Mr Scott Dunleavy

Position Governing Body Fellow Junior Research Fellow
School Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Archaeology
Email sgd45@cam.ac.uk
Department link Dept of Archaeology

Scott is a Research Associate on the Entangled Project based at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. His research explores the global and regional connections of southeastern Africa during the Global Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, using historical, archaeological, and ethnographic research methods, with a particular interest in sociality of trade and commercial activity and cross-cultural consumption.

Scott completed his undergraduate degree in History at Brunel University London in 2018. He first came to Cambridge to study for an MPhil in World History before continuing to a PhD in History, in both cases as a member of Wolfson College. His doctoral thesis, entitled ‘Firearm Adoption in the Societies of the lower Zambezi, 1600-1888', traced the varied ways firearms were utilised and recontextualised in the lower Zambezi valley of Mozambique through the early modern and modern periods.

Scott is a Research Associate within the ENTANGLED project, based at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. The project is focused temporally and geographically on the coastal regions of southern Africa during the Global Middle Ages (500-1500 CE), an area that represented the furthest southwestern point of the extensive Indian Ocean world. ENTANGLED employs an interdisciplinary methodology of archaeological, historical, and ethnographic analysis to explore the development of maritime economies in southern Mozambique as well as the nature and directionality of coastal-interior trade routes, and how these were situated within a global context. As a historian by training, Scott’s research within ENTANGLED is focused primarily on the analysis of early Portuguese written documentation, alongside the collection and utilisation of oral histories and traditions relating to south-central Mozambique.

What's on

Event Type (field_event_type)

Graduands wearing black gown with white shirts and bows stand together for a group photograph

Graduation Ceremony

29/03/2025 at 09.00

Graduation ceremonies are the culmination of students’ hard work and commitment, and a moment to celebrate the completion of their Cambridge degree.

An abstract painting dominated by vibrant blue, featuring intricate white scribbles and textured drips of green, orange, and red, creating a layered and dynamic composition.

Art Exhibition: 'Feel the Rhythm'

30/03/2025 at 10.00

Visit Wolfson's latest exhibition 'Feel the Rhythm' featuring work by emerging artist Fungai Benhura, winner of the Wolfson Royal Academy Schools Graduate Prize.

A partially burned book with curled, blackened pages sits on a dusty surface, surrounded by ash and debris.

Cambridge Festival - Delivering Education in Armed Conflict and Telling the Story

04/04/2025 at 17.00

Film screening of BBC Panorama Special: Saving Syria’s Children (55min) followed by panel discussion and Q&A.

Mansion House 60th Anniversary Dinner

24/04/2025 at 18.30

In celebration of its 60th anniversary year, Wolfson College is proud to be holding a black tie dinner at London’s exclusive Mansion House, courtesy of the Lord Mayor of London, Alastair King, the son of Wolfson’s former Bursar, Jack King.