Professor Jonathan Benjamin

Professor

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

place Humanities (234a)
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Dr Jonathan Benjamin FSA is a specialist in the archaeology of submerged landscapes, Pleistocene-Holocene transitions and applied methods in Maritime and Underwater Archaeology. Dr Benjamin's research interests include past human transitions and cultural migrations, the inundation of coastal sites and resulting impacts on past societies, 3D site recording and the advancement of method in maritime and underwater archaeology. Jonathan has undertaken various aspects of terrestrial, aerial and underwater archaeological research across a wide temporal spectrum from prehistoric, classical and historical periods in Britain, Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Israel, Denmark, as well as pre and post-contact sites in North America and Australia. He is an expert in diver-based photographic and photogrammetric recording of underwater archaeological sites. As a member of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action 'SPLASHCOS' (2009 - 2013) Jonathan was an Early Stage Researcher and was lead editor of Submerged Prehistory (2011). Before joining Flinders Jonathan was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh (History, Classics and Archaeology) and worked for Wessex Archaeology Coastal & Marine, based in Scotland. Jonathan joined Flinders University in 2014 and served as Co-Chair of the UNESCO UNITWIN Network for Underwater Archaeology from 2015 - 2018. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (London), and was the Lead CI for the ARC Discovery Project: Deep History of Sea Country: Climate, Sea Level and Culture (DP1700100812). In 2023 he was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship (FT230100462).

Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy, Archaeology, University of Edinburgh (2007)
Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, University of California Los Angeles (2000)
Honours, awards and grants

Flinders University CHASS Research Excellence Award (2020)

Deep History of Sea Country: Climate Sea Level and Culture (ARC Discovery Project DP170100812), Lead CI

European Union / Europa Nostra Prize for Heritage (2017): Category Education, Training, Awareness Raising: Project SAMPHIRE, Funded by the Crown Estate (UK), Marine Stewardship Fund (2013-2015), Lead CI

Submerged Prehistory (Oxbow Books 2011): 'Highly Commended' Keith Muckelroy Award, Best published work in Maritime Archaeology

Key responsibilities

Maritime Archaeology Program Coordinator 2020 - current

Research Higher Degree Coordinator (Archaeology): 2016 - 2018

Honours Coordinator (Archaeology): 2016 - 2019

Seminar Series Coordinator (Archaeology): 2016 - 2018

Teaching interests

Archaeology; Submerged Landscape Archaeology; Coastal and Marine Archaeology; Digital Archaeology; Scientific Diving

Topic coordinator
ARCH8151 History, Theory and Issues in Maritime and Underwater Archaeology
ARCH8152 Maritime Archaeological Field School
ARCH8153 The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes
ARCH8156 Advanced Maritime Archaeology Fieldwork Practicum
ARCH8157 Methods in Underwater Archaeology
ARCH3208 History, Theory and Issues in Maritime and Underwater Archaeology
Supervisory interests
Archaeology
Maritime archaeology
Prehistoric archaeology
Underwater cultural heritage
Higher degree by research supervision
Current
Principal supervisor: Submerged Landscape Archaeology (2)
Associate supervisor: Coastal Archaeology, Marine Resource Exploitation (1), Maritime Archaeology (3)
Higher degree by research student achievements
Katarina Jerbić

HFFDR Scholarship for Doctoral Research in Underwater Archaeology - MAR 2016

John McCarthy

Best Paper (Overall): AIMA 2019 - OCT 2019

Omaima Eldeeb

Best Paper (Student): AIMA 2019 - OCT 2019

Omaima Eldeeb

HFFDR Scholarship for Doctoral Research in Underwater Archaeology - JUN 2016