Yvonne L Inall | Macquarie University (original) (raw)

Papers by Yvonne L Inall

Oxbow Books, Mar 15, 2021

Desperta Ferro: Antigua y medieval, 2019

Hoy en dia contamos con evidencia arqueologica de equipamiento militar britano de la Edad del Hie... more Hoy en dia contamos con evidencia arqueologica de equipamiento militar britano de la Edad del Hierro (ca. 800 a. C.-43 d. C.) gracias a la excavacion de tumbas, depositos votivos, asentamientos y hallazgos fortuitos. Puestos en conjunto, los materiales hallados en todos estos contextos nos permiten hacernos una idea general del tipo de armas y equipamiento empleados en el periodo, asi como de aquellos objetos considerados mas importantes para reflejar el estatus de guerrero, tanto en el seno de estas comunidades como frente a sus enemigos.

Oxbow Books, Feb 28, 2020

Oxford Textbook of Global Public Health, 2021

This chapter explores access to healthcare—the timely availability of professional health service... more This chapter explores access to healthcare—the timely availability of professional health services to prevent, diagnose, and treat illnesses and to preserve or improve the health of individuals—and its consequences. The ethical context in which access is considered includes the human rights and social justice concepts of ‘a right to healthcare’ and ‘equity of access’. Conscious that these concepts differ from country to country, we offer working definitions. Countries and their governments vary in their political and social attitudes to access. Those with a strong social welfare agenda might focus attention and budgets on social factors such as education and social welfare; these not only determine health, but also access to care. Others, regarding healthcare as the individual’s concern, might give these factors less weight. Despite this complexity and much national variation, access depends, in general, most often on good primary healthcare, public investment, and political will, a...

Fingerprinting the Iron Age: Approaches to identity in the European Iron Age, 2014

Proceedings of the 17th Iron Age Research Student Symposium, Edinburgh, 2016

Mortality, 2019

1. Background and Rationale 2. Method 3. Iron Age 4. Romano-British 5. Anglo-Saxon 6. Medieval 7.... more 1. Background and Rationale 2. Method 3. Iron Age 4. Romano-British 5. Anglo-Saxon 6. Medieval 7. Reformation and post-Reformation to AD 1640 8. Recurrent themes across time 1. Introduction 2. Method 3. Iron Age Burial Practices 3.1 Arras Culture Barrow Burials 3.2 'Chariot' Burials 3.3 Speared-Corpse Burials 3.4 Durotrigian Inhumation 3.5 Cremation Burials 3.6 Burials in Settlement Contexts 4. Romano-British Burial Practices 4.1 Preparation and Viewing of the Dead 4.2 Romano-British Cremations 4.3 Inhumations 4.4 Lasting memorials: sarcophagi, gravestones and mausolea 4.5 Unusual burials: prone, decapitated and other burials 4.6 Children 4.7 Grave Goods 4.8 Placing the Dead: Organised Cemeteries 4.9 Diasporas and migrants 4.10 Gender bias, an under-representation of women? 5. Anglo-Saxon Burial Practices 5.1 Funerary Rites 5.2 Cremation 5.3 Inhumation 5.4 Traumatic/Tragic/Problematic Death and Deviant Burials 5.5 Grave goods 5.6 Cemeteries and Deathscapes: Importance of Place and Use of the Landscape 6. Medieval Burial Practices 6.1 Funerary Rites 6.2 Traumatic/problematic death 6.3 Non-Christian death 6.4 Grave Goods 6.5 Religious/Secular 6.6 Cemeteries and Deathscapes 6.7 Memorials and Mementos 6.8 Diaspora/Migrants 6.9 Death of Children 7. Reformation and Post-Reformation Burial Practices: the Secularisation of Death 7.1 The End of Purgatory 7.2 Changes in Burial and Funerary Practice 7.3 'Deviant' Burial 7.4 Changing Memorialisation Practices 7.5 Emerging Forms of Memorialisation 8. Conclusion 9. References About the Authors Yvonne Inall holds a PhD in History from the University of Hull, undertaking an archaeological examination the role of spearheads in Iron Age Britain. As part of her doctoral thesis Yvonne conducted a review of British Iron Age burial practices, with a particular focus on martial burials. She is now assisting Dr Malcolm Lillie with the long durée component of the Remember Me Project: Deep in Time: Meaning and Mnemonic in Archaeological and Diaspora Studies of Death. Malcolm Lillie has been an archaeologist for 33 years. He is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology & Wetland Science at the University of Hull and Director of the Wetland Archaeology & Environments Research Centre. He currently integrates two specialist areas into his research activities, the study of earlier prehistoric human remains and the study of wetlands. Since 1994-9 Malcolm has undertaken studies of human remains from Britain, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Turkey and other regions of Europe, which are aimed at understanding social structures, diet and pathology in archaeological populations. Death and Memorialisation are fundamental aspects of his work in human remains analysis and the current project offers an opportunity for this area of research to be refined in an exciting new direction by linking the attitudes of the past directly into the recent historic and modern contexts. Due to the extended timescale involved in the Deep in Time study a decision was taken to focus primarily on the major funerary and memorialisation practices in each of the following, main chronological periods:  Iron Age  Romano-British  Anglo-Saxon  Medieval  Reformation and post-Reformation to AD 1640 An expanded literature search was conducted using academic search engines, key reference works and targeted searches of the main archaeological journals for each period for key words related to death, mortuary treatments and memorialisation practices. Analysis included a particular focus on key sites in each period, for which abundant literature was available. 3. Iron Age A number of burial practices were identified for the Iron Age period in Britain. However, there are significant knowledge gaps for much of Britain and many mortuary practices are largely invisible in the archaeological record. Those practices which are observed in the archaeological record have a strong regional focus, including the Arras Culture square-barrow cemeteries of East Yorkshire, the Durotrigian inhumation rite, centred on the Dorset coast, and cremation burials in the south east of Britain. The Arras Culture barrow burials and the cremation burials of southeast Britain demonstrate connections to Continental Europe. In addition to these practices, the deposition of fragmentary human remains within settlement contexts was a mortuary treatment with a wide geographic distribution that covered much of Britain. 4. Romano-British The arrival of Roman colonists during the first century AD resulted in changes in burial and memorialisation practices. Burial practices become visible in the archaeological record across a far greater number of sites during the Romano-British Period. Early Romano-British burials were cremations. These rites were largely indistinguishable from Late Iron Age British cremation burials and few such burials have been recorded from sites beyond the southeast. By the fourth century AD extended, supine inhumation had replaced cremation as the standard burial practice across the Roman Empire, including Roman Britain, as Christian rituals came to the fore. Burials were extramural, and concentrated on urbanised settlements and sites associated with the Roman military. Gravestones appear in Britain for the first time during the Romano-British period, highlighting family and other social connections, and these often offer poignant expressions of grief. However, as an intrusive burial culture, the burial practices which came to the fore during the Roman period did not endure, with the British population reverting to practices which were again largely invisible in the archaeological record after the departure of the Romans. 5. Anglo-Saxon From the fifth to the seventh centuries AD Britain experienced an influx of migrants from Germanic Europe. The cultural impact of this movement of people was significant, and included changes in mortuary and memorialisation practices. Cremation was reintroduced to Britain, often practiced alongside inhumation. Anglo-Saxon burials during this period strongly referenced the past, re-using, incorporating and emulating Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British monuments. The wealth of some of these burials speak to the use of memorialisation strategies to reinforce social roles. By the ninth century, much of Britain had converted to Christianity, and ancestral monuments took on negative associations with paganism and damnation. These monuments were increasingly utilised as execution cemeteries, inverting their social ranking from the elite to the outcast. 6. Medieval By the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066 burial rites and memorialisation practices were broadly similar to those observed on the Continent. Extended, supine burial was common practice throughout the medieval period. However, there were significant changes in memorialisation strategies, particularly for the social elite. With the papal recognition of Purgatory in the thirteenth century, there was increasing investment in memorialisation. Chantry monuments and bequests, funerary gifts and liturgical endowments led to a profusion of monuments in diverse forms. The need to be remembered was pervasive, and led to a professionalisation of memorialisation. number of physical memorials erected, and a change in the language of memorialisation, focussed increasingly on remembering pious lives and avoiding calls for intercession. 8. Recurrent themes across time Across time memorialisation processes demonstrate a need to maintain an ongoing relationship between the living and the dead. The dead may be transformed through memorialisation processes, and the strategies employed reflect the cosmological beliefs of the memorialising society. Treatment of the physical body was an important part of the memorialisation process, with the corpse being treated with intimate care in every period. Evidence for careful preparation and dress in the Iron Age, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon periods allow us to infer that the deceased were the focus of a period of display prior to the performance of funerary rites. Archival records for the Medieval and early modern periods demonstrate a continued focus on the physical body. Processions also played a significant role in funerals in all periods, with details of the performative aspects preserved in historical accounts of the Romano-British and medieval periods. The concept of a journey to an afterlife is evidenced through the provision of grave goods: food and drink in the Iron Age and Romano-British periods. Footwear and coins aided Roman Britons in their journey, and Anglo-Saxons were provisioned with grave goods symbolising travel by horse or boat. For the medieval dead the journey was spiritual rather than physical, and the proliferation of chantry services and monuments aided the souls of the departed on their way. The dead continued to have active social lives. The dead were reincorporated into the community through the deposition of fragmentary remains in the Iron Age (and earlier periods), the construction of extramural monuments in the Romano-British period, the curation of cremation urns during the Anglo-Saxon period (an activity which also occurs in modern Britain) and the intrusive displays of chantry monuments of the medieval period. In each period, the living and the dead continued to interact on a daily basis, forming strong mnemonic ties, carefully curating and renegotiating the memory of the departed. For those whose deaths may have been problematic ritual processes were enacted to ameliorate troubled spirits and mitigate perceived supernatural dangers to the living. Deviant burials of the Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon period included prone and decapitated burials. Criminals and outcasts of the Late Anglo-Saxon and medieval world were excluded from Christian burials. In the early modern period, murderers were eligible for the post-mortem violation of anatomical dissection. Cemeteries and deathscapes were recursive,...

Typologies, especially of spearheads, have been decried as inadequate by the archaeological commu... more Typologies, especially of spearheads, have been decried as inadequate by the archaeological community. They have prevented the synthetic study of ancient weapons and obscured cultural contacts, changes in form and distribution, and changes in fighting style. This thesis presents new typologies of spearheads and swords which are not based on aesthetics or the need to communicate a large amount of material succinctly in the limited space of a site report. Rather, these typologies attempt to perceive the functional characteristics of these weapon classes. The thesis surveys a range of sites in Daunia, Basilicata and Southern Campania applying these new typologies to large suites of weapons. From this assessment a number of conclusions have flowed regarding cultural contacts between indigenous Southern Italic groups and with immigrating groups of Villanovan and Greek origin. The assessment reveals the variety of weapon forms in use and tracks changes over time. These changes expose cultural transformations and alterations in fighting styles. The tracking of paraphernalia often associated with weapons in modern scholarship has also revealed some nuances in patterns of association with weapons which were not previously apparent. i ii Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Spearheads Chapter 3: Swords Chapter 4: Regional Comparison of Weapons

The significance of the decision to bury an individual with martial objects during the British Ir... more The significance of the decision to bury an individual with martial objects during the British Iron Age cannot
be overstated. It is a rare subset of funerary practice, conferred upon select individuals. This article examines
martial burials, firstly summarising past research, then presenting an overview of martial object classes, and their
treatments in funerary practice. There is a particular focus on the Arras Culture of East Yorkshire, which dominates
the data due to the highly unusual, almost unique, ritual in which spears appear to have been thrown at the corpse
as part of the funeral. The analysis presented here highlights the importance of non-offensive martial objects, and
demonstrates that there is much greater diversity in Iron Age martial burial practice than previously recognised.

Typologies, especially of spearheads, have been decried as inadequate by the archaeological commu... more Typologies, especially of spearheads, have been decried as inadequate by the archaeological community. They have prevented the synthetic study of ancient weapons and obscured cultural contacts, changes in form and distribution, and
changes in fighting style. This thesis presents new typologies of spearheads and swords which are not based on aesthetics or the need to communicate a large amount of material succinctly in the limited space of a site report. Rather, these typologies
attempt to perceive the functional characteristics of these weapon classes. The thesis surveys a range of sites in Daunia, Basilicata and Southern Campania applying these new typologies to large suites of weapons. From this assessment a number of
conclusions have flowed regarding cultural contacts between indigenous Southern Italic groups and with immigrating groups of Villanovan and Greek origin. The assessment reveals the variety of weapon forms in use and tracks changes over time.
These changes expose cultural transformations and alterations in fighting styles. The tracking of paraphernalia often associated with weapons in modern scholarship has also revealed some nuances in patterns of association with weapons which were not
previously apparent.

Conference Presentations by Yvonne L Inall

2023 MAARC Online Conference, 2023

The period 620-550 BC saw the limited production of a range of plastic aryballoi forms in the sha... more The period 620-550 BC saw the limited production of a range of plastic aryballoi forms in the shape of a helmeted
head. Geralyn Lederman, in her doctoral thesis Athletes, Warriors, and Heroes: The Helmeted-Head Aryballos in its Archaic
Greek Context (1998) suggested that these vessels were representative of young warriors forming their martial identities
in gymnasia. Taking this premise as a starting point, this paper will explore how the vessels functioned to construct martial
identities in this primary context, as well as their secondary contexts as funerary vessels, which served to construct martial
identities in death as well as in life.

47th International Colloquium of the French Association for the Study of the Iron Age, Lausanne (Switzerland), 18-20 May 2023, 2023

Our image of warfare in Iron Age Britain has long been influenced by the accounts of Caesar and T... more Our image of warfare in Iron Age Britain has long been influenced by the accounts of Caesar and Tacitus, and the imposing fortifications of the hillforts of Wessex. In short, a land populated by chariot driving, woad-daubed, hillfort warriors. It is an approach to warfare frozen in time, applied to an entire archipelago. New research – focussed on weapon types and other forms of archaeological evidence – demonstrates that warfare in Iron Age Ireland and Britain was regionally, temporally and socially varied. In addition to the famed chariots, key insular differences existed to contemporary, continental warfare. Weapon types, combat styles, and the social roles of combatants clearly had their own insular and regional flavour. In a context of constant interaction and movement, several aspects of insular Iron Age warfare can be contextualised within broader La Tène traditions, including the use of music in combat and the evolution of certain weapon types.
This paper brings together the results of recent research into insular Iron Age warfare for the first time; exploring the regionally varied nature of weapons and warfare in the islands. Clear evidence of a preference for longswords in the south of Britain, and short-swords in northern and Irish centres, underscores the existence of regionally distinct approaches to close-quarter combat. Sword scabbards in northern Britain and Ireland also exhibit a suspension system distinct from that found on the continent. Evidence of sling-shot is restricted to the hillfort dominated zone of Wessex, and their absence elsewhere highlights a distinct regional practice. The few helmets recovered from Iron Age contexts in Britain have clear continental connections, in stark contrast to shields, which have distinct insular styles. Likewise, the recorded spearhead types indicate a preference for light, throwing arms, clearly distinguished from continental types. The use of chariots, sensationalised as a key feature of insular warfare, was not uniform and new research better informs our understanding of their diverse roles. These findings speak to fundamental technological differences in weapons and armour in Ireland and Britain, compared to contemporary continental traditions. These differences have clear implications for the practice of warfare and the construction of warrior identities in insular Iron Age communities. The bioarchaeological evidence also reveals that warriorhood was an age-related social persona of being a warrior, and there is strong support for women being both victims and perpetrators of violence.

ASCS 43 The Australasian Society for Classical Studies Annual Conference, 2022

Tacitus’ accounts of the Roman conquest of Britain, feature two female leaders: Boudica of the Ic... more Tacitus’ accounts of the Roman conquest of Britain, feature two female leaders: Boudica of the Iceni and Cartimandua of the Brigantes. Characterised very differently, these women have vastly different legacies. This paper examines the role of soft power, diplomacy, and the use of violence as it pertains to female leadership and legitimacy in Roman Britain.
Boudicca’s legacy is strongly concentrated on her resistance to Rome: characterised as a warrior queen; the personification of righteous fury, avenging the violation of her daughters and her people, and instigator of the first ever London Riot (Ballard 2010). Violence legitimates her reign. Scholars like Levin and Frénée-Hutchins have expounded the rediscovery and reinvention of Boudicca as a British monarch from the reign of Elizabeth I and the critical role this has played in her construction as a national icon. She is an enduring symbol, inspiring feminist movements and creative works.
By contrast, examinations of Cartimandua are often perfunctory and focus primarily on her perceived sexual impropriety (Crawford 2002). While Braund (1996) and others recognise her decades-long rule and vast territory, there is little examination of how she maintained her power, or why her allegiance warranted her extraction from hostile territory by the Romans. Rather than an astute diplomat, she is remembered as a manipulative seductress: an adulterer and Roman collaborator.
These disparate legacies reveal our own fractious relationship with powerful women. This paper examines the intersection between soft power, diplomacy, the use of force and legitimacy, illuminating this gap in our understanding of female leadership in early Roman Britain.

Caesar’s British expedition offers a tantalising glimpse of the nature of warfare in Britain in t... more Caesar’s British expedition offers a tantalising glimpse of the nature of warfare in Britain in the pre-Roman Iron Age. Caesar’s encounter was limited to a small proportion of the population in a limited geographic area and we cannot extrapolate his account to the entire population of Britain. Analysis of archaeological finds of Iron Age martial equipment in Britain has been fragmented, with little focus on function, which would elucidate our understanding of martial capabilities on the eve of Roman conquest. This paper offers a coherent overview of the archaeological evidence for the practice of warfare in Late Iron Age Britain based on new analyses of finds from burials and votive deposits, with an emphasis on martial function. This study highlights the versatile and highly mobile nature of warfare in Iron Age Britain, which supports both Caesar’s accounts of his interactions, and reveals distinct regional variations in equipment, practice and performance. Further, the contextual analysis facilitates an exploration of the construction of Iron Age martial identites which display strong connections between disparate regions of Britain and continental Europe. Meanwhile, votive practices involving martial objects point to a profound sense of anxiety during the time of conquest. This combined with evidence for interpersonal violence underscores the complex relationships between between warfare and individual and community identities.

Oxbow Books, Mar 15, 2021

Desperta Ferro: Antigua y medieval, 2019

Oxbow Books, Feb 28, 2020

Oxford Textbook of Global Public Health, 2021

Fingerprinting the Iron Age: Approaches to identity in the European Iron Age, 2014

Proceedings of the 17th Iron Age Research Student Symposium, Edinburgh, 2016

Mortality, 2019

Typologies, especially of spearheads, have been decried as inadequate by the archaeological commu... more Typologies, especially of spearheads, have been decried as inadequate by the archaeological community. They have prevented the synthetic study of ancient weapons and obscured cultural contacts, changes in form and distribution, and
changes in fighting style. This thesis presents new typologies of spearheads and swords which are not based on aesthetics or the need to communicate a large amount of material succinctly in the limited space of a site report. Rather, these typologies
attempt to perceive the functional characteristics of these weapon classes. The thesis surveys a range of sites in Daunia, Basilicata and Southern Campania applying these new typologies to large suites of weapons. From this assessment a number of
conclusions have flowed regarding cultural contacts between indigenous Southern Italic groups and with immigrating groups of Villanovan and Greek origin. The assessment reveals the variety of weapon forms in use and tracks changes over time.
These changes expose cultural transformations and alterations in fighting styles. The tracking of paraphernalia often associated with weapons in modern scholarship has also revealed some nuances in patterns of association with weapons which were not
previously apparent.

2023 MAARC Online Conference, 2023

47th International Colloquium of the French Association for the Study of the Iron Age, Lausanne (Switzerland), 18-20 May 2023, 2023

ASCS 43 The Australasian Society for Classical Studies Annual Conference, 2022

So-called ‘Warrior Burials’ of the British Iron Age form an important source of information about... more So-called ‘Warrior Burials’ of the British Iron Age form an important source of information about martial practice and social structure within the period. Such burials have been thought to form a small but significant number of all burials for the Iron Age in Britain. However, scholarship has projected a number of modern perceptions about the importance of different weapon classes onto the material and these considerations limit our understanding of burials with weapons.
Rather than limiting the analysis specifically to those burials with offensive weapons this paper expands the parameters to include all martial objects. This reveals that there are a significantly greater number of burials of martial character than previously thought. A more nuanced examination of these burials will enable us to analyse the nature and diversity of practice, and to explore possible meanings of the practice of including martial objects in burial assemblages during the Iron Age in Britain.

Our understanding of warfare in the Iron Age is derived largely from archaeological finds of weap... more Our understanding of warfare in the Iron Age is derived largely from archaeological finds of weapons and over the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the study of Iron Age warfare in Britain. While academic interest has focussed on swords the spear was the principal weapon of the Iron Age. East Yorkshire has yielded a greater number of Iron Age spearheads than any other part of Britain and features traces of a seemingly unique burial rite involving spears, presenting an important dataset for understanding Iron Age weaponry and warfare. However, the weapons that survive in the archaeological record were selectively deposited by Iron Age peoples. Comparative examination of the spear-forms in the South Cave Weapons Cache and the Iron Age burials of East Yorkshire reveals few common spear types. Thus, these assemblages may not be representative of what was available or in circulation. It is even possible that some weapons were made specifically for the grave or for inclusion in sacred offerings to supernatural forces.
It appears that decisions were being made about what spear types were considered appropriate for deposition in particular contexts. This paper explores some of the questions this raises about the reliability of these weapons for reconstructing martial practice.

Over the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the study of Iron Age warfare in ... more Over the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the study of Iron Age warfare in Britain. However, this study has not been accompanied by an improved understanding of the principal weapon used during this period: the spear. Recent discoveries such as the South Cave Weapons Cache, discovered in Yorkshire in 2002, have broadened the variety of spear forms known in the region considerably (1). A focused study of this class of weapon is long overdue.
This presentation investigates some of the problems associated with the study of spearheads in British Iron Age contexts. East Yorkshire has yielded a greater number of Iron Age spearheads than any other part of Britain (2) and features traces of a seemingly unique burial rite involving spears (3). Consequently, the presentation focuses principally on material discovered in East Yorkshire. Comparison with material from Western Europe, not previously possible, will expand our understanding of cultural Iron Age networks (4). Finally, I present a preliminary typology of British Iron Age spearheads based on the early phase of my doctoral research, demonstrating how typological analysis of spearheads may furnish us with a new understanding of warfare in Iron Age Yorkshire.
References:
1 – Evans, D. (2003) A late Iron Age weapons cache from East Yorkshire: Assessment Report. Humber Archaeology Report. 140 ed. Hull, Humber Archaeology Partnership. (unpublished)
2 – Halkon, P., (forthcoming), The Parisi: Britons and Romans in the East Yorkshire Landscape, Stroud: The History Press.
3 – Stead, I. M., 1991, Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire: Excavations at Burton Flemming, Rudston, Garton-on-the-Wolds, and Kirkburn , English Heritage in association with British Museum Press, London
4 – Brunaux, J. P., & Rapin, A., 1988, Gournay II: Boucliers et Lances, Dépôts et Trophées, Revue Archéologique de Picardie, Éditions Errance, Paris

This paper presents an assessment of more than 550 published spearheads, from 475 South Italian t... more This paper presents an assessment of more than 550 published spearheads, from 475 South Italian tombs dated between the late ninth century and the late fourth century BC. The spear was the principal weapon utilized in Iron Age South Italy. The assessment integrates published material from a sample of 17 sites across Daunia, Basilicata and Campania.
The typology focuses on the relationship between form and function, facilitating the identification of distinct distribution patterns for specific spearhead forms. The typology revealed three functional spear forms: broad-bladed thrusting spears, very narrow-bladed throwing spears with long sockets—ill-suited to the delivery of thrusting blows—and a range of versatile narrow-bladed spearhead forms suited to both thrusting and throwing actions. Throwing spears are the most frequently represented in Daunia and increased in frequency in Basilicata and Campania during the fifth to fourth centuries BC, when cavalry came to the fore.
The weapons assemblage indicates a loose fighting style in which personal preference and versatility were valued. The typological approach to South Italian spearheads forms an effective tool for mapping functional differences, preferences and diachronic changes and could be more widely applied to studies of the construction of Iron Age warrior identities in the region.

Richard Vokes (ed.), Africa in Australia: The Living Legacies of Collections, UWAP, 2024

(Book Chapter in Preparation) A beaded glass snake (H22369) held by the Queensland Museum was pro... more (Book Chapter in Preparation) A beaded glass snake (H22369) held by the Queensland Museum was produced by a Turkish prisoner of the First World War. Purchased by Major John Hardie, who was serving in the Australian Army Medical Corps, c.1915-16, the snake was brought back to Australia as a piece of First World War ephemera, curated by Hardie and his family for many decades. Despite its unassuming profile, this object reveals the complex interplay between Egypt, Australia and Turkey in their experiences of war, captivity and imperialism during the First World War.

The Conversation, 2016

It might not be something you want to think about very often, but it turns out that the way we tr... more It might not be something you want to think about very often, but it turns out that the way we treat our dead in the modern age is heavily influenced by the way our ancestors treated theirs.

British Museum Object 1861,0304.3 is a bone spearhead, said to have been found in the River Thame... more British Museum Object 1861,0304.3 is a bone spearhead, said to have been found in the River Thames, and thought to date to the Bronze Age or Iron Age, The spearhead is of particular importance as it imitates metal spearhead forms, confirming the martial function of this class of object.

In Gran Bretagna punte di lancia ossee erano in uso dal Paleolitico fino almeno all'età del Ferro... more In Gran Bretagna punte di lancia ossee erano in uso dal Paleolitico fino almeno all'età del Ferro. La persistenza di utilizzo indica che queste erano armi efficaci e facevano parte della panoplia a disposizione dei guerrieri dell'età del ferro in Gran Bretagna. Punte di lancia ossee sono state trovate in oltre 40 siti del periodo e sono costituite da una limitata varietà di tipologie.

Within Britain bone spearheads were in use from the Palaeolithic until at least the Iron Age. The... more Within Britain bone spearheads were in use from the Palaeolithic until at least the Iron Age. The persistence of usage indicates these were effective weapons and form part of the panoply available to warriors of the Iron Age in Britain. They have been found at over 40 Iron Age sites in Britain (see map) and conform to a limited variety of types, most can be allocated to Schatte's Type II.1 (Schatte 2013). The distribution of type forms is different from that Schatte observed for Continental Europe.

Journal of the British Academy, 2020

Established memorials have a way of attracting new memorials to their proximity. The act of embed... more Established memorials have a way of attracting new memorials to their proximity. The act of embedding a new memorial into an existing commemorative space transfers to the new monument a sense of the weight of memory and commemorative potency of the preceding monuments. The new monument is also legitimised through its acceptance or incorporation into a recognised place of memory and commemoration. Furthermore, memorialising activities play an important role in the formation of group identities and collective memory, which may also be contested or renegotiated over time. This article presents a biographical exploration of this process of layered memorialisation using the war memorials situated in Paragon Square, Kingston Upon Hull, in East Yorkshire as a case study.

Mortality, 2019

This paper highlights key characteristics of memorialisation processes linked to dying and death.... more This paper highlights key characteristics of memorialisation processes
linked to dying and death. The study demonstrates that, in
all periods, the mnemonic triggers engendered by multi-sensory
experiences surrounding the treatment of the dead serve as fundamental
elements of the memorialisation processes which generate
lasting impacts on the living through people’s engagement
‘in a collective social act’. Roles attributed to the dead are ‘active
and powerful’, and the links between the living and the dead are
imbued with myriad meanings, articulated through a variety of
activities. These resonate across time and exist in many aspects of
contemporary practice. We could argue that dying itself is not
simply a social process, and in reality, it is an inherently, and on
occasion an aggressively, anti-social act that is negotiated and
‘normalised’ by the social conventions that society has developed
to cope with dying and death. With a focus on the British context,
this study explores the ways in which society has dealt with the
troublesome and anti-social aspect of death, and dying, through
a consideration of past social praxis. It considers the ways in which
a broadening of contemporary societies understanding of the
variety of approaches to death, burial, bereavement and mourning
in a deep time perspective can offer legitimate and authorised
options for future practice at a time when there a crisis in available
burial space is occurring in England

Mortality, 2019

In the wake of the First World War a set of commemorative traditions were invented that were met ... more In the wake of the First World War a set of commemorative traditions were invented that were met with a huge public response and were repeated in every subsequent November. These apparently unchanging traditions were reported in the media each year in ways that reflected the, then, present circumstances. This article explores the ideas of continuity and relevance as a means to chart the changing nature of public debate about the commemoration of war in Britain. It will consider three broad periods: inter-war, the Second World War and post-war decades, and the 1980s to the centenary years. It will argue that the commemorations were fiercely relevant in the inter-war period, but in the wake of the Second World War the commemorations spoke far less directly to the experiences and emotional legacy of that later war. Attendance and newspaper reporting of the event diminished significantly in this period. However, from the 1980s and particularly the late 1990s renewed interest and relevance became apparent. The sustained period of warfare from 2001 onwards added further to this.

Mortality, 2020

Remember Me Blog, 2017

Remember Me Researcher, Dr Yvonne Inall reports on a recent visit to Culloden Battlefield and lay... more Remember Me Researcher, Dr Yvonne Inall reports on a recent visit to Culloden Battlefield and layered memorialisation processes at the site.

Remember Me Blog, 2018

As the winter chill bites and the number of homeless in Britain has risen for seven consecutive y... more As the winter chill bites and the number of homeless in Britain has risen for seven consecutive years, Remember Me researcher, Dr Yvonne Inall, asks what becomes of those who die in a state of homelessness.

Remember Me Blog

Remember Me Researcher, Dr Yvonne Inall, explores the ways in which the massive evacuation of tro... more Remember Me Researcher, Dr Yvonne Inall, explores the ways in which the massive evacuation of troops during Operation Dynamo has been memorialised.

Remember Me Researcher Dr Yvonne Inall explores the reasons underlying the tradition of wearing s... more Remember Me Researcher Dr Yvonne Inall explores the reasons underlying the tradition of wearing sprigs of rosemary on Anzac Day.

When you work on a project which is strongly focussed on remembrance and memorialisation you begi... more When you work on a project which is strongly focussed on remembrance and memorialisation you begin to see memorials everywhere you go. It’s surprising how embedded and omnipresent memorialisation is in our daily lives. On a recent holiday in Dublin I stopped for lunch in a popular restaurant and found myself surrounded by memorials.

Remember Me researcher Dr Yvonne Inall, who is working on our Deep Time study explores a rare Iro... more Remember Me researcher Dr Yvonne Inall, who is working on our Deep Time study explores a rare Iron Age burial ritual, unique to East Yorkshire.

Remember Me researchers Dr Yvonne Inall and Rev Dr Andrew Goodhead consider emerging strategies f... more Remember Me researchers Dr Yvonne Inall and Rev Dr Andrew Goodhead consider emerging strategies for remembrance at Advent and Christmas time.

Remember Me researchers recently presented our research at the Death and Culture 2016 conference ... more Remember Me researchers recently presented our research at the Death and Culture 2016 conference and they report on the experience.

Hull celebrates the life and achievements of the inspirational Amy Johnson, aviator, engineer, an... more Hull celebrates the life and achievements of the inspirational Amy Johnson, aviator, engineer, and service woman with the Amy Johnson Festival, running from 1 July until 6 September 2016.

Amy Johnson (1903-1941) was one of Hull’s more famous daughters. The first woman to fly solo from... more Amy Johnson (1903-1941) was one of Hull’s more famous daughters. The first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia, she has inspired female aviators the world over, demonstrating the potential for women to succeed in traditionally male-dominated spheres. During Women’s History Month the Remember Me project has decided to take a look at how Amy Johnson has been remembered in Hull, and the wider world.

Dr Yvonne Inall, a member of our team working on the Deep Time study recently visited the Medieva... more Dr Yvonne Inall, a member of our team working on the Deep Time study recently visited the Medieval village of Wharram Percy. Yvonne examined some very interesting gravestones in the local churchyard.

People cannot be made to forgive and forget and healthy remembering and memorialisation have an i... more People cannot be made to forgive and forget and healthy remembering and memorialisation have an important role to play in pathways to healing.

University of Western Australia, 2021

The ties between Egypt and Australia are brought into a new light in our latest publication co-au... more The ties between Egypt and Australia are brought into a new light in our latest publication co-authored by Candace Richards, Richard Vokes, Yvonne Inall, Victoria Lowry and Jewel Oreskovich. Divided into thematic sections, this report explores the entanglement of Egypt and Australia from the colonial establishment of Australian museums and support for British and European led excavations of ancient Egyptian sites through to the personal experiences of ANZACS, migrants and tourists in Egypt.

The authors offer a survey of the Egyptian cultural heritage known in Australia’s collecting institutions and examine who collected, what they collected and why. Although the report features many of the significant and well-known ancient artefacts known in Australia, also included are the social history collections, historic photographs, and artworks that were made in Egypt which highlight the varied nature of collecting practices and different ways in which Australians have engaged with Egyptian culture across the 19th and 20th centuries.

The third annual meeting of the Mediterranean Archaeology Australasian Research Community (MAARC)... more The third annual meeting of the Mediterranean Archaeology Australasian Research Community (MAARC) is approaching! The call for panel proposals is now open and you can download the 'panel proposal' form from the website. The conference will run from 13-15 February 2023, and will be jointly organised by the University of Sydney, the Chau Chak Wing Museum, the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens and the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation. The meeting will again be fully online and free for all. Archaeologists from near and far, come and share your latest research and foster new collaborations!