Rebecca Crozier
Rebecca Crozier
Postgraduate
Email: ccrozier05@qub.ac.uk
Address
Archaeology and Palaeoecology
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology (GAP)
Queen’s University Belfast
Belfast, BT7 1NN
Northern Ireland, UK
Current Research: Past Cultural Change
‘A Taphonomic Study of the Human Remains from Neolithic Orkney’
This research is concerned with a re-examination of human remains from Neolithic contexts in Orkney. The investigation will be from a taphonomic (taphonomy meaning ‘laws of burial’) perspective with the intent of gaining more insight into the funerary processes that may have led to their highly fragmentary state.
Recovered from the islands’ chambered tombs, the majority of Neolithic human remains excavated on Orkney are reported as being discovered in a highly disarticulated and fragmented state (Chesterman 1979; Hedges 1984, 133; Fraser 1983). To date, many of the Neolithic human remains from Orkney have been studied with regard to their demographic information. As far as possible, we know about the age, sex, stature and pathologies represented by some of the populations thus far recovered. However, we have little understanding of the processes involved in transforming those finally interred within the tombs from whole bodies, to highly fragmented and disarticulated bones. Excarnation is seen as the normative burial rite for this period and region, based on the perceived disorder and the fact the bones are fragmented. However, there has been little work undertaken to specifically explain this circumstance of recovery. It is felt that while some analysis of the human remains has been carried out, there is merit in a return to the material to investigate more specifically what processes the bones may have gone through from the time they were deposited through to their recovery. The primary site under investigation at present is Quanterness (kindly made available by Dr Alison Sheridan, National Museum of Scotland) on Mainland. However, other sites will be examined for comparison and to gain a more holistic view. These sites will be Pierowall Quarry, Westray; Point of Cott, Westray and a sample from Isbister, South Ronaldsay.
Principal supervisor: Dr Eileen Murphy (Queen’s University, Belfast).
Secondary supervisor: Prof. Jim Mallory (Queen’s University, Belfast).
External supervisor: Dr Rick Schulting (Oxford University).
Publications:
Schulting, R., Sheridan, A., Crozier, R. and Murphy, E. Revisiting Quanterness: new AMS dates and stable isotope data from an Orcadian chamber tomb. PSAS 140 (in press)
Craig, C. R., C. J. Knüsel & G. C. Carr 2005. Fragmentation, mutilation and dismemberment: an interpretation of human remains on Iron Age sites. In M. Parker-Pearson and I. J. N. Thorpe (ed.) Violence, Warfare, and Slavery: British Archaeological Reports International Series 1374. 165-180. Oxford: Archaeopress
External Grant Funding:
2010 - Emily Sarah Montgomery Prize.
2008 - 75th Anniversary Award (£1000).
Additional Information:
Key Research Interests:
Human osteology, funerary archaeology, taphonomy, the Neolithic.
Education:
1998–1999: MSc. in Osteology, Palaeopathology and Funerary Archaeology from the University of Bradford. Dissertation supervised by Dr Chris Knüsel. Dissertation title’ ‘A taphonomic study of a sample of the human remains from the hillfort site of Danebury, Hampshire.’
1994–1998: MA (Hons) in Archaeology from the University of Edinburgh.
Field Experience:
Prior to starting my PhD research, I gained several years’ excavation experience in commercial and research excavation (up to supervisory level) on sites which were diverse both geographically (UK (The Western Isles, Aberdenshire, London, Co. Durham), Romania, Ireland and St. Lucia) and temporally (Mesolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Medieval, 18th century).
2001: Research Assistant for Dr Chris Knüsel on the Velim Project which involved travel to the Czech Republic to examine fragmented human remains from a Bronze Age site.
Conference Presentations:
16th November 2010. The devil is in the detail? A taphonomic study of human remains from Neolithic Orkney (paper). Neolithic Orkney 2000-2010: a symposium organised by Historic Scotland and Orkney College UHI, Kirkwall, Orkney.
14th-17th April 2010. A taphonomic study of human remains from Neolithic Orkney (poster). Amercian Association of Physical Anthropologists 79th Annual meeting. Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
18th September 2009. A taphonomic study of human remains from Neolithic Orkney (poster). 11th Annual BABAO Conference , University of Bradford, UK.
Conference Organisation:
27th-28th May 2011 ‘Interpreting Identity. Our Construct or Theirs?’
I was one of three post-graduate research students responsible for conceiving and organising the symposium which was held here at Queen’s. The symposium was funded by The Prehistoric Society, Queen’s University, Belfast and NIEA. ‘Interpreting Identity. Our construct or theirs?’ intended to bring together a wealth of research themes and periods to explore the subject of identity in a pan-European context through case studies, discussion and debate. The symposium attracted over 50 delegates from Britain, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the United States.
