Richard Hodges (archaeologist) - Research and Career

Research and Career

In his influential work Dark Age Economics (1982) he cited extensive archaeological evidence for a network of trade outposts called emporia that encircled the North Sea. These emporia rose and flourished between the 7th and 9th centuries, and varied from simple settlements of no more than a dock and several warehouses to complex settlements with gridded streets and permanent populations such as those found at Dorestad and Quentovic. After increased Viking activity in the later half of the 9th century, nearly all emporia were either absorbed into better-defended settlements nearby or abandoned. He has subsequently developed and expanded on this hypothesis in more recent works such as, Mohammed Charlemagne and the origins of Europe (1983), The Anglo-Saxon Achievement (1989) and Towns and Trade in the Age of Charlemagne (2000).

He has taught archaeology at University of Sheffield, the University of Siena (Italy), and the University of Copenhagen. From 1988-1995 he served as Director of the British School at Rome. He became head of the Prince of Wales' Institute of Architecture in 1996.

In late 2007, Hodges was appointed Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. In June 2011, Hodges announced that he planned to fulfill his 5-year contract as Williams Director but would step down effective June 30, 2012; at the time of this announcement, he was "in the running" to become the president of a European academic institution. If that position was not offered to him, he planned to return to the University of East Anglia.

As of July 1, 2012, Hodges has taken up the position of president of the American University of Rome.

Hodges has excavated in Italy, at San Vincenzo al Volturno, and in Albania, at Butrint.