Professor Elizabeth Craig-Atkins
BA (Hons), MSc, PhD
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Professor in Human Osteology, School Director of Research and Innovation
Director of Research and Innovation
e.craig-atkins@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2906
+44 114 222 2906
Minalloy House
Full contact details
Professor Elizabeth Craig-Atkins
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Minalloy House
10-16 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 3NJ
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Minalloy House
10-16 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 3NJ
- Profile
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I trained as an archaeologist at Durham University from 2002-5, moving on to specialise in human skeletal analysis at Masters level at the University of Bradford.
Following the completion of my doctorate “Burial Practices in Northern England c. A.D. 650-850: A Bio-Cultural Approach” at Sheffield in 2010, I taught Human Osteology in the Department of Archaeology during 2010-11.
I was Demonstrator in Anthropology at Bournemouth University from 2011-13, where I taught skeletal analysis and managed their human remains collections. I returned to Sheffield in March 2013 as Lecturer in Human Osteology.
- Qualifications
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- PhD
- MSc Human Osteology and Palaeopathology
- BA (Hons) Archaeology
- Research interests
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I am a specialist in human osteology and palaeopathology with particular interests in multidisciplinary approaches to questions surrounding past population structures, health, disease and lifestyle.
I have worked with human remains from many periods and locations, but have primarily focussed on material from post-Roman to modern periods in the UK.
My current main areas of research include:
- Multidisciplinary analysis of osteological and funerary data from early medieval to post-medieval contexts
- The character and provision of funerary practices in early Christian and medieval England
- Health status and social status in past populations
- Disease, disability and disfigurement in the past (including social attitudes to sickness and medical/surgical interventions)
- The archaeology of childhood
- Archaeology of the body, especially practices for managing, manipulating and curating human remains
Current research projects / collaborations
The archaeology of childhood
- Infant-specific funerary rites and childhood identity in early medieval England. This project has incorporated isotopic evidence for physiological and dietary status alongside analysis of skeletal, funerary and spatial data to explore the so-called ‘eaves-drip’ burial rite. Original data collection was funded by The University of Sheffield’s Early Career Researcher Scheme in collaboration with Dr Julia Beaumont, University of Bradford
- Marking Maternity: Integrating historical and archaeological evidence for reproduction in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Part of the British Academy funded project ‘The Material Body’ with Prof Mary Fissell, Johns Hopkins University
- Supervisor of AHRC collaborative doctoral award ‘An interdisciplinary exploration of the social impact of foetal and perinatal mortality during the industrialisation of England’ with Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) 2020-24.
Human remains and funerary practices of the medieval and early modern periods
- The Material Body: An Interdisciplinary Study Using History and Archaeology, in collaboration with Prof Karen Harvey, University of Birmingham. Funded by the British Academy. Edited book with Manchester University Press forthcoming (2021).
- Tents to Towns: The Viking Great Army and its Legacy. Analysis and interpretation of Viking and medieval period burials in the vicinity of the Viking Winter Camp at Torksey, Lincolnshire, in collaboration with Prof Dawn Hadley, Prof Julian Richards and Dr Gareth Perry, University of York
- The Rothwell Charnel Chapel Project. A multidisciplinary exploration of a unique medieval charnel house in Rothwell, Northants. In collaboration with Dr Jenny Crangle, Wessex Archaeology, Prof. Dawn Hadley, University of York and Dr Paul Barnwell, Cambridge University
Archaeologies of the Norman Conquest
- Examination of Anglo-Norman funerary rites and the integration of studies of human skeletal remains into a multidisciplinary archaeological narrative of the Conquest through the subjects of diet and foodways. I am part of a research network “Archaeologies of the Norman Conquest” funded by the AHRC and my research of material from Anglo-Norman Oxford has been funded by British Academy, Society for Medieval Archaeology and RAI.
Knowledge exchange and co-production in archaeology
- I am PI of the Roots and Futures project which is a place-based heritage project to elevate the voices, needs and priorities of communities underserved by heritage policy and practices in Sheffield. We work with more than 25 partners in the city including community groups, heritage organisations and policymakers. Find out more about our partners, priorities, methods and impact on our research blog.
- Publications
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- Edited books
- Journal articles
- Chapters
- Book reviews
- Conference proceedings papers
- Reports
- Posters
- Theses / Dissertations
- Datasets
- Presentations
- Other
Edited books
- The Material Body: Embodiment, History and Archaeology in Industrializing England, 1700-1850. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Journal articles
- Torksey after the Vikings: urban origins in England. The Antiquaries Journal.
- Finding Oxford’s medieval Jewry using organic residue analysis, faunal records and historical documents. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 13(3).
- The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK. PLoS ONE, 15(7). View this article in WRRO
- Charnel practices in medieval England: new perspectives. Mortality, 2, 145-166. View this article in WRRO
- The Public Archaeology of Death. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 63(2), 479-479.
- Review: Villa Magna. An Imperial Estate and its Legacies. Excavations 2006-10. Medieval Archaeology, 62(2), 440-441. View this article in WRRO
- The role of infant life histories in the construction of identities in death: An incremental isotope study of dietary and physiological status among children afforded differential burial. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 167(3), 644-655. View this article in WRRO
- Comparing apples and oranges: why infant bone collagen may not reflect dietary intake in the same way as dentine collagen. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 167(3), 524-540. View this article in WRRO
- A new multivariate method for determining sex of immature human remains using the maxillary first molar. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. View this article in WRRO
- Commentary: interdisciplinary approaches to the study of disease and deformity in past populations. Archaeological Review From Cambridge, 32(1), 106-111. View this article in WRRO
- The Winter Camp of the Viking Great Army, AD 872–3, Torksey, Lincolnshire. Antiquaries Journal, 96, 23-67. View this article in WRRO
- The Diagnosis and Context of a Facial Deformity from an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Spofforth, North Yorkshire. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 23(6), 631-639. View this article in WRRO
- Weaning at Anglo-Saxon raunds: Implications for changing breastfeeding practice in britain over two millennia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 151(4), 604-612. View this article in WRRO
- The Chesil Mirror and other effects of a young Celtic woman. British Archaeology(September/October 2013), 36-41.
- Chest burial: A middle anglo-saxon funerary rite from northern england. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 31(3), 317-337. View this article in WRRO
- Taking Shape: A new geometric morphometric approach to quantifying fluctuating asymmetry and its application to the evaluation of developmental stress. Archaeometry.
- Medieval charnel houses: resurrecting lost medieval rites. Journal of the British Archaeological Association.
- Correction: The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK. PLOS ONE, 15(9), e0239640-e0239640.
Chapters
- Marking maternity: integrating historical and archaeological evidence for reproduction in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, MATERIAL BODY (pp. 47-80).
- Introduction: the material body in archaeology and history, MATERIAL BODY (pp. 1-21).
- Charnel practices in medieval England: new perspectives, The Materiality and Spatiality of Death, Burial and Commemoration (pp. 29-50). Routledge
- The human bones In Rahtz P & Watts L (Ed.), St Gregory's Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire: Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
- Seeking ‘Norman burials’, evidence for continuity and change in funerary practice following the Norman Conquest In Hadley DM & Dyer C (Ed.), The Archaeology of the 11th Century: Continuities and Transformations View this article in WRRO
- Eavesdropping on short lives: Eaves-drip burial and the differential treatment of children one year of age and under in early Christian cemeteries In Hadley DM & Hemer KA (Ed.), Medieval Childhood: Archaeological Approaches Oxbow Books View this article in WRRO
- Spittlegate: the medieval hospital In Start D & Stocker D (Ed.), The making of medieval Grantham Heckington: Heritage Lincolnshire.
- Investigating social status using evidence of biological status: a case study from Raunds Furnells In Buckberry J & Cherryson A (Ed.), Burial in Later Anglo-Saxon England, c.650-1100AD Oxford: Oxbow. View this article in WRRO
Book reviews
- Children and childhood in bioarchaeology. Childhood in the Past, 12(1), 50-51. View this article in WRRO
- New Approaches to Disease, Disability and Medicine in Medieval Europe. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 63(1), 223-224.
- Book review: Charterhouse Square: Black Death Cemetery and Carthusian Monastery, Meat Market and Suburb. Medieval Archaeology, 62(2), 464-464. View this article in WRRO
- Children, Death and Burial. Archaeological Discourses. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 62(1), 212-213.
- The Comparative Palaeopathology of Males and Females in English Medieval Skeletal Samples in a Social Context. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 62(1), 212-212.
- Gender in Medieval Culture. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 60(2), 426-427.
- Sanitation, Latrines and Intestinal Parasites in Past Populations. Medieval Archaeology, 60(1), 200-200.
Conference proceedings papers
- Flowers born to blush unseen: The biological and cultural context of fetal and perinatal mortality in 18th-19th century South Shields, England. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Vol. 171 (pp 190-190)
- Grave Concerns – A new project exploring the management and maintenance of cemetery space c. 1700-2000. Resurgam, 11 June 2018 - 13 June 2018. View this article in WRRO
- SEEKING 'NORMAN BURIALS' : EVIDENCE FOR CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN FUNERARY PRACTICE FOLLOWING THE NORMAN CONQUEST. ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE 11TH CENTURY: CONTINUITIES AND TRANSFORMATIONS, Vol. 38 (pp 139-158)
- Using Semi-automatic 3D Scene Reconstruction to Create a Digital Medieval Charnel Chapel. Proceedings of EG UK Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics View this article in WRRO
Reports
- The nameless dead: inside a medieval charnel chapel
- The human remains from the Winter Camp
Posters
- Visualising mastoiditis with a potable X-ray system.
- Visualising Mastoiditis with a Portable X-Ray System: A Preliminary Analysis. 21st Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology.
Theses / Dissertations
- Point and Shoot: A Radiographic Analysis of Mastoiditis in Archaeological Populations from England's North-East.
Datasets
- The Digital Ossuary: 3D visualisation of a unique and endangered archaeological site.
- The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest project data.
Presentations
- X-rays & Lifeways: A non-destructive method to study mastoiditis.
Other
- Social status and health status in late Anglo-Saxon England.. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 74-74.
- Social stratification in a Christian cemetery? An assessment of stress indicators and social status at AngloSaxon Raunds.. AM J PHYS ANTHROPOL, 92-92.
- Research group
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Current Research Students
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- Aimee Barlow- "Coming of age: a biocultural investigation of reproductive practices in Industrial Britain"
- Richard Clark- "A survey of Homo neanderthalensis immature morphology and ontogeny"
- Elizabeth Knox- "A multidisciplinary investigation into the social impact of foetal and mother mortality during the industrialisation of England"
- Roberta Marino- "The mistreatment of children through the lens of neglect and abuse: how can bioarchaeology better approach these issues?"
- Harriette Copley- "Testing and Refining the Use of pXRF to Study Past Industrial Morbidity"
- Andrea Toma- "Death in the Ottoman Empire : A complex anthropological analyse of a Muslim necropolis discovered in Constanta, Romania"
- Rob Cotterell- "Right Up My Street: A place-based approach to the cultural heritage dimension of street names"
- Robert Hartle- "Protecting the most Pious Mortal’: an archaeological and historical investigation of bodysnatching in England, c. 1700–1832 "
- Blair Nolan (University of Lund, Sweden)- "A Bioarchaeological Perspective on Urbanization in Medieval Denmark: Lund from 990 AD to 1536 AD"
- Sarah Defant (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)- "Investigating changes in diet, health and migration patterns and subsistence strategies during the transition period from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages"
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Former PhD Students
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- Jenny Crangle (2015)- "A study of post-depositional funerary practices in medieval England"
- Emma Green (2018)- "What are we missing? An Archaeothanatological Approach to Late Anglo-Saxon Burials"
- Ofelia Meza Escobar- "Lifeways and frailty experience of the population of Santiago de Chile during the 19th and 20th centuries: The Colección Osteológica Subactual de Santiago"
- Charlotte Waller-Cotterhill- "One Foot in the Grave: An Experimental Examination of the Effectiveness and Development of the Anglesey Leg and an Analysis of Prosthesis during the Long Nineteenth Century"
- Emma Hook- "The hospital of St James: Imvestigating social function through cemetery demographics"
- Ian McAfee- "Joint disease in post-Medieval England: Comparative analysis of modern risk factors and historic lifestyles"
- Ben Wigley- "A bioarchaeological examination of the impact of early life stress on later health outcomes using procrustean assessment of dental fluctuating asymmetry"
- Samantha Purchase-Manchester- "A Radiographic Analysis of Middle Ear Infection in Human Skeletal Remains"
- Tegid Watkin- "3D geometric morphometric analysis of metacarpal and phalangeal torsion in humans, primates and fossil hominins, and its application in stone tool use"
- Sarah Poniros- "Roman migration patterns based on skeletal, archaeological, and written evidence"
- Martina Monaco- "A critical examination of social stratification in prehistoric Cyprus using skeletal and funerary data"
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- Teaching activities
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Postgraduate
- Biological Anthropology I (co-ordinator)
- Biological Anthropology II (co-ordinator)
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- Former Treasurer, British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO)
- Conferences
- Craig-Atkins, E., Madgwick, R., and Jervis, B. 2018. Rethinking the Impact of the Norman Conquest using Archaeological evidence of Diet and Food Culture. Haskins Conference 2018, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. October.
- Craig-Atkins, E., Crangle, J., Barnwell, P., and Hadley, D. 2018. 'The sculls that lie heap'd up ': Post-mortem interactions with human remains in the charnel house at Rothwell, Northamptonshire . European Archaeological Association, Barcelona, September.
- Fissell, M. and Craig-Atkins, E. 2018. Marking Maternity. Keynote delivered at the Material Bodies in Archaeology and History conference, organised by E Craig-Atkins and K Harvey, Birmingham, June.
- Craig-Atkins, E. 2018. Grave Concerns: A new project exploring the management and maintenance of cemetery space c. 1700-2000. Cremation and Burial Communication and Education conference, Newcastle, June.
- Craig-Atkins, E., Crangle, J. and Hadley, D. 2017. The chronological and liturgical context of charnel practice in medieval England: manipulations of the skeletonized body at Rothwell Charnel Chapel, Northamptonshire. Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, April.
- Hadley, D., Crangle, J. and Craig-Atkins, E. 2017. The Afterlife of the Charnel Chapel at Rothwell (Northants.). Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, April.
- Craig-Atkins, E., Beaumont, J. and Towers, J. The influence of weaning status on childhood identities: preliminary findings from an incremental isotope study of early medieval infants. Little Lives conference, Durham, Jan 2016.
- Beaumont, J., Buckberry, J., Montgomery, J., Haydock, H. and Craig-Atkins-E. 2015. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings… A comparison of aging age using bone collagen and incremental dentine collagen from Raunds Furnells. British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteology conference, Sheffield, Sep 2015; and the American Association for Physical Anthropology Conference, Atlanta, USA, April 2016.
- Craig-Atkins, E. New insights into the control and management of Christian burial in England: A Case Study of ‘Eaves-Drip’ Burial. EAA conference, Glasgow, September 2015.