Matthew Johnson

Matthew Johnson works on the archaeology and history of Europe and the Atlantic world. He has written six books on a range of themes, including castles, traditional houses, landscape, and an archaeology of capitalism. His best known book is Archaeological Theory: An Introduction (the third, revised edition has just appeared). He has also written articles and chapters on interdisciplinary and interpretive approaches, understanding medieval and historical archaeology, and archaeology in its cultural context (selected full-texts available via his website, https://www.anthropology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/johnson.html).

He most recently worked ‘in the field’ at Bodiam Castle and nearby houses and landscapes in southeastern England, work published in Lived Experience in the Later Middle Ages. Bodiam is an iconic site, termed a ‘fairytale castle’ by visitors. It has been a classic study in debates over society and culture in the later Middle Ages. The collaborative Anglo-American project explored the castle and its surroundings as a living landscape of people of different social classes and identities. Places like Bodiam are best understood as a series of scales, ranging from the action of washing hands in the chapel piscina through to their setting within global and postcolonial networks.