I grew up under the shadow of Hambledon Hillfort in Dorset, and became fascinated by the idea of exploring lives which were lived in ways very different to our own. I believe the potential of archaeology lies in its ability to challenge our own ways of seeing, through the study of people with different beliefs and understandings of the world. 

Through both a BA in Archaeology and MA in Landscape Archaeology, at the University of Sheffield, I developed my expertise in Iron Age studies, consolidated with a PhD at the same institution, on the Iron Age landscapes of East Yorkshire. In addition to several years professional employment, I have previously taught at both the Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin and the Department of Archaeology & Ancient History, University of Leicester.

My research interests include the following areas:

• Iron Age histories of disease, violence, death and burial
• Funerary archaeology, particularly in later prehistory, and specific studies on 'grave goods'
• The environmental, ritual and social importance of 'bog bodies'
• Art, technology and power (particulary through the lens of Celtic art and martial culture)
• Antiquarian studies and the history of the discipline
• Working class communities - labour, leisure and life-histories (explored both through rural farming communities and the urban public park)

My research draws together strands of the archaeology of identity and personhood, with studies of landscape and place, alongside material culture and art. It is interdisciplinary, using a mix of ethonographic and archaeological theories and methodologies, to investigate both past and present communities. My approach has pioneered the entwined study of human and object biographies, through the lens of mortuary archaeology. This has led to an increased interest in Iron Age life-course, particularly incidents of disease, injury and violence, and how these life-events as well as the circumstances of death, were dealt with through the funerary rite.

Current research projects include:

The Grave Goods Project (AHRC funded) - an interdisciplinary research project between the Universities of Manchester, Reading and the British Museum (www.gravegoodsproject.org)

Continuing Bonds: Creative Dissemination (AHRC funded) - a collaboration with the University of Bradford (https://continuingbonds.live/creative-dissemination/ - online publication 'The Living and the Dead' available here)

Iron Age Weapons Burials, including The Acklam Wold Project (funded by the Albert Reckitt Memorial Fund, SRG British Aca

Bog Bodies of north-western Europe: Worsley Man (part of the 'Bog Body Network')

Previous Projects include:

The Whitworth Park Community History and Archaeology Project (see Whitworth Park Blog)

• Iron Age populations: life-course, disease, violence and funerary rites
• Later prehistoric material culture, particularly Celtic art
• Martial identity and material culture (particularly in later prehistory but also the early Roman period)
• Exhibiting the dead: museological approaches to human remains

• The archaeology of death, burial and memorialisation
• Creative responses to archaeology