Previous studies
For my Undergraduate degree I studied Archaeological Sciences BSc at Durham University. This is where I started to develop a research interest in using scientific techniques to discover more about our past.
To further my understanding I went on to the University of York and studied an MSc in Bioarchaeology. The course covered a broad range of topics including osteoarchaeology, isotopes, ancient DNA and proteomics. For my thesis, I chose to specialise in proteomics. Using zoological mass spectrometry I investigated the history of parchment use in the Medieval period.
Current Research
The overall aim of my research is to understand the movement of people in the past to give us a better understanding of who we all are, where we came from and our past interactions. Our species has been moving around the world for hundreds of thousands of years. We currently have a basic understanding of global past movements but there is still much to be learnt on the finer scale. With lots of these movements comes intentional and accidental movements of other species. The most well-known, and heavily studied, examples are domesticated animals and plants. The spread of domesticated species reveals the spread of people and ideas. However, even before animals were domesticated, we can see humans moving them. This is useful to archaeologists as human remains are not always found in excavations, therefore other material needs to be used to infer human movement and trade networks. This is traditionally conducted through comparing material cultures. This study uses another source of information: ancient DNA. My study focuses on two species, mountain hares and black rats, that have moved to places they could not have discovered naturally.
