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Dr Ian Matthews

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Ian Matthews is a lecturer in Physical Geography with principal research interests in environmental archaeology, geochronology and palaeoecology.
Ian completed his BSc in Geography from Royal Holloway University of London in 2002, an MSc in Quaternary Science in 2003 and a PhD focused on applying tephrochronology to wetland archaeology in 2008. After finishing his PhD, Ian briefly undertook a Postdoctoral research position extending the scope of his PhD research before being appointed as a lecturer in Geography at Royal Holloway in January 2009.
Ian’s research is focused on three main areas: Geochronology, Environmental archaeology, and palaeoecology. In particular he is focused on constraining and testing human-environment interactions in European wetlands through high-precision geochronological techniques. Although his recent work has focussed on Holocene palaeoenvironments Ian also researches abrupt climate change in a variety of contexts including the North Atlantic seaboard and the central Mediterranean. Foremost in his research is the generation of robust palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data constrained by precise and accurate chronologies.

Ian is a member of two collaborative research ventures, these are:

• RHOXTOR which is the Royal Holloway and OXford TephrochrOnology Research network.  It was inaugurated in 2008 to create an integrated focus group dedicated to the analysis and application of tephra studies, with special application to Europe, North Africa and adjacent seas and to the Quaternary stratigraphical record. It brings together colleagues with tephrochronological, volcanological and related expertise from the departments of Earth Sciences and Geography, at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the Department of Earth Sciences and the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), at the University of Oxford. Website - (http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/rhoxtor/embed.php?File=index.html)
• Wetland ALLIANCE which is the wetland Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Research Network.  This group contains members from several institutions and commercial groups and aims to create a forum for research into wetland archaeology and highly resolved records of past environmental change.

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