MA, MRes, PhD

Lyndelle Webster

BSc, BEng, MA, MRes, PhD
  • Postdoctoral Researcher
  • RG »Prehistoric Phenomena«
  • RG »Archaeology of the Levant«

Biographical sketch

Lyndelle is an archaeologist with a background in the natural sciences and engineering. Her research is situated in archaeometry, where she specialises in scientific dating methods and soil micromorphology. In addition to her Masters and PhD in archaeology (Macquarie University, 2016; University of Vienna and Macquarie University, 2021), Lyndelle holds a BSc in Physics (Australian National University, 2005), and a BEng (University of Melbourne, 2007). The development of radiocarbon-based site chronologies with the aid of Bayesian modelling is a key focus of her research, in which she collaborates with a wide variety of excavation projects, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean and Balkan regions. Lyndelle’s PhD dissertation was the first comprehensive 14C-based analysis of Late Bronze Age chronology in the southern Levant, including the generation of large new datasets and a fresh examination of multiple long-running chronological debates. In her post-doctoral research, Lyndelle has focused on radiocarbon dating challenging materials, as well as on integrated studies of archaeological deposits using micro-scale methods.  Her Post-DocTrack Fellowship involved the pilot study ‘Direct Radiocarbon Dating of Egyptian and Egyptian-style Straw-Tempered Pottery’ in which she tested methods to separate and date fragments of straw temper preserved in pottery, as well as in mudbrick and daub. Lyndelle’s current research focuses particularly on the integration of soil micromorphology, radiocarbon dating and other micro-scale techniques to elucidate the nature and formation of archaeological deposits, and thereby help to address central questions in settlement archaeology. The FWF Esprit project (2023–) will apply this approach to study the development of early Neolithic settlement along the Vardar-Morava river corridor in Serbia and North Macedonia.

Research Projects

Research interests

  • Development of radiocarbon-based site chronologies with the aid of Bayesian modelling
  • Soil micromorphology applied to settlement archaeology
  • Radiocarbon dating of challenging materials (e.g. plaster, tempered ceramics)
  • Archaeology of the Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages
  • Ancient water systems

 

Publications