Creative Evolution!

I am a recent graduate from the University of Manchester with an MSc in Science Communication. I have a life-long passion for the natural world and much of my work during my master’s degree focused on exploring relationships with nature through art. My artwork foregoes paint and brushes, instead I opt to “paint” with a needle and thread. It’s a slow process and my work often takes between 30-50 hours, but in a world where everything seems too fast-paced, I love to slow down and focus my attention on the beauty of nature.

I am a Presidential Fellow and Royal Society University Research Fellow interested in the anatomy and evolution of the mammal skeleton. I have a PhD in Functional Anatomy and Evolution from Johns Hopkins University and was an NSF-funded postdoc in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Among other topics, my work has examined axial evolution, diversity and patterning, backbone function in the forerunners of mammals, and the evolutionary origin of mammalian locomotor patterns.

In Archaeology, animals can regularly be talked about in quite utilitarian terms, as food and nutrition for survival, or materials for tools and clothes. But what if we instead thought about animals as active, living beings that played a role in shaping human life in the past? Starting with archaeological evidence from Britain’s last hunter-gatherer groups, we will explore how humans encountered and experienced animals, and how this was important in shaping how humans understood particular animals and used/treated their remains. There will also be a chance to get creative with archaeology too!