Museum of London Archaeology

Faculty Member, Osteology

Other Affiliations: University of Warwick, Lifelong Learning

zooarchaeologist

About

I work as a zooarchaeologist within the osteology department of Museum of London Archaeology and also a tutor in archaeology at the University of Warwick, lifelong learning centre. I am a member of the Association for Environmental Archaeology committee, term 2012-2015.

I specialise in social zooarchaeology, with a particular focus on animal burials and the different ways the deposition of animal remains inform and reflect social concepts. My research on this subject has a broad chronological range, from the Neolithic (c.4000BC) to late Medieval (c.AD1550) and is now expanding to investigate mainland European sites. I believe that within an interdisciplinary framework, zooarchaeological data can make an important contribution to archaeological research.

My own current research is based around a number of themes;

- Animal transformations and social concepts
It is important to recognise that animals, as well as being biological entities, are also social human concepts. My current research involves using a biographical approach to investigate how transformations of animals are linked to changing social concepts (i.e. the change from a living animal to food or raw materials). This is also linked to the concept of animals as material culture.

- The nature of ritual
This work draws from the interpretation of animal burials. I have argued that we need to move away from meta-level explanations of ritual, which use ritual as both a description and explanation and tend to only interpret the final act of an event, the deposition of the material. By adopting a biographical approach to the animal remains it is possible to trace the life history of a deposit and therefore move towards specific interpretations of the above ground events which created these deposits.

- Cultural change
Cultural change can often be reflected in our use of and relations to animals, be it changes in dietary habits to changing attitudes to certain species. At present, my research has concentrated on the change in animal burials between the Iron Age and Romano-British periods. I have also started to investigate how animals reflect the interactions between ‘native’ and Greek colonists in 8th-7th century BC Southern Italy, through my work with the University of Rennes Incoronata project.

- The history and development of zooarchaeology
My interest in the development of animal burial interpretations has also led to an interest in the history and development of zooarchaeology in general. I have recently completed and published the results of a survey profiling the commercial zooarchaeology profession in the United Kingdom. This research led me to develop and launch the Zooarchaeological Social Network (nicknamed zoobook), as an online resource for zooarchaeologists to collaborate and share grey literature. I am currently, with the support of ICAZ, setting up a wider ranging global survey of zooarchaeologists. 

If you would like further details of any of my research and work then please contact me.

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