University of Bradford

Graduate Student, Division of Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences

Thesis Title: Horses of Men & Gods: Sacrifice and Funerary Rituals in 1st Millenium AD Britain & NW Europe

About

I began my current career in bioarchaeology with the MSc programme in Human Osteology & Palaeopathology. I also studied funerary archaeology and zooarchaeology, and have additional interests in Human evolution (particularly Neanderthal - Modern Human issues) and comparative morphlogy.

My MSc dissertation -  Horses Amongst the Christians: A Biocultural Interpretation of the Human-Horse Burial and other Horse Burials in the 7th-9th cemetery at Sedgeford, Norfolk - led to my current PhD research studying the horse in AS culture, particularly in mortuary and ritual contexts.

I am interested in horse cultures generally, including Eurasian and North American cultures. I am particularly interested in the development of horse related practices in NW Europe from the Bronze Age through Medieval Period, but am concentrating currently on the Iron Age/AngloSaxon period in England.

From an osteologocal aspect I am reviewing data on horse size/types  (currently collecting data on withers heights during these periods) and on changes in the sacrum and os coxae/pelvis (collecting material for a paper on sexing and identification of castration).

I have a background in history, cultural anthropology and folklore/sagas from Eurasia and North America. I am also very interested in cultural transitions around changes in religion -- in particular the effects of Christianity and the persistence of non/pre-Christian practices and culture.

Any information about ethnographic or archaeological material on horses, horse rituals or horse burials is always of interest. Please feel free to contact me.


Forthcoming presentations:
Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth
http://www.theasa.org/conferences/asa11/timetable.shtml
13th-16th September 2011, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
Panel 14: Understanding humans understanding horses: constructed and co-created cultures.
Presentation: Who’s Buried with Who? The Horse in Human Burials in Northwest Europe:  Status Symbol, Companion, Transport or Divinity?

PUBLICATION NEWS
Horse Burial in First Millennium AD Britain: Issues of Interpretation,
European Journal of Archaeology 14 (1–2), 2011, p. 190–209 ISSN 1461-9571
-- IS NOW PUBLISHED! --
Copyright forbids posting online, but I'm happy to supply a pdf to anyone who's interested.