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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]
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 |
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]
- Khozhaniyazou, G.; Helms, S.; Betts, A. (2006). The military architecture of ancient Chorasmia. Paris: De Boccard. ISBN 978-2701801964.
- Betts, A. V. G.; Cropper, D.; Martin, L.; McCartney, C. (2013). The Later Prehistory of the Badia: Excavations and Surveys in Eastern Jordan. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1842174739.
- Betts, A.; Kidd, F., eds. (2015). Buddhist Iconography of Northern Bactria. New Delhi: Manohar Publications. ISBN 978-9350980972.
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