Dr Susanna Harris

Senior Lecturer (Archaeology)

telephone: None
email: Susanna.Harris@glasgow.ac.uk

Research interests

My research investigates the material culture of past societies. I specialise in the analysis and interpretation of textiles (preserved fibres and fabrics, technology, dress, iconography) using scientific, theoretical and experimental approaches. In summary:

Artefacts and material culture

Archaeological textiles, fibres and basketry

Prehistory to early medieval

Northwest Europe and central Mediterranean

Cloth and clothing

My publications include co-edited volumes ‘Textiles in Ancient Mediterranean Iconography’, ‘Wrapping and Unwrapping Material Culture: Archaeological and Anthropological Approaches’ and ‘Why Leather? The material and cultural dimensions of leather’. I I share my research through academic publications, broadcasts and social media channels such as Youtube.

Research projects

I am co-investigator of the AHRC funded project ‘Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard’, and lead investigator for ‘Fibres and Fabrics from Must Farm Bronze Age Pile-Dwelling’.

Collaborations

I work with museums, commercial archaeology units and government bodies to analyse textiles, basketry and leather from archaeological sites. In practice, my research involves the identification, recording and sampling of artefacts across a wide network of museums and archives in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Articles on the University News pages

Dr Susanna Harris

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003

Number of items: 51.

2025

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Palyvos, Aristotelis (2025) Cloth as Human Experience: Looping, Furs and Twining in the Mesolithic of Northwest Europe. In: 17th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany, Halle, Germany, 26-38 Sept 2024, (Accepted for Publication)

Sheridan, Alison, Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Husmo, Lilja (2025) The Kirtomy hat: an unique Bronze Age horse-hair hat from Sutherland. In: Kilpatrick, Kelly (ed.) Common Ground in Scottish Archaeology: Contributions in Honour of Anna Ritchie. Scottish Society for Northern Studies. (In Press)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Gleba, Margarita, Meeks, Nigel D. and Cartwrights, Caroline R. (2025) Textiles. In: Evans, C., Pollard, J. and Haughton, M. (eds.) A Book of Sites: River Great Ouse Floodplain and Mid-stream Island Investigations at Barleycroft Farm/Over, Cambridgeshire. MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: Cambridge. (Accepted for Publication)

2024

Grömer, Karina, Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Gouy, Audrey and Brøns, Cecilie (2024) A sensory perspective on high-ranked women’s dress of the 8th till 4th century BC in Mediterranean and central Europe. In: Sarri, Kalliope, Droß-Krüpe, Kerstin and Quillien, Louise (eds.) Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia. Zea Books.

Brück, Joanna, Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Henderson, Julian, Sheridan, Alison and Uckelm, Marion (2024) Material abundance, ordinary life. In: Knight, M., Ballantyne, R., Brudenell, M., Cooper, A., Gibson, D. and Robinson Zeki, I. (eds.) Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement Volume 1. Landscape, architecture and occupation. Series: CAU Must Farm/Flag Fen Basin Depth & Time. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: Cambridge. (Accepted for Publication)

Gleba, Margarita, Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Malcolm-Davies, Jane (2024) Textile analysis in Europe: current practices and future prognosis. In: Mannering, Ulla, Nosch, Marie-Louise and Drewsen, Anne (eds.) The Common Thread: Collected Essays in Honour of Eva Andersson Strand. Brepols: Turnhout, pp. 25-32. ISBN 9782503612775 (doi: 10.1484/M.NAA-EB.5.141752)

2023

Harrison, Anne, Cartwright, Caroline, Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Shearman, Fleur and Wilkin, Neil (2023) Analysis and conservation of a Bronze Age linen textile from Suffolk, UK. Archaeological Textiles Review, 65, pp. 49-63.

Davis, Mary and Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2023) Textiles in a Viking Age hoard: identifying ephemeral traces of textiles in metal corrosion products. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 48, 103796. (doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103796)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Houston, Frances and Oliver, Jason (2023) Textile from the Crannog: analyses and weave experiment of a 2/1 twill weave from Oakbank, Scotland, 400 BCE. Archaeological Textiles Review, 64, pp. 16-27.

2022

Prew, George and Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2022) United Kingdom. In: Ulanowska, Agata, Nosch, Marie-Louise and Nabais, Paula (eds.) EuroWeb National Survey of the European Textile Dress and Fashion Sectors. COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), pp. 188-197.

Caricola, I. et al. (2022) Organic residue analysis reveals the function of bronze age metal daggers. Scientific Reports, 12, 6101. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09983-3)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Brøns, Cecilie and Zuchowska, Marta (Eds.) (2022) Textiles in Ancient Mediterranean Iconography. Series: Ancient Textiles Series. Oxbow Books: Oxford. ISBN 9781789257212

Brøns, Cecilie, Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Żuchowska, Marta (2022) Introduction: Approaching textiles in ancient Mediterranean iconography. In: Harris, Susanna, Brøns, Cecilie and Zuchowska, Marta (eds.) Textiles in Ancient Mediterranean Iconography. Series: Ancient Textiles Series, 38. Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 1-17. ISBN 9781789257212

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2022) Abundance and splendour: textiles of Archaic Greek statues of young women (korai). In: Harris, Susanna, Brøns, Cecilie and Zuchowska, Marta (eds.) Textiles in Ancient Mediterranean Iconography. Series: Ancient Textiles Series, 38. Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 59-78. ISBN 9781789257212

Harris, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Gleba, M. (2022) Fibres and fabrics. In: Knight, M., Ballantyne, R., Brudenell, M., Cooper, A., Gibson, D. and Robinson Zeki, I. (eds.) The Must Farm Pile-dwelling Settlement. Volume 2: Specialist Reports. Series: CAU Must Farm/Flag Fen Basin Depth & Time. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: Cambridge. (Accepted for Publication)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2022) The value of things: Textiles in the Iron Age. In: Hahn, Hans Peter, Klöckner, Anja and Wicke, Dick (eds.) Values and Revaluations: The Transformation and Genesis of 'Values in Things' from Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives. Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 87-105. ISBN 9781789258134

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Gleba, Margarita, Meeks, Nigel D. and Cartwright, Caroline R. (2022) Textiles. In: Evans, C., Knight, M. and Pollard, J. (eds.) A Book of Sites: Prehistoric and Palaeoenvironmental Investigations at Barleycroft Farm/Over Cambridgeshire. Series: The Archaeology of the lower Ouse Valley (IV). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: Cambridge. (Accepted for Publication)

2021

Dimova, Bela, Gleba, Margarita and Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2021) Naval power and textile technology: sail production in ancient Greece. World Archaeology, 53(5), pp. 762-778. (doi: 10.1080/00438243.2021.2015428)

2019

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2019) The sensory archaeology of textiles. In: Skeates, Robin and Day, Jo (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Sensory Archaeology. Routledge: Abingdon, pp. 210-232. ISBN 9781138676299

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2019) The challenge of textiles in early bronze age burials: fragments of magnificence. In: Sabatini, Serena and Bergerbrant, Sophie (eds.) The Textile Revolution in Bronze Age Europe. Cambridge University Press, pp. 154-196. ISBN 9781108493598

Gleba, Margarita and Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2019) The first plant bast fibre technology: identifying splicing in archaeological textiles. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11(5), pp. 2329-2346. (doi: 10.1007/s12520-018-0677-8)

Hopewell, Patricia and Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2019) Blue dyed textiles in Early Iron Age Europe: accessible or exclusive? Archaeological Textiles Review, 61, pp. 24-37.

2017

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Haigh, Sarah, Handley, Adrian and Sampson, William (2017) Material choices for fibre in the Neolithic: an approach through the measurement of mechanical properties. Archaeometry, 59(3), pp. 574-591. (doi: 10.1111/arcm.12267)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2017) From value to desirability: the allure of worldly things. World Archaeology, 49(5), pp. 681-699. (doi: 10.1080/00438243.2017.1413416)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Jones, Andy Michael (2017) Beautiful Things: Textiles and Fibre Artefacts from an Early Bronze Age Cremation, Whitehorse Hill, England. In: North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles: NESAT XIII, Liberec, Czech Republic, 22-26 May 2017, ISBN 9788074943973

2016

Cameron, Ether, Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Mould, Quita (2016) The textile and animal-skin object. In: Jones, Andy M. (ed.) Preserved in the Peat: an Extraordinary Bronze Age Burial on Whitehorse Hill, Dartmoor, and its Wider Context. Oxbow: Oxford, pp. 148-156. ISBN 9781785702600

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2016) The charred textiles from the cremation deposit. In: Jones, Andy M. (ed.) Preserved in the Peat: an Extraordinary Bronze Age Burial on Whitehorse Hill, Dartmoor, and its Wider Context. Oxbow: Oxford, pp. 49-51. ISBN 9781785702600

Melton, Nigel D., Montgomery, Janet, Roberts, Benjamin W., Cook, Gordon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7206-6266 and Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2016) On the curious date of the Rylstone log-coffin burial. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 82, pp. 383-392. (doi: 10.1017/ppr.2016.5)

Sheridan, A. et al. (2016) The composite braided hair armband or bracelet. In: Jones, Andy M. (ed.) Preserved in the Peat: an Extraordinary Bronze Age Burial on Whitehorse Hill, Dartmoor, and its Wider Context. Oxbow: Oxford, pp. 75-87. ISBN 9781785702600

2015

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Gleba, Margarita (2015) Bronze Age moss fibre garments from Scotland – the jury’s out. Archaeological Textiles Review(57), pp. 3-11.

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2015) Folded, layered textiles from a Bronze Age pit pyre excavated from Over Barrow 2, Cambridgeshire, England. In: Grömer, Karina and Pritchard, Frances (eds.) Aspects of the design, production and use of textiles and clothing from the Bronze Age to the early modern era : NESAT XII : the North European Symposium of Archaeological Textiles 21st-24th May in Hallstatt, Austria. Series: Archaeolingua Main Series (33). Archaeological Alapítvány: Budapest, pp. 73-82. ISBN 9789639911673

Harris, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2015) Flax fibre: innovation and change in the early Neolithic: a technological and material perspective. In: Svenson, A. (ed.) Textile Society of America 2014 Biennial Symposium Proceedings: New Directions: Examining the Past, Creating the Future, Los. University of Nebraska Digital Commons: California, pp. 1-10.

2014

Douny, Laurence and Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2014) Wrapping and unwrapping, concepts and approaches. In: Harris, Susanna and Douny, Laurence (eds.) Wrapping and Unwrapping Material Culture: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives. Series: Publications of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (64). Left Coast Press: Walnut Creek, California, pp. 15-40. ISBN 9781611328875

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Douny, Laurence (Eds.) (2014) Wrapping and Unwrapping Material Culture: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives. Series: Publications of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Left Coast Press: Walnut Creek, California. ISBN 9781611328875

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2014) Sensible dress: the sight, sound, smell and touch of Late Ertebølle Mesolithic cloth types. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 24(1), pp. 37-56. (doi: 10.1017/S0959774314000031)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Veldmeijer, Andre (Eds.) (2014) Why Leather? The Material and Cultural Dimensions of Leather. Sidestone: Leiden. ISBN 9789088902611

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2014) Cloth culture in the Middle Neolithic of northern Italy with special reference to basketry (c.4900-4250 BC). In: Pearce, Mark and Whitehouse, Ruth D. (eds.) Rethinking the Italian Neolithic. Series: Accordia Research Papers, 13 (13). Accordia Research Institute, University of London, pp. 103-130. ISBN 9781873415405

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2014) Introduction: leather in archaeology, between material properties, materiality and technological choices. In: Harris, S. and Veldmeijer, A. (eds.) Why Leather? The Material and Cultural Dimensions of Leather. Sidestone Press: Leiden, pp. 9-21. ISBN 9789088902611

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2014) Wrapping the dead: an investigation of the Bronze Age burial mounds of southern Scandinavia through a wrapping analysis. In: Harris, Susanna and Douny, Laurence (eds.) Wrapping and Unwrapping Material Culture: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives. Series: Publications of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (64). Left Coast Press: Walnut Creek, pp. 115-134. ISBN 9781611328875

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Hoffmann, Kerstin P. (2014) From stones to gendered bodies: regional differences in the production of the body and gender on the copper age statue-Menhirs of Northern Italy and the Swiss Valais. European Journal of Archaeology, 17(2), pp. 264-285. (doi: 10.1179/1461957114Y.0000000054)

Lelong, O. et al. (2014) Wrappings of power: a woman's burial in cattle hide at Langwell Farm, Strath Oykel. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 144, pp. 65-131.

2012

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2012) From the parochial to the universal: comparing cloth cultures in the Bronze Age. European Journal of Archaeology, 15(1), pp. 61-97. (doi: 10.1179/1461957112Y.0000000006)

2011

Higgitt, Catherine, Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Cartwright, Caroline and Cruickshank, Pippa (2011) Assessing the potential of historic archaeological collections: a pilot study of the British Museum’s Swiss lake village textiles. British Museum Technical Research Bulletin, 5, pp. 81-94.

2009

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X, Rösel-Mautendorfer, Helga, Grömer, Karina and Reschreiter, Hans (2009) Cloth cultures in prehistoric Europe: the Bronze Age evidence from Hallstatt. Archaeology International, 12, pp. 22-26. (doi: 10.5334/ai.1206)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2009) Smooth and cool or warm and soft, investigating the properties of cloth in prehistory. In: Andersson Strand, E., Gleba, M., Mannering, U., Munkholt, C. and Ringgaard, M. (eds.) North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X. Series: Ancient textiles series (5). Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 140-112. ISBN 9781785701566

2008

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2008) Textiles, cloth and skins: the problem of terminology and relationship. Textile, 6(3), pp. 222-237. (doi: 10.2752/175183508X377645)

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2008) Exploring the materiality of prehistoric cloth types. In: Cunningham, Penny, Heeb, Julia and Paardekooper, Roeland (eds.) Experiencing Archaeology by Experiment: Proceedings of the Experimental Archaeology Conference, Exeter 2007. Oxbow: Oxford, pp. 81-102. ISBN 9781842173428

2007

Harris, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2007) Investigating social aspects of technical processes: cloth production from plant fibers in a Neolithic lake dwelling on Lake Constance, Germany. In: Beugnier, V. and Crombé, P. (eds.) Plant Processing From A Prehistoric and Ethnographic Perspective. Series: BAR international series (1718). Archaeopress: Oxford, pp. 83-100. ISBN 9781407302010

2006

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2006) A report on the examination of animal skin artefacts from the Bronze Age salt mines of Hallstatt, Austria. Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 17, pp. 69-76. (doi: 10.5334/pia.270)

2004

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2004) I tessuti nelle composizioni monumentali della Valcamonica nell'età del Rame. Bollettino del Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, 34, pp. 222-228.

2003

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X (2003) Representations of woven textiles in Alpine Europe during the Copper Age. In: Herring, E and Wilkins, J.B. (eds.) Inhabiting Symbols: symbol and image in the ancient Mediterranean. Series: Accordia specialist studies on the Mediterranean (5). Accordia Research Institute, University of London: London, pp. 43-84. ISBN 9781873415252

This list was generated on Mon Jun 30 15:53:46 2025 BST.

Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Edited Books | Conference Proceedings

Number of items: 52.

Articles

Caricola, I. et al. (2022) Organic residue analysis reveals the function of bronze age metal daggers. Scientific Reports, 12, 6101. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09983-3)

Lelong, O. et al. (2014) Wrappings of power: a woman's burial in cattle hide at Langwell Farm, Strath Oykel. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 144, pp. 65-131.

Book Sections

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X Preparing skins in prehistory: a review of evidence and approaches. In: Thomson, Roy and Mould, Quita (eds.) Leather tanneries: the archaeological evidence. Archetype Press for the Archaeological Leather Group: London, pp. 57-67. ISBN 9781904982616

Edited Books

Harris, Susanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-289X and Veldmeijer, Andre (Eds.) (2014) Why Leather? The Material and Cultural Dimensions of Leather. Sidestone: Leiden. ISBN 9789088902611

Conference Proceedings

This list was generated on Mon Jun 30 15:53:46 2025 BST.

Grants

2024-2025 Uncovering Scotland's Earliest Textiles, Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Personal Fellowship 3733
2020- 2024 Textiles in Ancient Mediterranean Iconography - book download, COST Action EuroWeb: European Textiles Network
2021-2024 Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Co-investigator with National Museums Scotland
2018 Looking inside the past: CT scanning ancient textiles, Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, Major Research Grant
2017-2018 Micro-Tracing British Bronze Age textiles (2200-900 BC), Carnegie Research Incentive Grant.
2015 The Representation of Clothing on Iron Age Situla Art, Vienna National History Museum, Synthesys award.
2008-2011 Cloth Cultures of Prehistoric Europe, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship.
2009 Wrapping and Unwrapping the Body – Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives, UCL Institute of Archaeology Conference Competition.
2008-2009 Cloth Cultures of Europe and Egypt in the Middle to Late Bronze Age, Alwyn Cotton Research Fellowship.

Supervision

I welcome supervision enquiries from research students with interests in:

Archaeological Textiles

Dress and Clothing

Experimental Archaeology

Archaeological Material Culture

Completed

George Prew (2019-2023) What is the role of dress in funerary performance in the context of urban emergence in Early Iron Age Central Italy? PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

International supervisions/PhD committees

Gerasimoula I. Nikolovieni (2023-2026) Fashioning dress bodies in the Neolithic Aegean; cloth production and concepts of the dressed body, JIAAW, Brown University.

Current

Celia Elliott-Minty (2021-2025) Braids: definition, recognition and survival. A journey from the Bronze Age to the Medieval. Subtitle A Taxonomy of Braids: An Explanation for Archaeologists (and others). MPhil Thesis, University of Glasgow.

Bertoli, Maria Elena
The fibre revolution in Bronze Age northern Italy: investigating textile economies in transition from plant fibres to wool
Bexultanova, Gayana
Use of plants for food, medicine and technology during the Upper Palaeolithic in Siberia.
Bibi, Bushra
The Origins of String: Fibre Technologies in the Palaeolithic.
Loudon, Nysa Noelle
The Ecology, Materials, and Aesthetics of Unusual Fibres
Milliken, Anna Catherine
The Color of Combat: Investigating the Evolution and Impact of Khaki Dye in American and British Military Uniforms

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Dr Susanna Harris

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