BIOARCHAEOLOGY
As a bioarchaeologist, I study bone from archaeological sites for evidence of disease, health, and trauma. I have worked at archaeological sites in Canada, the United States, Egypt, and the Sudan, and have examined human skeletal material from the United Kingdom and Syria.
I am a member of three international research projects; the first is concerned with the conservation of archaeological bone and led to the discovery of the first archaeological biofilm in bone and was published in the Journal of Archaeological Sciences.
My second project takes a more bioarchaeological approach in the understanding of past populations in Mesopotamia. As the curator of the Tell Leilan Skeletal Collection, I am working along with other Near Eastern bioarchaeologists to understand the origins and nature of ancient civilization in northern Mesopotamia. Recently our research has been published in Nature Plants and the Journal of Biological and Clinical Anthropology.
My third project aims to gain a better understanding of Nubian and Egyptian interaction in the Aswan-Kom Ombo region during the Predynastic Period through archaeological survey and excavation. My role in the Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project (AKAP) involves the excavation, documentation, storage, and analysis of any human skeletal material removed from the site. The bioarchaeological information that I am collecting is adding to the available data on the Nubian A-Group and Egyptian Predynastic cultures and is helping to understand the economic and political relationship between the developing Egyptian state and co-existing Nubian groups. In 2016 we discovered the earliest case of vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) in ancient Egypt and published the case in the International Journal of Palaeopathology (IJPP). The publication was covered by Forbes, ARCHAEOLOGY, Biblical Archaeologist, and Daily Mail Online, and was recognized as one of Egypt's Top 10 finds in 2016 by the Luxor Times and the Minister of Antiquities.
I am also the Assistant Editor of the journal Bioarchaeology of the Near East.