Dr Gillian Shepherd is Director of the Trendall Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies, La Trobe, Australia specialising in the Greek colonisation of Italy and Sicily. 

Current Research

Dr Shepherd researches in Ancient Greek colonisation, tracking cultural self-definition, emerging hierarchies, and relations with the mother city and the indigenous population through examination of burials, sanctuaries and dedications. She is interested in the historiography of colonisation, especially the effect of the British empire on approaches to ancient colonial practice. In her role as Institute Museum Curator, she is involved with the Canopic Jar Project and the casting project with the IRC (University of Birmingham) on ancient metal vases, for which a metal replica of a Rhodian Wild Goat style stemmed dish in the Instititute's collection has been made.

Recent Publications

• "The Advance of the Greek: Greece, Great Britain and Archaeological Empires" in H. Hurst and S. Owen (eds)Ancient Colonization. Analogy, Similarity and Difference. London (2005) 23-44
• "Dead Men tell no Tales: Ethnic Diversity in Sicilian Colonies and the Evidence of the Cemeteries" Oxford Journal of Archaeology(2005) 24.2, 115-36
• "Greeks bearing Gifts: Religious Relationships between Sicily and Greece in the Archaic Period" in C.J. Smith & J. Serrati (eds) Sicily from Aeneas to Augustus. Edinburgh (2000) 55-70
• S. Crawford and G. Shepherd (eds) Children, Childhood and Society. IAA Interdisciplinary Series vol. I. Oxford, 2007