Dr. Penny Cunningham

Penny Cunningham is currently an Honorary Research Fellow within the Department of Archaeology at the University of Exeter. After completing a MA in Experimental Archaeology she went on to complete a PhD at the University of Exeter. Penny used experiments as a major methodological approach in her PhD thesis Food for thought: the exploitation of nuts in prehistoric Europe. Aspects of her PhD have been published in scholarly journals and books. She has also jointly edited a volume on experimental archaeology Experiencing Archaeology by Experiment (2008).

Since completing her PhD she has worked on a number of community archaeology projects. Her passion lies with developing the role of the community in adding to the body of knowledge of the profession and in the wider field of archaeology. Driven by the desire to bring practical archaeology to a wider audience utilising the transferrable skills of public participants, she has published a number of articles on community archaeology. Her work on the EU funded OpenArch project offered a different approach to community archaeology where the public’s participation is linked to Archaeological Open-Air Museums, craft specialists and experimental archaeologists to bring the past back to life.