Staff profile
| Affiliation | Telephone |
|---|---|
| Research Student in the Department of Archaeology |
Biography
Academic Background
I completed my BSc in Biological Anthropology at the University of Calgary in 2018, specializing in hominid skeletal material and human evolution. I earned my MSc in Paleoanthropology (Distinction) in 2020 from the University of Southampton, where I focused on burial practices in the Upper Paleolithic of Eastern Europe. This project solidified my interest in the burial practices of the Paleolithic world and led me to pursue my Ph.D.
Alongside my research, I am a tutorial lead in the department supporting the learning of undergraduate students in their first- and second-year modules. I have also held a series of voluntary roles within the department and the broader university community.
My research interests include burial and funerary activities, mourning, the psychological response to death and dying, sociobiological archaeology, mythology, spiritualism, and education and public outreach.
My Research
Investing in Death - Mortuary Archaeology in the Epipalaeolithic
The mortuary remains from the Southern Levantine Epipalaeolithic and earliest Neolithic represent a considerable departure from the patterns known in the Upper Palaeolithic. For this reason, this material has been of considerable interest to academics and the public alike. However, mortuary archaeology has consistently viewed burials as an object belonging to the deceased, rather than a practice engaged in by the living.
My project explores Southern Levantine Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) burials through a practice- and performance-focused lens by focusing on the behaviours and intentions of the living people rather than privileging the identity of the deceased within the grave. This model allows us to investigate the social value of various mortuary practices within these communities experiencing substantial economic, social, and technological change.
The results of this case study demonstrate the value of practice- and performance-focused models in mortuary archaeology on a broader scope and encourage the consideration of emotion and human agency in the creation of mortuary assemblages throughout history.