Biography
Cameron Petrie is currently the PI on the ERC-funded TwoRains project, which is investigating human-environment relationships and the impact of climate change on the Indus Civilisation. He is also overseeing FP4 on the TIGRESS project, which is exploring water availability and management in a changing monsoon climate. In addition, in October 2020, he has started the Arcadia-funded Mapping Archaeological Heritage of South Asia project, which is working in collaboration with governmental and academic institutions in Pakistan and India to map endangered archaeological heritage. He has also just had a book entitled Resistance at the Edge of Empires: The Archaeology and History of the Bannu Basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200 published by Oxbow books.
Research
Archaeology of South Asia (India and Pakistan)
Archaeology of Iran
Analysis of ceramic production and distribution
My research primarily focuses on the investigation of complex societies. I am particularly interested in the rise of complexity, the social and economic aspects of state formation, the impact that the growth of states and empires has on subjugated regions, and the relationships between humans and the environment. I have extensive field and research experience at archaeological sites dating from the Neolithic up to the medieval period in India, Pakistan and Iran, and co-direct projects in each of these countries.
I am presently involved in the following research projects in India, Iran and Pakistan:
2018-2022: TIGR2ESS - India
2015-2020: TwoRains (ERC funded) - NW India
2007–2014: Land, Water and Settlement project - NW India
2006–2010: PAK-UK Pushkalavati archaeological research project—Bala Hisar at Charsadda
2002–present: Mamasani archaeological project, Mamasani district, Fars, Iran
1998–present: Bannu archaeological project, Bannu Basin, NWFP, Pakistan
