Alison Betts | |
---|---|
Born | Scotland |
Nationality | Scottish |
Title | Professor of Silk Road Studies |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Institute of Archaeology, University of London |
Thesis | The prehistory of the basalt desert, Transjordan: an analysis (1986) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | archaeology and prehistory |
Institutions | University of Edinburgh Queen's University Belfast University of Sydney |
Alison Venetia Graham Betts FSA FAHA is a Scottish archaeologist and academic,who specialises in the "archaeology of the lands along the Silk Roads" and the nomadic peoples of the Near East. [1] Since 2012,she has been Professor of Silk Road Studies at the University of Sydney. [1] [2]
Betts was born and raised in Scotland. [3] She is the daughter of Ursula Graham Bower,an anthropologist,and Frederick Nicholson Betts,an army officer and ornithologist,and has a sister,Catriona. She studied at the Institute of Archaeology,University of London,graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree,a Master of Arts (MA) degree,and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree. [4] Her doctoral thesis was submitted in 1986 and was titled "The prehistory of the basalt desert,Transjordan:an analysis". [5]
In 1986,Betts joined the University of Edinburgh as a British Academy Teaching Fellow. In 1989,she moved to the Queen's University,Belfast,where she worked as a research fellow. In 1991,she was appointed a lecturer in Levantine archaeology at the University of Sydney. [4] By 2010,she had been promoted to senior lecturer. [3] In 2012,she was appointed Professor of Silk Road Studies. [1] [2]
Betts has excavated in the Near East and in Central Asia,including directing excavations in Eastern Jordan,in Uzbekistan,and in Xinjiang,China. [2] [3] Her research is mainly focused on the Bronze Age,archaeology of the Levant,archaeology of the Silk Roads,and nomadic pastoralism of the Near East. [4] [1]
In August 2016,Betts gave that year's Petrie Oration on "Kingship and the Gods in Ancient Khorezm:new light on the early history of Zoroastrianism"; [6] the Petrie Oration is an "annual public lecture sponsored by the Australian Institute of Archaeology on ancient world archaeology". [7]
In 2010,Betts was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA),the top learned academy in Australia for the humanities. [4] On 13 October 2016,she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). [8]
The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australian Government.
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