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Kat Ward

Archaeology, University of Birmingham

Thesis title:

Understanding Early Neolithic mortuary variation in southern Britain through integrated contextual, osteological and histological micro-CT analysis of human bone


My study uses an integrated anlaytical approach to human bone from Early Neolithic sites (c. 3800-3400 BCE) from southern Britain to better understand mortuary processes, body treatments, and bone environments. The disarticulated and comingled state of many Early Neolithic mortuary assemblages suggests mulitple phases of post-mortem body treatments which are not currently well understood. Histological analysis using micro-CT scanning combined with analysis of bone surface changes and archaeological contexts can provide new information about mortuary processes and bone environments. This study offers a unique understanding of body treatment processes by invesitgating a range of human bodies representing many types of deposition which could provide important new insights about Early Neolithic social structures, identity, and memory.


Research Area

  • Archaeology
  • Prehistoric Archaeology

Conferences

Neolithic and Bronze Age Student Symposium, April 2025, title: 'Investigating Sequence: A taphonomic approach to to understanding Early Neolithic mortuary practices using micro-CT and Reflectance Transformation Imaging'


29th Annual Meeting for the European Association of Archaeologists, August 2022, title: 'Evidence of Absence: a presence and absence case study of Early Neolithic human remains near the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, 29th Annual Meeting European Association of Archaeologists'

Other Research Interests

Mortuary archaeology, osteology, Early Neolithic, British prehistory, heritage management, UK commercial archaeology