Linda Hurcombe has broad interests in artefacts and material culture studies. She is especially interested in ethnographies of craft traditions, the sensory worlds of prehistoric societies and the manner in which archaeologists and anthropologists approach artefact studies. She has also worked on gender and material culture, and explored function as a concept as well as conducting functional analysis of stone tools via wear traces. Her research is characterised by the extensive use of experimental archaeology and ethnographies, providing a detailed practical understanding of how materials can be transformed into material culture. She was the founder and first director of the MA in Experimental Archaeology and has been the Head of the Department of Archaeology and is now the Director of Research Postgraduates. Fieldwork projects have been undertaken in Europe and Pakistan and in recent years she has worked with a variety of craftspeople. In association with the National Museums Scotland and a network of colleagues she led a study on touch experiences in museums using traditional and digital technologies to provide haptic experiences. She is currently writing a book on organic material culture - the 'missing majority' of prehistoric material culture – and her current research projects include working with Prof Robert van de Noort and the National Maritime Museum (Cornwall) to build a full size sewn plank boat based on archaeological finds from the Early Bronze Age.
