Dr Sean Doherty

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Overview

Sean specialises in exploring deep-time human-animal-environment interactions through the synthesis of zooarchaeological, biomolecular (isotope analysis, proteomics and genetics), historical and anthropological research. His research focusses on using archaeology to help tackle modern environmental and societal challenges, including biodiversity, animal health, wildlife managment and marine plastic pollution.

He holds a PhD in Archaeology from the University of York where his AHRC-funded research focussed on the proteomic and isotopic analysis of parchment to investigate the British 'Agricultural Revolution'. Currently, Sean is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded From 'Feed the Birds' to 'Do Not Feed the Animals'

Supervision

Research students

Current and Past Graduate Students

Felix Sadebeck - 'Conquest by Cattle: Evaluating the meaning, impact and legacy of cattle husbandry in the Roman world, PhD expected 2025.

Rachael Saunders - 'Human and dog diets in Roman Britain', MSc expected 2022.

Nina Herer - 'Morphological and isotopic analysis of pig and wild boar diets in Roman Europe', MSc expected 2022.

Alisha Barker - 'Exploring changes in horse management in Iron Age and Roman Britain through morphological and isotope anysis'. MSc expected 2022.

Bethan Roberts - 'Morphological and isotopic analysis of red squirrel populations to determine the influence of anthropogenic feeding', MSc awarded 2021.

Jack Sudds - 'Felis & Felix The Changing Fortunes of Cats in Britain', MSc awarded 2020.

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 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2013 |

2024

Baker KH, Miller H, Doherty S, Gray HWI, Daujat J, Çakırlar C, Spassov N, Trantalidou K, Madgwick R, Lamb AL. (2024) The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, volume 121, no. 8, DOI:10.1073/pnas.2310051121.

2023

Jamieson A, Carmagnini A, Howard-McCombe J, Doherty S, Hirons A, Dimopoulos E, Lin AT, Allen R, Anderson-Whymark H, Barnett R. (2023) Limited historical admixture between European wildcats and domestic cats, Current Biology, volume 33, no. 21, pages 4751-4760.e14, DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.031.
Chidimuro B, Doherty S, Finch J, Ponce P, Eggington J, Delaney S, Speller C, Collins MJ, Holst M, Alexander M. (2023) North and South: Exploring isotopic analysis of bone carbonates and collagen to understand post‐medieval diets in London and northern England, American Journal of Biological Anthropology, volume 182, no. 1, pages 126-142, DOI:10.1002/ajpa.24818. [PDF]
Doherty SP, Alexander MM, Henderson S, Newton J, Finch J, Collins MJ. (2023) Tracking the British agricultural revolution through the isotopic analysis of dated parchment, Scientific Reports, volume 13, no. 1, DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-26013-4.

2022

Doherty S, Henderson S. (2022) Production of parchment legal deeds in England, 1690–1830, Historical Research, DOI:10.1093/hisres/htac013.
Doherty SP, Collins MJ, Harris AJT, Sistiaga A, Newton J, Alexander MM. (2022) A modern baseline for the paired isotopic analysis of skin and bone in terrestrial mammals, Royal Society Open Science, volume 9, no. 1, DOI:10.1098/rsos.211587. [PDF]
Best J, Doherty S, Armit I, Boev Z, Büster L, Cunliffe B, Foster A, Frimet B, Hamilton-Dyer S, Higham T. (2022) Redefining the timing and circumstances of the chicken's introduction to Europe and north-west Africa, Antiquity, DOI:10.15184/aqy.2021.90. [PDF]

2021

Doherty SP, Foster A, Best J, Hamilton-Dyer S, Morris J, Sadler P, Skelton C, Smallman R, Woldekiros H, Thomas R. (2021) Estimating the age of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus L. 1758) cockerels through spur development, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, volume 31, no. 5, pages 770-781, DOI:10.1002/oa.2988.
Doherty SP, Henderson S, Fiddyment S, Finch J, Collins MJ. (2021) Scratching the surface: the use of sheepskin parchment to deter textual erasure in early modern legal deeds, Heritage Science, volume 9, no. 1, article no. 29, DOI:10.1186/s40494-021-00503-6. [PDF]
Doherty S, Alexander MM, Vnouček J, Newton J, Collins MJ. (2021) Measuring the impact of parchment production on skin collagen stable isotope (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) values, STAR: Science & Technology of Archaeological Research, volume 7, no. 1, pages 1-12, DOI:10.1080/20548923.2020.1868132. [PDF]

2020

Schofield J, Wyles KJ, Doherty S, Donnelly A, Jones J, Porter A. (2020) Object narratives as a methodology for mitigating marine plastic pollution: multidisciplinary investigations in Galápagos, Antiquity, volume 94, no. 373, pages 228-244, DOI:10.15184/aqy.2019.232. [PDF]

2019

Bleasdale M, Ponce P, Radini A, Wilson AS, Doherty S, Daley P, Brown C, Spindler L, Sibun L, Speller C. (2019) Multidisciplinary investigations of the diets of two post-medieval populations from London using stable isotopes and microdebris analysis, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, volume 11, no. 11, pages 6161-6181, DOI:10.1007/s12520-019-00910-8.

2018

Thomas R, Sykes N, Doherty S, Smith D. (2018) Ring depressions in cattle horncores as indicators of traction use – a cautionary note, International Journal of Paleopathology, volume 22, pages 140-142, DOI:10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.07.002.