Penelope Allison


Penelope 'Pim' Allison academic archaeologist specialising the Roman Empire and since 2015 has been professor of archaeology at the University of Leicester. She is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Life

Allison is originally from North Canterbury in New Zealand. She grew up on a sheep farm.

Career

Allison received an undergraduate degree in pure mathematics from the University of Canterbury, and her MA Honours and her doctorate in archaeology from the University of Sydney. She was a scholar at the British School in Rome, and has taught archaeology and ancient history at the University of Sydney, the Australian National University and the University of Sheffield. She has held several research fellowships, including a fellowship in the Classics faculty at the University of Cambridge and fellowships at the University of Sydney. She joined the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester as a lecturer in 2006.
She specialises in Roman and historical archaeology and has particular interests in household archaeology, and gender and space. Many of her publications relate to houses and households in Pompeii, and gender and space in Roman military forts in Germany. She is also interested in digital archaeology and how archaeological data can be spread digitally.
Doctoral students she has supervised include Steven Ellis, Katherine Huntley and Andrew Birley.

Honors and awards

Allison is a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a corresponding member of the Archaeological Institute of America.

Research

Allison's research focuses on household archaeology as well as gender and space. Her current interests have expanded to encompass households and their activities in the colonial outback in Australia and foodways material culture in the Roman and colonial worlds. She also has an interest in digital archaeology and the digital dissemination of archaeological data. This last interest can be seen in her numerous open access publications and data, including Engendering Roman Military Spaces and an online companion to Pompeian households.
She has been involved in several projects: Big Data on the Roman Table, the Kinchega Archaeological Research Project, the Libarna Household Archaeology Project, People and Spaces in Roman Military Bases, and Pompeian Houses and Households.

Publications

Books