Archaeology and History

Photo of Professor Alan Outram

Professor Alan Outram

Professor of Archaeological Science

A.K.Outram@exeter.ac.uk

4398

01392 724398

Overview

Alan Outram is a bioarchaeologist and palaeoeconomist who specialises in zooarchaeology (the analysis of archaeological animal bones and understanding past human/animal relations). Some of his most significant work has been on tracing the domestication of the horse in Central Asia, and studying the development of steppe pastoral societies in Kazakhstan. He is also well known as a specialist in bone taphonomy, particularly fracture and fragmentation analysis.

His recent book, Subsistence and Society in Prehistory: New Directions in Economic Archaeology is available for order.

He is currently actively researching on or writing up four major research projects:
'Pegasus' (ERC funded, led by Ludovic Orlando) builds on the latest advances in the analysis of ancient DNA molecules to gather new genomic, epigenomic and metagenomic information from ancient horses. This will be integrated with archaeozoological, isotopic and historical data to enhance our understanding of an animal that perhaps most impacted human history.
'Warhorse: The Archaeology of a Military Revolution?' (AHRC funded, with Oliver Creighton and Rob Liddiard) will conduct the first ever systematic archaeological study of warhorses in the Middle Ages, including their physical remains, material culture and the landscapes used for their breeding and training. Comprehensively examining the full range of evidence from the late Anglo-Saxon to the early Tudor period (c. AD 800-1550), we will produce new understandings about a beast that was an unmistakable symbol of social status closely bound up with aristocratic, knightly and chivalric culture as well as a decisive weapon on the battlefield.
'The End of the Journey: The Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Colonisation of South America' (ERC funded, led by Jose Iriarte) looking at the last terra incognita (other than Antartica) to be colonised by humans, a process that took place amidst one of the most significant climatic, environmental, and subsistence regime shifts in human history, which contributed to the extinction of megafauna (the most recent substantial extinction event in the geological record), plant domestication, and today’s remarkable diversity of indigenous South American groups.
'Pastoralists Lost: Pioneer equine and ruminant herders of the Central Asian Steppes and their role in early horse husbandry' (AHRC/DFG funded, with Cheryl Makarewicz and Alex Pryor) which investigates early experimentation with horse husbandry and its intersection with developments in ruminant livestock husbandry in northeastern Kazakhstan, a crucible of human innovation in the steppe where horses were brought under human control over five thousand years ago.

As well as teaching zooarchaeology at undergraduate and masters' level he also covers many other aspects of archaeological science. He also teaches modules on hunter-gatherers and early farmers where he combines anthropological and archaeological approaches. He has, for 20 years, led many of our students on a fieldschool in South Dakota, excavating on an early agricultural village site.

Alan is the editor-in-chief of Routledge journal Science and Technology of Archaeological Research (STAR) and co-director of the 'Centre for Human-Animal-Environment (HumAnE) Bioarchaeology' at Exeter, along with Naomi Sykes.

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Research

Central Asian Prehistory, Horse Domestication and Origins of Steppe Pastoralism:

Professor Outram has worked in Northern and Central Kazakhstan on collaborative projects investigating the Eneolithic Botai Culture, horse domestication and and the origins of steppe pastoralism since the year 2000. With substantial funding from the Natural Environment Research Council he has demonstrated that the Botai Culture possesses the earliest currently known domestic horses, which were not only eaten and harnessed for riding, but  also milked. Professor Outram’s research also involves investigating the development of pastoralism from the Neolithic to Bronze Age in Kazakhstan. His new project in this sphere of research is called 'Pastoralists Lost: Pioneer equine and ruminant herders of the Central Asian Steppes and their role in early horse husbandry' and addresses the transition from the Eneolthic Botai Culture to Early Bronze pastoralism that also incorporated ruminant species, but still prior to the arrival of the modern lineage of domestic horses.

PEGASUS: The Makeup of the Modern Horse: a History of the Biological Changes Introduced by Human Management.

Prof. Outram is engaged as a senior researcher in writing up aspects of a project led by Prof Ludovic Orlando (CNRS Toulouse). The horse provided us with rapid transportation, an almost unrivaled secondary product that tremendously impacted the politico-economical trajectory of our societies, revolutionizing the circulation of ideas, people, languages, religions and communication. Horse chariotry and cavalry also changed warfare and beyond the battlefield new equestrian technologies have stimulated agricultural productivity. However, the 5,500 year long history of horse domestication and management, which transformed the natural evolutionary trajectory of wild horses into the more than 625 domestic breeds living today, is difficult to reconstruct from archaeology, history and modern genetics alone. Yet, with archaeogenetics, one can access the genetic information from past individuals and track in great detail past population trajectories. In this project, we will build on the latest advances in the analysis of ancient DNA molecules to gather new genomic, epigenomic and metagenomic information from ancient horses. This will be integrated with archaeozoological, isotopic and historical data to enhance our understanding of the multiple processes underlying the transformation of the animal that perhaps most impacted human history. The Pegasus Project has its own website here: http://orlandoludovic.wixsite.com/pegasus-erc

Warhorse: The Archaeology of a Military Revolution

This AHRC funded project (with Oliver Creighton and Rob Liddiard), now in writing-up phase conducted the first ever systematic archaeological study of warhorses in the Middle Ages, including their physical remains, material culture and the landscapes used for their breeding and training. Comprehensively examining the full range of evidence from the late Anglo-Saxon to the early Tudor period (c. AD 800-1550), we will produce new understandings about a beast that was an unmistakable symbol of social status closely bound up with aristocratic, knightly and chivalric culture as well as a decisive weapon on the battlefield. The project has its own website.

Initial Middle Missouri Archaeology: The First Farmers of the Northern Plains of America

Professor Outram has, for more than a decade, co-directed excavations at Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. This is an Initial Middle Missouri Culture site belonging to the period when farmers first settled in villages in the Northern Plains to grow crops such as maize, beans and squash. These farmers did not have domestic food animals, only dogs, but also hunted bison in large quantities as well as other game, fished and collected shellfish and other wild foods. These excavations are conducted in conjunction with Dr Adrien L. Hannus of Augustana University.

The End of the Journey: The Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Colonisation of South America

This ERC funded project, led by Jose Iriarte, islooking at the last terra incognita (other than Antartica) to be colonised by humans, a process that took place amidst one of the most significant climatic, environmental, and subsistence regime shifts in human history, which contributed to the extinction of megafauna (the most recent substantial extinction event in the geological record), plant domestication, and today’s remarkable diversity of indigenous South American groups. Alan is the zooarchaeologiust attached to this project. The project has its own website.

NeoMilk: The Milking Revolution in Temperate Neolithic Europe

Prof. Outram was a senior researcher on a major inter-disciplinary project that was funded by an ERC project (2013-2018) led by Professor Richard P. Evershed (School of Chemistry, Bristol). It explored the introduction and spread of cattle-based agriculture by early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) farmers and its implications for modelling the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Northern and Central Europe during the 6th millennium BC. There was a particular focus on the origins of dairying as a major component of economy. The Exeter work package particularly addressed variation in taphonomy, butchery patterns and animal fat use across time and space within the LBK. Project PhD student Emily Johnson carryied out substantial original zooarchaeological analyses on key sites around Europe. The NeoMilk project has its own website: http://neomilk-erc.eu/

The Archaeology of Fat:

Much of his research has been on the exploitation of bone marrow and grease by people under subsistence stress. In order to study this issue archaeologically, he developed a new methodology for the detailed examination of bone fracture and fragmentation patterns. This research has included the study of bone assemblages from Palaeoeskimo and medieval Norse sites in Greenland, Norse sites in Iceland, a Neolithic site in Sweden, and Mesolithic sites in Britain and Italy. He is now carrying out analysis of a Plains Indian Village site in South Dakota, where the processing of bison bone for grease appears to be a large-scale activity that may well have involved trade with other, less fat-rich societies further to the south. Professor Outram chaired a session on the Palaeoeconomics of Animal Fats at the International Council for Archaeozoology 2002 conference.

Bone Fracture and Fragmentation: Constructing Taphonomic Histories

Professor Outram is recognised as an authority on how bone fractures and fragments under different conditions and has carried out many experiments to investigate this issue. He is widely published on how fracture and fragmention patterns can help us understand the taphonomic history of human and animal bone assemblages for purposes such as understanding butchery, food processing, site formation processes, cannibalism and undertaking forensic investigations.

Understanding Unusual Treatment of Animal and Human Remains:

At many prehistoric sites animal and human remains are found in mixed deposits and display strange patterns of deposition and treatment. Could these be ritual, cannibalism or just unusual taphonomic circumstances? He has also been employing his bone fracture and fragmentation methodologies to study the unusual treatment of human and animal remains at the Bronze Age ritual site of Velim Skalka, Czech Republic.

Hunters' Economic Choices:

Professor Outram is interested in the decisions that hunters make when they have killed an animal. How much of it did they use? Which bits did they transport away? Why did they make they choices they did? How much did the choices relate to the environment and dietary needs, to social needs or matters of taste? In order to build up suitable data, he has carried out research, involving experimental butchery, into the food utility and hunting of horses.



Research collaborations

Alan has had collaborations with a wide range of international institutions and scholars in relation to various research projects:

Work on the Botai Culture, horse domestication and early pastoralism in Central Asia has involved partners at KazNU Al-Farabi University (KZ), Karaganda State University (KZ), Pavlodar State University (KZ), Kustanai State University (KZ), Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel (Germany), Carnegie Museum of Natural History (USA), University of Bristol (UK), University of Cambridge (UK), University of Oxford (UK), University of Copenhagen (DK), CNRS AMIS Toulouse (France) and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (Jena).

Work on medieval Warhorses involves collaboration with the University of East Anglia, The Royal Armouries and the The Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Research into cattle husbandry and milking in the LBK involved collaboration with University of Bristol (UK), University College London (UK), CNRS, Paris (FR) and University of Poznan (PL).

Fieldwork and analyses on the Initial Middle Missouri Culture has involved colleagues at Augustana University, SD (USA) and University of Bristol (UK)

These collaborations are very interdisciplinary in nature, involving archaeologists, anthropologists, biogeochemists and ancient geneticists.

Alan was also a participant in the OpenArch EU project that involves a network of open air archaeology museums in England, Wales, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Spain and Serbia.

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Supervision

Professor Outram supervises research students in the following subject areas:

Zooarchaeology, bioarchaeology (broadly defined including forensic applications), palaeoeconomics, experimental archaeology, hunter-gatherer, pastoralist and early farming societies. Geographical areas of particular interest include Europe, Central Asia and N. America.

Research students

I am currently supervising the following research students:

Izzy Davis: LBK fish exploitation (jointly with Bristol University)

Claudia Wingrove: Methods for tackling commingled and fragmented human remains

Rosalind Le Quesne: Dental x-ray applications in osteoarchaeology

Alan Endacott: Neolithic and Bronze Age Dartmoor

Charlotte Vendome-Gardner: Chacoan petroglyphs

Wouter Bonhof: Seasonal mobility of humans and animals in the Palaeolithic

Chun Ho Kim: Early domestic horses in Korea and Japan

Kati Hayslep: Treatment of human remains a Neolithic causewayed encloses

Ryan Brown: Experimental approaches to investigate native American and European gun flints

Hayley Hayes: Anglo-Saxon Cremations

Past students include:

Zooarchaeological

Dr Emily Johnson (Linearbandkeramik Faunal Assemblages)

Dr Hayley Foster (Butchery Patterns at Medieval Castles)

Dr Ashleigh Haruda (Bronze Age Pastoralism in Central Asia)

Dr Pip Parmenter (Faunal remains from Etton and Staines Neolithic causewayed enclosures)

Dr Xuelei Li (The Comparative Study of the Zooarchaeology of the Fox)

Dr Malene Lauritsen (The faunal remains from Exeter city)

Dr Landon Karr (Early Paleoindian bone flaking technology in North America)

Dr Wendy Howard (The role and exploitation of small mammals in prehistory)

Dr Philip Kiberd (The MSA site of Bundu, South Africa)

Dr Helene Berkert (Medieval warhorses in continental Europe)

Experimental archaeology

Dr Penny Cunningham (Prehistoric nut storage experiments)

Dr Jodi Reeves-Eyre (née Flores) (The nature of replicative experiments in archaeological research)

Dr Tine Schenck (Experimental archaeology and organic material culture).

Dr Julia Heeb (Experimental study of copper axe-adzes in SE Europe)

Dr Theresa Kamper (Determining tanning technologies from microscopic dermal fibre analysis)

Other

Dr Jennifer Watling (Environmental archaeology in Brazil)

Dr Cindy Bradley (Funerary archaeology in SW United States)

Dr Belinda Tibbetts (Palaeopathology of infants)

Dr Faye Sayer (née Simpson) (The value of community archaeology excavations)

Dr Chris Carey (Geochemical survey in relation to ancient metal working)

Dr Genevieve Hill (Wetland Archaeology of NW Coast America/Canada)

Dr Natalie Stear (Jointly with Bristol University, lipid residue analysis in Prehistoric Kazakhstan)

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 |

2024

2023

2022

2021

2019

2018

2017

  • Outram AK. (2017) Answering zooarchaeological questions from the analysis of animal bones and organic pottery residues: a critical comparison, Economic Zooarchaeology Studies in Hunting, Herding and Early Agriculture, Oxbow Books Limited, 148-156.

2016

2015

2014

2013

  • Bogaard A, Outram AK. (2013) Palaeodiet and beyond: stable isotopes in bioarchaeology, World Archaeology, volume 45, no. 3, pages 333-337, DOI:10.1080/00438243.2013.829272.
  • Sugden H, Outram AK. (2013) An environmental history of the River Sow region, Stafford, Excavations at King's Low and Queen's Low: two Early Bronze Age barrows in Tixall, North Staffordshire, Archaeopress, 49-59.
  • Stear N, Evershed RP, Outram AK, Varfolomeav VV. (2013) Identifikacija ostatov zhirov v keramike poselenija kent metedom analiza stabil'nyh izotolov (Identification of lipid residues from ceramics from the settlement of Kent through analysis of stable isotopes), Arheologicheskie Issledovanija Sternoj Evrazii, Tengri, 150-168.
  • Kasparov AK, Outram AK. (2013) Nekotorye zamechaniia po povodu osteologicheskih materialov kompleksa Lisakovky (poselenie i mogil'niki epohi bronzy) [Some remarks concerning osteological materials of complex of Lisakovsky (the settlement and cemeteries of a bronze epoch)], Pamiatniki Lisakovskoy okrugi: arheologicheskie siuzhety, Tengri, 230-239.
  • Outram AK. (2013) Review of: Social Zooarchaeology. Humans and Animals in Prehistory by N Russell, Environmental Archaeology: the journal of human palaeoecology, volume 18, no. 1, pages 83-84.
  • Bendrey R, Thorpe N, Outram AK, van Wijngaarden-Bakker LH. (2013) The Origins of Domestic Horses in North-west Europe: new Direct Dates on the Horses of Newgrange, Ireland, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (London), volume 79, pages 1-13, DOI:10.1017/ppr.2013.3.

2012

2011

  • Karr LP, Outram AK, Hannus LA. (2011) Open-area excavations at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, South Dakota (A.D. 1000-1150): new interpretations of site function from interdwelling areas, Journal of Field Archaeology, volume 26, no. 4, pages 281-288.
  • Outram AK. (2011) Review of: Origins of Agriculture in Western Central Asia: an Environmental-Archaeological Study, by David Harris, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, volume 21, no. 2, pages 324-325, DOI:10.1017/S0959774311000357.
  • Outram AK, Stear NA, Kasparov A, Usmanova E, Varfolomeev V, Evershed RP. (2011) Horses for the dead: Funerary foodways in Bronze Age Kazakhstan, Antiquity, volume 85, no. 327, pages 116-128.

2010

2009

  • Outram AK, Stear NA, Bendrey R, Olsen S, Kasparov A, Zaibert V, Thorpe N, Evershed RP. (2009) The earliest horse harnessing and milking, Science, volume 323, no. 5919, pages 1332-1335, DOI:10.1126/science.1168594.

2008

  • Karr LP, Outram AK, Hannus LA. (2008) Bone marrow and bone grease exploitation on the plains of South Dakota: a new perspective on bone fracture evidence from the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, South Dakota Archaeology, volume 26, pages 33-62.
  • Outram AK. (2008) Review of C. M. Woolgar, D. Serjeantson, and T. Waldron (Eds) "Food in medieval England. Diet and nutrition", History, volume 93, no. 310, pages 262-264.
  • Applicable N. (2008) Experimental Archaeology, World Archaeology, volume 40, no. 1.
  • Outram AK. (2008) Introduction to experimental archaeology, World Archaeology, volume 40, no. 1, pages 1-6, DOI:10.1080/00438240801889456.

2007

  • Outram AK, Kasparov AK. (2007) Pervye rezul'taty izucheniia ostatkov mlekopitaiushchikh poseleniia Kent (The first results of the analysis of mammal remains from Kent settlement), Istoriko-kul'turnoe nasledie Saryarki, Pr.Hous KAR GU, 107-122.
  • Outram AK. (2007) Hunter-Gatherers and the First Farmers: the Evolution of Taste in Prehistory, Food: A History of Taste, University of California Press, 35-62.
  • Outram AK. (2007) Animal Bone, Sutton Common: Excavation of an Iron Age ‘Marsh Fort’, CBA, 139-142.
  • Harding AF, Sumberova R, Knusel C, Outram AK. (2007) Velim: Violence and Death in Bronze Age Bohemia. The Results of Fieldwork 1992-95, with a Consideration of Peri-mortem Trauma and Deposition in the Bronze Age, Institute of Archaeology Prague.

2006

  • Knusel C, Outram AK. (2006) Fragmentation of the Body: Comestibles, Compost, or Customary Rite?, The Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains, Oxbow, 253-278.
  • Outram AK. (2006) The Mammal Bones, Landscape and Community: landscape evolution on the North Somerset Levels, CBA, 241-244.
  • Applicable N. (2006) Debates in World Archaeology, World Archaeology, volume 38, no. 4.
  • Outram AK. (2006) Juggling with indices: A review of the evidence and interpretations regarding Upper Palaeolithic horse skeletal part abundance, Horses and Humans: The Evolution of Human Equine Relationships Symposium, Archaeopress, 49-60.
  • Bradley BA, Maki DE, Olsen SE, Outram A. (2006) Community Organization among Copper Age Sedentary Horse Pastoralists of Kazakhstan, Beyond the Steppe and the Sown: Proceedings of the First Annual University of Chicago Eurasian Archaeology Conference, Brill Academic Press, 89-111.

2005

  • Mulville J, Outram AK. (2005) The Zooarchaeology of Fats, Oils, Milk and Dairying, Oxbow.
  • Outram AK. (2005) Distinguishing bone fat exploitation from other taphonomic processes: what caused the high level of bone fragmentation at the Middle Neolithic site of Ajvide, Gotland?, The zooarchaeology of fats, oils, milk and dairying, Oxbow, 32-43.
  • Outram AK. (2005) Publishing Archaeological Experiments: a quick guide for the uninitiated, (Re)Construction and Experiment in Archaeology, volume 2, pages 107-110.
  • Outram AK. (2005) Review of M. Levine, C. Renfrew, and K. Boyle (Eds)"Prehistoric steppe adaptation and the horse", Antiquity: a quarterly review of archaeology, volume 79, no. 305, pages 712-713.
  • Outram AK, Harding A, Knight S, Knusel C. (2005) Understanding Complex Fragmented Assemblages of Human and Animal Remains: A Fully Integrated Approach, Journal of Archaeological Science, volume 32, no. 12, pages 1699-1710, DOI:10.1016/j.jas.2005.05.008.

2004

  • Knusel CJ, Outram AK. (2004) Fragmentation: the zonation method applied to fragmented human remains from archaeological and forensic contexts, Environmental Archaeology: the journal of human palaeoecology, volume 9, no. 1, pages 85-98.
  • Outram AK. (2004) Large Mammal Bones and Bird Bones, Excavations at Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire 1987 – 1994, Society for Medieval Archaeology, 146-147.
  • Outram AK. (2004) Applied Models and Indices vs. High-Resolution, Observed Data: Detailed Fracture and Fragmentation Analyses for the Investigation of Skeletal Part Abundance Patterns, Journal of Taphonomy, volume 2, no. 3, pages 167-184.
  • Outram AK. (2004) Identifying dietary stress in marginal environments: bone fats, optimal foraging theory and the seasonal round, Colonisation, Migration, and Marginal Areas. A Zooarchaeological Approach, Oxbow, 74-85.

2003

  • Outram AK. (2003) Comparing levels of subsistence stress amongst Norse settlers in Iceland and Greenland using levels of bone fat exploitation as an indicator, Environmental Archaeology: the journal of human palaeoecology, volume 8, no. 2, pages 119-128.

2002

  • Outram AK. (2002) Bone Fracture and Within-Bone Nutrients: An Experimentally Based Method for Investigating Levels of Marrow Extraction, Consuming Passions and Patterns of Consumption, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 51-64.

2001

  • Outram AK. (2001) A New Approach to Identifying Bone Marrow and Grease Exploitation: Why the Indeterminate Fragments should not be Ignored, Journal of Archaeological Science, volume 28, no. 4, pages 401-410, DOI:10.1006/jasc.2000.0619.
  • Outram AK. (2001) FOCUS: The scapula representation could be the key: A further contribution to the 'Klasies Pattern' debate, Journal of Archaeological Science, volume 28, no. 12, pages 1259-1263.
  • Outram AK. (2001) Economic Anatomy, Element Abundance and Optimality: A New Way of Examining Hunters’ Bone Transportation Choices, Proceedings of Archaeological Sciences ’97, British Archaeological Reports, 117-126.

2000

  • Outram AK. (2000) Hunting Meat and Scavenging Marrow: A seasonal explanation for Middle Stone Age subsistence strategies at Klasies River Mouth, Animal Bones and Human Societies, Oxbow Books, 20-27.

1999

  • Outram AK. (1999) A comparison of Paleo-Eskimo and Medieval Norse bone fat exploitation in Western Greenland, Arctic Anthropology, volume 36, no. 1-2, pages 103-117.

1998

  • Outram AK. (1998) Meat and marrow utility indices for horse (Equus), Journal of Archaeological Science, volume 25, pages 839-849.

1997

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External impact and engagement

Professor Outram has recently been engaged in the OpenArch project, which was led in Exeter by Prof Linda Hurcombe and funded by the EU's Culture Programme. The project involved a large consortium of open air archaeology museums from around Europe. It aimed to allow this increasingly popular form of museum to develop through international workshops and collaborative activities. Exeter was the only academic institution involved, because of its acknowledged specialist knowledge in the field of experimental archaeology and reconstruction. Our task was to contribute to the 'dialogues with science' work package of the project. In other words, we employed our technical and academic expertise to try to enhance the value and rigour of the excellent education and visitor experiences these museums offer. Our partners in Wales, Scotland, Germany, The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Serbia and Spain, and we continue to cultivate these partnerships now that the initial project has completed.

I take students to excavate in South Dakota every year at a site that has a museum and is open for the public to see archaeology in action. There is a constant enagement with visitors by both the students and myself. To increase the reach of the activities, we always give press interviews and appear on regional TV and radio, raising the profile of archaeology and our work.  We also hold a special annual archaeology awareness weekend  where there are extra demonstrations and activities for local citizens and tourists.



Contribution to discipline

Editorial Positions:

Editor-in-chief of Routledge journal Science and Technology of Archaeological Research (STAR).

Advisory Board Member (and former Executive Editor), World Archaeology (a Routledge journal)

Honorary Positions:

Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Memberships of Societies and Professional Bodies:

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists
Member of the Association for Environmental Archaeology
Member of the International Council for Archaeozoology
Member of the Prehistoric Society
Member of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology
Member of the Society for American Archaeology
Honorary Life Member of the Stoke-on-Trent City Museum Archaeological Society


Media

It is important to ensure that the results of research, that may be of wider interest to the public, are disseminated as widely as possible. My paper ‘The Earliest Horse Harnessing and Milking’ published Science (2009), was the subject of co-ordinated press releases to ensure maximum impact with the public. The story was covered by many major newspapers in the UK (e.g. The Times, Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph) and internationally (e.g. The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Edmonton Journal, Shanghai Daily, The Yomiuri Shimbun [Japan]), and through both live and recorded radio interviews including on Radio 4’s Today Programme, Radio 5’s Drive Time, and World Service’s Science in Action. Internationally, there were interviews on USA National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as recorded interviews for translation into foreign languages with German national radio and Radio Classique Paris and Radio Free Europe. The story was covered in major popular magazines (e.g. Science Magazine, Science News, New Scientist, and Discover Magazine), and news/science websites (e.g. National Geographic and Nature).

Alan recently advised on and appeared in a major 3-part documentray series directed by filmaker and anthropologist Niobe Thompson. Equus: The Story of the Horse premiered on CBC in 2018 and is now showing in may countries worldwide. It recently won 'Best Nature and Science Documentary Series' at the Canadian Screen Awards. You can download and watch it from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/tv-season/first-riders/id1460694772

In the USA, the archaeologically relevant section of the documentary was augmented and shown by PBS NOVA as First Horse Warriors.

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Teaching

Professor Outram regularly leads groups of students in the field, whether this be in North America or Central Asia, where students directly participate in ongoing research. Back at Exeter, students also have the opportunity to engage in real research questions through project work and dissertations that relate to real research questions. Alan encourages  undergraduates and masters students to undertake dissertation work that involves the practical acquisition of primary data, particularly though zooarchaeological analyses and experiments.

He teaches on topics such as the archaeology and anthropology of hunter-gatherers, the origins of farming and early pastoral societies, past foodways, and techniques of zooarchaeology, experimental archaeology and general archaeological and forensic sciences. This teaching is always fully informed by his active research in these areas. Alan encourages active participation and discussion by students and takes great pleasure from facilitating students in meeting their full potential.

Modules taught

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Biography

Professor Outram read for his BA in Archaeology at Durham University and, having developed a fascination for the archaeology of animal bones, went on to take an MSc in Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomics at the University of Sheffield. He returned to Durham to undertake his PhD under the supervision of Peter Rowley-Conwy. The title of his thesis was "The Idenitification and Palaeoeconomic Context of Prehistoric Bone Marrow and Grease Exploitation". The research combined zooarchaeological analysis with experimental work.

Following his PhD, Alan worked in professional archaeology for about one year, firstly in Stoke-on-Trent and then for Canterbury Archaeological Trust. He has since lectured at Exeter for the past 24 years and is now Professor of Archaeological Science.

He is also co-director of the 'Centre for Human-Animal-Environment (HumAnE) Bioarchaeology' at Exeter, along with Naomi Sykes.

Editorial Positions:

Editor-in-chief of Routledge journal Science and Technology of Archaeological Research (STAR).

Advisory Board Member (and former Executive Editor), World Archaeology (a Routledge journal)

Honours and Honorary Positions:

In April 2019 Alan was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University "in recognition of outstanding activity in scientific and intellectual development".

Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Memberships of Societies and Professional Bodies:

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA)
Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (MCIfA)
Member of the Association for Environmental Archaeology
Member of the International Council for Archaeozoology
Member of the Prehistoric Society
Member of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology
Member of the Society for American Archaeology
Member of the European Association of Archaeologists
Honorary Life Member of the Stoke-on-Trent City Museum Archaeological Society

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