Nick Tait

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College: College of Social Sciences and International Studies
Discipline: Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
Department: Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
Research Centre/Unit: Centre for Islamic Archaeology

Dr. Nick Tait has recently completed his PhD at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter and is part of the Centre for Islamic Archaeology. He obtained his BA in Archaeology from the University of Glasgow in 2012 and his MA in Archaeology at the University of Manchester in 2016. His PhD research, part of the ERC funded Becoming Muslim: Conversion to Islam and Islamisation in Eastern Ethiopia Project (ERC-2015-AdG BM694254), titled Archaeological Ceramics as Chronological Indicators on Islamic Sites in Eastern Ethiopia focused on the chronology and development of local ceramics from the Islamic trade centre of Harlaa, Eastern Ethiopia (7th – 15th century). His research interests more generally include the development and function of local ceramics in the western edge of the Indian Ocean trade network during the Medieval Islamic period, particularly within the Horn of Africa.

As part of his PhD research Nick participated in three field seasons on the Becoming Muslim project at Harlaa and Harar in Ethiopia (2017-2019) as well as an additional field season in 2020. He has also acted as a finds/site supervisor on both a research project (2019) and a PhD project (2020) in Bahrain. He has volunteered on a range of archaeological projects across the UK, dating from the Neolithic to the Late Medieval period.