Bioarchaeology
Bioarchaeological research at Exeter combines the study of archaeology with branches of the natural and physical sciences to address questions of health and well-being, diet, ecology, subsistence strategies and natural and human-induced environmental impacts in the past.
Our approach is holistic and inter-disciplinary, drawing its inspiration from both definitions of ‘bioarchaeology’: as a study applied to human remains (human osteoarchaeology) and as related to the integration of environmental archaeology, floral and faunal evidence – archaeobotany and zooarchaeology.
Our current research covers a range of themes:
- the origins and development of social inequality, violence and warfare
- morphological alteration in response to physical activity and labour in the rise of craft specialists and elites across political, social and economic transitions
- changing patterns of resource exploitation of plants and animals
- human – environment relations, in particular the early domestication of plants and animals, and the legacy of past human impact on modern environments
- how social relationships in the past contribute to funerary patterning in the archaeological record and how these relate to social processes amongst the living
