Alison Venetia Graham Betts is a Scottish

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and academic, who specialises in the "archaeology of the lands along the

Silk Roads The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

" and the nomadic peoples of the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

. Since 2012, she has been Professor of Silk Road Studies at the University of Sydney.

Early life and education

Betts was born and raised in Scotland. She is the daughter of Ursula Graham Bower, an anthropologist, and

Frederick Nicholson Betts Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Nicholson Betts (25 October 1906 – 22 August 1973) was a coffee plantation manager, British Indian Army officer, a political agent, and an ornithologist. Biography F. N. Betts (known to friends and family as "Tim" ...

, 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. Her doctoral thesis was submitted in 1986 and was titled "The prehistory of the basalt desert, Transjordan: an analysis".

Academic career

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 Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

in Levantine archaeology at the University of Sydney. By 2010, she had been promoted to senior lecturer. In 2012, she was appointed Professor of Silk Road Studies. Betts has excavated in the

and in Central Asia, including directing excavations in Eastern Jordan, in Uzbekistan, and in Xinjiang, China. Her research is mainly focused on the Bronze Age, archaeology of the Levant, archaeology of the

, and nomadic pastoralism of the Near East. 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"; the Petrie Oration is an "annual public lecture sponsored by the Australian Institute of Archaeology on ancient world archaeology".

Honours

In 2010, Betts was elected a

Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

(FAHA), the top learned academy in Australia for the humanities. On 13 October 2016, she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betts, Alison Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British women archaeologists Archaeologists of the Near East Scottish prehistorians Academic staff of the University of Sydney Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Alumni of the UCL Institute of Archaeology Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of Queen's University Belfast Scottish women academics Scottish archaeologists Alumni of the University of London