Dr Kirsty Lilley (PhD, AFHEA, FSA Scot)
Research Assistant in Archaeology

Contact details
- Email: kirsty.lilley@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
School of History, Classics and Archaeology
William Robertson Wing
Old Medical School
Teviot Place - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
I completed my MA (Hons) Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh (2018), my MPhil in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge (2019), and my PhD at the University of Edinburgh (2024). My research interests are numerous and varied, and my studies have taken me from personhood in Neolithic and Bronze Age Scotland, to anthropological archaeology during a year abroad in Canada, and the funerary architecture of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Sardinia during my doctoral studies. I am currently a research assistant on the Geographies of Power project (co-directed by Dr Tanja Romankiewicz), which is investigating frontier dynamics and complex identities in Roman Iron Age Scotland.
I have particular expertise in the archaeology of the prehistoric central Mediterranean, namely Sardinia: my PhD applied computational and geostatistical methods, in combination with more traditional approaches, to explore the relationship between rock-cut tombs ('domus de janas'), domestic architecture, and identity and community. I am a director of the Caithness Broch Project, and co-chair the online Postgraduate Prehistory Reading Group in HCA. I love any and all archaeological fieldwork - in Sardinia, Scotland, or elsewhere - and have been a keen volunteer on several longer-term projects including Scotland's Rock Art Project (ScRAP) and the Book of Deer Project.
I taught on the undergraduate courses Archaeology 1A and 1B, and Archaeology 2A, throughout my PhD. I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Qualifications
PhD Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
MPhil Archaeology (European Prehistory), University of Cambridge
MA (Hons) Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
Research summary
My primary research areas are pre-Nuragic Sardinia, later prehistoric Scotland, social identity and personhood, and archaeological theory. I am passionate about communicating archaeology more widely, especially through community archaeology and heritage outreach, and am currently exploring the potential of storytelling techniques for research dissemination.
- Lilley, K. 2024 (in press). Feels like home? Architectural symbolism in the domus de janas rock-cut tombs of Sardinia (Italy), in M.-E. Porqueddu, M. Le Roy and V. Ard, Building under and above ground during the European Neolithic. Oxford: Archaeopress.
- Lilley, K. and X. Rubio-Campillo (in prep). Connecting traditions: assessing the effects of spatial connectivity on motif diversity in Sardinian domus de janas rock-cut tombs. Varia Anatolica. [further details TBC].
- Robin, G. and K. Lilley. (in prep). Les hypogées ornés préhistoriques de Sardaigne: approches statistiques et spatiales, in J. Sicurani (ed.), Arts et Symboles Mentre a Preistoria è a Protostoria in u Mediterraniu. Actes du colloque organisé par l’Association de Recherches Préhistoriques Corses (ARPPC) Calvi, 2023.
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Robin G., F. Soula, P. Tramoni, G. Bruniaux, K. Lilley, R. Locci, C. Lugliè, and L. Manca. 2023. L’habitat de Monte Mannu à Ossi (Sardaigne, Italie): premiers résultats des campagnes 2019 et 2021, in V. Ard et al. (ed), Pierre à bâtir, pierre à penser. Systèmes techniques et productions symboliques des Pré et Protohistoire méridionales. Toulouse: AEP.
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Robin, G., F. Soula, P. Tramoni, K. Lilley, L. Manca, and N. Canu. 2022. Les relations spatiales entre nécropoles à hypogées et établissements de plein air en Sardaigne du Ve au IIe millénaire av. J.-C.: l'exemple de Mesu 'e Montes à Ossi, in J. Sicurani (ed), Sépultures et rites funéraires. Actes du colloque organisé par l’Association de Recherches Préhistoriques Corses (ARPPC) Calvi - 2019: 79-97. Calvi: ARPPC.
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Robin, G., F. Soula, P. Tramoni, L. Manca, and K. Lilley. 2021. ‘The Dead are Watching Us’: A Landscape Study of Prehistoric Rock-cut Tomb Cemeteries in Ossi, Sardinia, Italy. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 87: 1-30.