Sturt Manning

Overview

Research Interests and Activities:

Aegean, Cypriot, Anatolian and east Mediterranean archaeology, classical archaeology

Complex societies, state formation and interactions

Dendrochronology/Dendroarchaeology, Radiocarbon dating and analysis - Mediterranean-Near East, N. America, Mexico and China

Climate (palaeoclimate) and archaeology/history

For publications and information, see: cornell.academia.edu/SturtWManning 

Research Focus

• Aegean Prehistory, Archaeological fieldwork (survey and excavation), Archaeological theory, Classical archaeology, Cypriot Prehistory, East Mediterranean Prehistory, e.g. landscapes, cultural connections, trade, art, chronology, and identities in Aegean, Cypriot and east Mediterranean prehistory
• Archaeological science, Dendrochronology, Dendrochemistry, Dendroclimatology, Environmental and climate change science, Radiocarbon calibration and archaeological dating - east Mediterranean, Near East, North America, Mexico and China

Publications

BOOKS:

Manning, S.W. (ed.). 2022. Critical Approaches to Cypriot and Wider Mediterranean Archaeology. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.

Kearns, C. and Manning, S.W. (eds.). 2019. New Directions in Cypriot Archaeology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Manning, S.W. 2014. A Test of Time and A Test of Time Revisited. The volcano of Thera and the chronology and history of the Aegean and east Mediterranean in the mid-second millennium BC. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Manning, S.W. and Bruce, M.J. (eds.). 2009. Tree-Rings, Kings and Old World Archaeology and Environment: Papers Presented in Honor of Peter Ian Kuniholm. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Manning, S.W., et al. 2002. The Late Roman Church at Maroni Petrera: Survey and salvage excavations 1990-1997, and other traces of Roman remains in the lower Maroni Valley, Cyprus. Nicosia: The A.G. Leventis Foundation.

Manning, S.W. 2001. The Absolute Chronology of the Aegean Early Bronze Age: archaeology, history and radiocarbon. Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology 1. Reprint (from 1995). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

SELECTED ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS 2023-2018:

Manning, S.W., Kocik, C., Lorentzen, B. and Sparks, J.P. 2023. Sever multi-year drought coincident with Hittite collapse around 1198-1196 BC. Nature 614: 719-724. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05693-y 

Manning, S.W. 2023. Dendrochronology and Archaeology. In A.M. Pollard, R.A. Armitage and C.A. Makarewicz (eds.), Handbook of Archaeological Sciences, Second Edition: 37-68. Wiley: Hoboken.  https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119592112.ch3

Atkins, C.E. and Manning, S.W. 2022. Re-survey of the anchorage at Maroni Tsaroukkas, Cyprus: defining and viewing a Late Bronze Age coastscape. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 41: 278-302. https://doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12244

Manning, S.W. 2022. Second Intermediate Period date for the Thera (Santorini) eruption and historical implications. PLoS ONE 17(9): e0274835. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274835

Manning, S.W. 2022. Climate, environment, and resources. In S. von Reden (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy: 373-391. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Manning, S.W., Lorentzen, B., and Demesticha, S. 2022. Dating Mediterranean shipwrecks: The Mazotos ship, radiocarbon dating and the need for independent chronological anchors. Antiquity 96: 968-980.

Höflmayer, F. and Manning, S.W. 2022. A synchronized early Middle Bronze Age chronology for Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 81: 1-24.

Manning, S.W., Lorentzen, B. and Hart, J.P. 2021. Resolving Indigenous village occupations and social history across the long century of European permanent settlement in Northeastern North America: The Mohawk River Valley ~1450-1635 CE. PLoS ONE 16(10): e0258555. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258555

Manning, S.W., Huey, P.R., Lucas, M.T. and Hart, J.P. 2021. Radiocarbon and Artifactual Evidence for Early 17th Century A.D. Dutch Activity at the Site of Fort Orange, Albany, New York, USA. Journal of Field Archaeology 46: 192-209.

Birch, J., Manning, S.W., Sanft, S. and Conger, M.A. 2021. Refined radiocarbon chronologies for Northern Iroquoian site sequences: implications for coalescence, conflict, and the reception of European goods. American Antiquity 86: 61-89.

Manning, S.W., Lorentzen, B., Welton, L., Batiuk, S., Harrison, T.P. 2020. Beyond megadrought and collapse in the Northern Levant: The chronology of Tell Tayinat and two historical inflection episodes, around 4.2ka BP, and following 3.2ka BP. PLoS ONE 15(10): e0240799. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240799.

Manning, S.W., Wacker, L., Büntgen, U., Bronk Ramsey, C., Dee, M.W., Kromer, B., Lorentzen, B. and Tegel, W. 2020. Radiocarbon offsets and old world chronology as relevant to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia and Thera (Santorini). Scientific Reports 10: 41598. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69287-2

Manning, S.W., Kromer, B., Cremaschi, M., Dee, M.W., Friedrich, R., Griggs, C. and Hadden, C.S. 2020. Mediterranean radiocarbon offsets and calendar dates for prehistory. Science Advances 6: eaaz1096. https://doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz1096

Manning, S.W. 2019. Environment and Sociopolitical Complexity on Prehistoric Cyprus: Observations, Trajectories, and Sketch. In C. Kearns and S.W. Manning (eds.), New Directions in Cypriot Archaeology: 99-130. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Fisher, K.D., Manning, S.W. and Urban, T.M. 2019. New Approaches to Late Bronze Age Urban Landscapes on Cyprus: Investigations at Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios, 2012-2016. American Journal of Archaeology 123: 473-507.

Griggs, C., Kocik, C., Urban, T.M. and Manning, S.W. 2019. Dendrochronology of Swift Water Place and Other Tree-Ring Samples from Northwest Alaska. In D.D. Anderson and W.W. Anderson (eds.), Life at Swift Water Place: Northwest Alaska at the threshold of European contact: 129-153. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.

Urban, T.M., Rasic, J.T., Alix, C., Anderson, D.D., Chisholm, L., Jacob, R.W., Manning, S.W., Mason, O.K., Tremayne, A.H., Vinson, D. 2019. Magnetic detection of archaeological hearths in Alaska: a tool for investigating the full span of human presence at the gateway to North America. Quaternary Science Reviews 211: 73-92.

Manning, S.W., Birch, J., Conger, M.A., Dee, M.W., Griggs, C., Hadden, C.S., Hogg, A.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Sanft, S., Steier, P., Wild, E.M. 2018. Radiocarbon re-dating of contact-era Iroquoian history in northeastern North America. Science Advances 4: eaav0280.

Manning, S.W., Smith, A.T., Khatchadourian, L., Badalyan, R., Lindsay, I., Greene, A., Marshall, M. 2018. A new chronological model for the Bronze and Iron Age South Caucasus: radiocarbon results from Project ArAGATS, Armenia. Antiquity 92: 1530-1551.

Manning, S.W. 2018. Events, Episodes and History: Chronology and the Resolution of Historical Processes. In L. Nevett and J. Whitley (eds.), An Age of Experiment: Classical Archaeology Transformed (1976-2014): 119-137. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

Manning, S.W. and Fisher, K.D. 2018. Locating the Late Bronze Age peasant in Cyprus? In L. Hulin, L. Crewe and J.M. Webb (eds.), Structures of Inequality on Bronze Age Cyprus. Studies in Honour of Alison K. South: 121-138. Nicosia: Astrom Editions.

Urban, T.M., Bustos, D., Jakeway, J., Manning, S.W., Bennett, M.R. 2018. Use of magnetometry for detecting and documenting multi-species Pleistocene megafauna tracks at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, U.S.A. Quaternary Science Reviews 199: 206-213.

Manning, S.W., Griggs, C., Lorentzen, B., Bronk Ramsey, C., Chivall, D., Jull, A.J.T., Lange, T.E. 2018. Fluctuating radiocarbon offsets observed in the southern Levant and implications for archaeological chronology debates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115: 6141-6146.

Manning, S.W. 2018. Some Perspectives on the Frequency of Significant, Historically Forcing Drought and Subsistence Crises in Anatolia and Region. In E. Holt (ed.), Water and Power in Past Societies: 279-295. IEMA Proceedings, volume 7. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Manning, S.W. 2018. The Development of Complex Society on Crete: The Balance between Wider Context and Local Agency. In A.R. Knodell and T.P. Leppard (eds.), Regional Approaches to Society and Complexity: 29-58. Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology 15. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.

In the news

• Manning honored for contributions to archaeology
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• Townsend lecturer explores Anatolian origins of European literature
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• Radar, AI identify Alaska Native Spanish flu victims burial site
• Rare drought coincided with Hittite Empire collapse
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• A 'freedom church' unearths its Underground Railroad history
• New timeline clarifies Indigenous history in Mohawk Valley
• Researchers link ancient wooden structure to water ritual
• Archaeologists: Ancient people in Turkey adapted to climate change
• Revised tree ring data confirms ancient Mediterranean dates
• New book chronicles complexities of Roman storage
• Crossing boundaries: Cornell’s thriving research ecosystem
• Fine-tuning radiocarbon dating could ‘rewrite’ ancient events
• Maize, not metal, key to native settlements’ history in NY
• ‘Ghost’ footprints from the Pleistocene made visible
• First Rural Humanities showcase spotlights Cornell-community projects
• Three at Cornell receive NEH grants
• New study upends timeline of Iroquoian history
• Seven projects awarded 2018 digitization grants
• A&S faculty to consider new revised curriculum proposal
• New radiocarbon cycle research may alter history
• Einaudi Center announces grant recipients
• Arts & Sciences students use tree-ring dating at UNESCO site
• How Hobby Lobby damaged history
• Renowned Vatican Latinist joins classics faculty
• Cornell-led research resolves long-debated Mesopotamia timeline
• Humanists offer critical perspective on climate change