University of Bradford

Research Assistant, Division of Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences

Other Affiliations: University of Bradford,UK, Archaeological Sciences

Research Assistant

Thesis Title: Bioarchaeological evidence for the use of psychoactive plants in the South Central Andes

About

I have an undergraduate degree in Forensic Science (University of Lincoln, 2006) and an MSc in Human Osteology and Palaeoapthology (University of Bradford, 2007). I commenced my AHRC funded PhD in October 2008.

During the course of my doctorate I have contributed to 15 modules as either a demonstrator or lecturer for modules in forensic sciences, funerary archaeology, archaeological sciences and human osteology/forensic anthropology at both undergraduate and master’s level.

In addition I use my Osteological expertise to advise Yorkshire police forces on whether bones found during the course of investigations or discovered by the public are of forensic interest.

My other interest is conflict archaeology, in particular WW1. I have been a volunteer on the finds and conservation team on the Plugstreet Project since 2010. Since 2011 I have been an associate member of No Man's Land - The European Group for Great War Archaeology.

I am interested in engaging the public in science and archaeology and have run workshops and given lectures on human osteology, Great War archaeology, Inca mummies and forensic science for school children as well as help deliver workshops on dental health and diet as part of the Wellcome Trust funded “You Are What You Ate” project.

On the 1 November 2011 I began a 21 month contract on the JISC funded "Digitised Diseases" project based at Bradford in collaboration with the Centre for Visual Computing (Bradford) and the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Museum of London Archaeology. I am involved in project administration and organisation (I rub the project blog, Twitter and Facebook pages amongst other things) and photography/3D laser scanning of pathological bones in the Bradford collections.

I am a member of the British Association for Human Identification, Society for American Archaeology, American Association for Physical Anthropologists and the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology.

Thesis abstract
Psychoactive plants have played a significant role in Andean cultures for millennia. This is evident in the archaeological record; for example the depiction of San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi) on Cupisnique vessels (c.  1000-200 BC), snuff trays and tubes from San Pedro de Atacama (c 200-900 AD) and in situ coca leaves in the cheeks of Chiribaya mummies (c. 1150-1300 AD).  A number of practices, such as coca chewing and folk healing using ayahuasca and San Pedro cactus are still practiced in parts of Peru and Ecuador.

Despite the evidence for the use of a number of psychoactive plants in Andean cultures, the use of these plants is not fully understood.  This is particularly true for plants imbibed as decoctions that do not require a specific vessel or equipment for ingestion.

A novel method for investigating the use of psychoactive plants in antiquity is the analysis of hair for drug compounds. The approach taken for this research project involves the use of liquid chromatography electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) to detect a select number of compounds, including mescaline, atropine, cocaine, and N,N-dimethyltrypamine in hair samples from Cabuza (500 - 1000 AD) populations in the Azapa Valley, Chile and Inca populations in the Rimac Valley, Peru.

This research was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.