Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Theresa Emmerich Kamper

Personal Profile

Traditional living skills specialist with a PhD in experimental archaeology: expertise in historic and prehistoric skin tanning technologies, and clothing construction. Extensive experience in organic material culture studies, leather artefact analysis, artefact replication, implementation and presentation in both traditional and open-air museum settings as well as private group and university classroom courses.

Education

2016 PhD
Determining Traditional Skin Processing Technologies: The macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of experimental samples and archaeological finds.

Department of Archaeology University of Exeter (UK)

2011 MA
Experimental Archaeology

Department of Archaeology University of Exeter (UK)

2006 BA
Anthropology, minor in Archaeology

Fort Lewis College (Durango, Colorado, USA)

Work History

2014 - Present
Leather Artefact Analysis and Artefact Replication;
Business Owner and Lead Researcher

2013 - Present
University of Exeter;
Honorary Research Fellow Research Fellow

2004 - Present
Prehistoric Tanning Technologies & Traditional Skills Instructor; Business Owner and Lead Instructor

2009
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; Anthropology Department Research Assistant

Professional Affiliations

Society of Primitive Technology (SPT)
EXARC-ICOM Affiliated Organisation
Institute of Conservation (ICON)
Archaeological Leather Group (ALG)

Skills

English – Native Speaker
Spanish - Intermediate
Computing: Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher.

Extensive Experience in Traditional Living Skills

Multiple skin tanning technologies including, brain tan
Basketry and utilitarian plant use vegetable tan, alum taw, and rawhide
Bone, wood and stone tool construction and use
Plant and animal fibre working techniques
Construction and use of various hunting and trapping technologies

Publications

Emmerich Kamper,T. and Linda Hurcombe, 2020

Fur and Skin Processing in Prehistory: An Experimental Approach to Prehistoric Tanning Technologies. Leather 2019: Proceedings of the 11th Interim Meething of the ICOM-CC Leather and Related Materials Working Group. ICOM-CC Council of Museums

Emmerich Kamper, T., 2020

Determining Traditional Skin Processing Technologies: the macro and microscopic characteristics of experimental leather samples. In Preparation Leiden Sidestone Press

Hurcombe, L., Emmerich Kamper, T. 2016
Plant materials, hides and skins as structural components: perishable material culture and archaeological invisibility, in Hurcombe, L. and Cunningham, P (eds). The Life Cycle of Structures in Experimental Archaeology. An object biography approach, Leiden Sidestone Press, p. 59-76

Rogers, J. Daniel, Teresa Nichols, Theresa Emmerich, Maciek Latek, and Claudio Cioffi-Revilla, 2012
Modeling Scale and Variability in Human-Environmental Interactions in Inner Asia. Ecological Modelling 241:5-14. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.11.025.

Conference Presentations

Experimental Archaeology Conference - Exeter UK - March 2020
Global Bushcraft Symposium, Calgary Canada - June 2019
ICOM Leather and Related Materials Conference, Paris France - June 2019
Experimental Archaeology Conference Trento Italy - May 2019
Ancient Proteins (Proteomics) Conference Copenhagen Demark - August 2018
Paleofestival: Terzo Incontro Studio Di Archaeologia Sperimentale and EXARC Annual General Meeting - May 2018
SAA’s (Society for American Archaeology) (Skin Processing in Prehistory: An Experimental Approach to Determining Tanning Technologies) - April 2018
LLC Conference (History of Brain Tannage in the Americas) - September 2017
REARC (From Feathers to Fibres: A Functional Look at Transverse Groove Production on Pointed Bone Tools) - November 2017
Experimental Archaeology Conference Leiden Netherlands (Skin Processing in Prehistory: An Experimental Approach to Determining Tanning Technologies) - April 2017
REARC (Skin Processing in Prehistory: An Experimental Approach to Determining Tanning Technologies) - November 2016

University Presentations

Edinburgh University: Reconstruction as Research: Experimental Archaeology and Public Engagement - March 2020
Israel Museum: 1 Day Workshop on Prehistoric Tanning Technologies - March 2019
University of Haifa: (Skin Processing in Prehistory: An Experimental Approach to Determining Tanning Technologies) - March 2018
University of Tel Aviv (Skin Processing in Prehistory: An Experimental Approach to Determining Tanning Technologies) - March 2018
Oxford Department of Zoology (The Use of Fur and Skin in Prehistory and Early Historic Periods) - April 2018

Leather Analysis and Reports

State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Scythian Leather Collections - March 2020 - ongoing
Quay Branly Ethnographic Museum, Paris, North American Leather Collections - Feb 2020 - ongoing
National Museum of Denmark, Mammen and Hvilehøj Leather Objects - February 2019 - ongoing
Israel Museum, Shrine of the Book, Dead Sea Scrolls - March 2019
Israel Museum, Dry Site Leather Objects - March 2019
HUJI Hebrew University Jerusalem, Roman Era Leather Shoe - March 2018-2019
Ashmoleon Museum Oxford, Contact Period Leather ‘Cape’- November - 2017
Anasazi Heritage Centre, Dry Site Leather Artefacts - 2014
History Colorado, Dry Site Leather Artefacts - 2014
National Museum of Norway, Glacial Site Leather Shoe - 2014
National Museum of Denmark- Bog Site Leather Artefacts (Sheep Skin Capes) - 2014
MSC Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Leather Artefacts and Ethnographic Material - 2014
Assen, Bog Site Leather Artefacts - 2014
Canton of Bern Switzerland, Schnidejoch Pass Leather Artefacts - 2014
Swindon Centre for Conservation, White Horse Hill Material - 2014

Book Reviews

Post Medieval Archaeology ‘Roy Thomson & Quita Mould (ed.). Leather tanneries: the archaeological evidence’

Dr. Theresa Emmerich Kamper

Tanning & Traditional Skills