Archaeology, University of Birmingham
Thesis title:
This study applies an osteological and histological approach (using micro-CT scanning) to human bone from Early Neolithic sites (c. 3800-3400 BCE) from southern Britain to better understand early mortuary processes, body treatments, and bone environments. This sample includes well-known chambered tomb and causewayed enclosures sites and less-studied human remains from un-chambered earthen mounds and pit contexts. 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 can provide new information about early postmortem mortuary processes and bone environments. By studying human bone from a range of contexts, this study offers a unique understanding of body treatment processes and châines operatoires applied to human bodies from a range of contexts which could provide important new insights to answer questions about Early Neolithic social structures, identity, and memory.
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'
Mortuary archaeology, human osteology, Early Neolithic, British prehistory, monumental archaeology, heritage management