Elizabeth Craig-Atkins | The University of Sheffield (original) (raw)

Papers by Elizabeth Craig-Atkins

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Food is often one of the most distinctive expressions of social, religious, cultural or ethnic gr... more Food is often one of the most distinctive expressions of social, religious, cultural or ethnic groups. However, the archaeological identification of specific religious dietary practices, including the Jewish tradition of keeping kosher, associated with ritual food practices and taboos, is very rare. This is arguably one of the oldest known diets across the world and, for an observant Jew, maintaining dietary laws (known as Kashruth) is a fundamental part of everyday life. Recent excavations in the early medieval Oxford Jewish quarter yielded a remarkable assemblage of animal bones, marked by a complete absence of pig specimens and a dominance of kosher (permitted) birds, domestic fowl and goose. To our knowledge, this is the first identification of a Jewish dietary signature in British zooarchaeology, which contrasted markedly with the previous Saxon phase where pig bones were present in quantity and bird bones were barely seen. Lipid residue analysis of pottery from St Aldates show...

The use of a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) has become a popular technique for the acquisition o... more The use of a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) has become a popular technique for the acquisition of 3D scenes in the fields of cultural heritage and archaeology. In this study, a semi-automatic reconstruction technique is presented to convert the point clouds that are produced, which often contain noise or are missing data, into a set of triangle meshes. The technique is applied to the reconstruction of a medieval charnel chapel. To reduce the computational complexity of reconstruction, the point cloud is first segmented into several components guided by the geometric structure of the scene. Landmarks are interactively marked on the point cloud and multiple cutting planes are created using the least squares method. Then, sampled point clouds for each component are meshed by ball-pivoting. In order to fill the large missing regions on the walls and ground plane, inserted triangle meshes are calculated on the basis of the convex hull of the projection points on the bounding plane. The ...

Current Archaeology, 2016

This research presents an innovative and objective method of partially resolving commingled remai... more This research presents an innovative and objective method of partially resolving commingled remains through osteometric analysis of the acetabulo-femoral and tibio-femoral joint surface areas. This method is focused on reassociating skeletal elements which can provide accurate information regarding age, sex, stature and biomechanics, thus maximising the potential of commingled remains in archaeological investigations. This study used linear dimensions to create geometric models, corroborated by 3D scanning, to estimate articular surface area. Data was collected from 13 observations from across the acetabulo-femoral and tibio-femoral joints using a reference sample of 301 skeletons from the York Barbican and Black Gate skeletal collections. Linear regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between the acetabulo-femoral and tibio-femoral joints and create regression models. The regression models were then tested on an independent sample of 49 individuals from Coronation Street Cemetery in a series of test applications to evaluate the performance of the method. The regression models have been provided for use in osteometric sorting. The study showed that the tibio-femoral joint was not an acceptable candidate for osteometric sorting through joint articulation, but that the strong correlation between the acetabulum and femur across the acetabulo-femoral joint could be used to aid in partially resolving commingled assemblages.

PLOS ONE, 2020

The following information is missing from the Funding statement: The NERC (Reference: CC010) and ... more The following information is missing from the Funding statement: The NERC (Reference: CC010) and NEIF (www.isotopesuk.org) provided support in the form of funding and maintenance of the GC-QToF MS and GC-C-IRMS instruments used for this work. The Acknowledgements section is missing from the paper. The authors would like to make the following Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank John Cotter (Oxford Archaeology) and David Moon (Oxfordshire Museum) who kindly assisted with sample access and selection. Analytical work was conducted at the Stable Isotope Facility of Cardiff University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, with sample preparation undertaken at the Cardiff University Bioarchaeology Laboratory (carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis). Organic residue analysis was undertaken at the Organic Geochemistry Unit laboratories at the University of Bristol. We are also grateful to Will Barrow and Rachel Mott for assistance with isotope sample preparation and preliminary data analysis, Louise Loe and Rebecca Nicholson of Oxford Archaeology for access to data from Oxford Castle prior to its publication in 2019, and to Julia Beaumont for discussions relating to the incremental dentine methodology. Sincere thanks are due to Aleks McClain, Naomi Sykes and the other members of the steering group of the AHRC-funded Archaeologies of the Norman Conquest Network for their support, and for providing an opportunity to discuss this research during its development. Comments on draft versions by Naomi Sykes, Paul Halstead and Caroline Jackson were gratefully received, as were comments from anonymous reviewers.

Mortality, 2019

Studies of English medieval funerary practice have paid limited attention to the curation of huma... more Studies of English medieval funerary practice have paid limited attention to the curation of human remains in charnel houses. Yet analysis of architectural, archaeological and documentary evidence, including antiquarian accounts, suggests that charnelling was more widespread in medieval England than has hitherto been appreciated, with many charnel chapels dismantled at the sixteenth-century Reformation. The survival of a charnel house and its human remains at Rothwell, Northamptonshire permits a unique opportunity to analyse charnel practice at a medieval parish church. Employing architectural, geophysical, and osteological analysis, we present a new contextualisation of medieval charnelling. We argue that the charnel house at Rothwell, a subterranean room constructed during the thirteenth century, may have been a particularly sophisticated example of an experiment born out of beliefs surrounding Purgatory.

American journal of physical anthropology, Jan 29, 2018

This study investigated the use of sexually dimorphic metrics of the first permanent maxillary mo... more This study investigated the use of sexually dimorphic metrics of the first permanent maxillary molar (M ) to determine sex in adult and immature individuals within and between populations. Ten M dimensions were measured in 91 adults (19-55 years) and 58 immatures (5-18 years) from two English populations, one of documented sex (Spitalfields crypt) and another of morphologically-assigned sex (Black Gate). Preliminary statistical analysis was undertaken to explore bilateral differences and variation by age and sex, followed by multivariate analyses to predict sex from dental metrics. Both cross-validated linear discriminant analysis and binary logistic regression predicted biological sex consistent with known sex in 94.6% of adults and 90.9% of immatures. When functions extracted from the Spitalfields data were used to assign sex to Black Gate adults, consistency with morphological sex varied from 83.3% to 57.7%. A new function developed on Black Gate resulted in only a 4.8% increase ...

American journal of physical anthropology, Jan 21, 2018

Isotope ratio analyses of dentine collagen were used to characterize short-term changes in physio... more Isotope ratio analyses of dentine collagen were used to characterize short-term changes in physiological status (both dietary status and biological stress) across the life course of children afforded special funerary treatment. Temporal sequences of δ N and δ C isotope profiles for incrementally forming dentine collagen were obtained from deciduous teeth of 86 children from four early-medieval English cemeteries. Thirty-one were interred in child-specific burial clusters, and the remainder alongside adults in other areas of the cemetery. Isotope profiles were categorized into four distinct patterns of dietary and health status between the final prenatal months and death. Isotope profiles from individuals from the burial clusters were significantly less likely to reflect weaning curves, suggesting distinctive breastfeeding and weaning experiences. This relationship was not simply a factor of differential age at death between cohorts. There was no association of burial location neithe...

American journal of physical anthropology, Jan 6, 2018

Recent developments in incremental dentine analysis allowing increased temporal resolution for ti... more Recent developments in incremental dentine analysis allowing increased temporal resolution for tissues formed during the first 1,000 days of life have cast doubt on the veracity of weaning studies using bone collagen carbon (δ C) and nitrogen (δ N) isotope ratio data from infants. Here, we compare published bone data from the well-preserved Anglo-Saxon site of Raunds Furnells, England, with co-forming dentine from the same individuals, and investigate the relationship of these with juvenile stature. The high-resolution isotope data recorded in dentine allow us to investigate the relationship of diet with juvenile stature during this critical period of life. We compare incremental dentine collagen δ C and δ N data to published bone collagen data for 18 juveniles and 5 female adults from Anglo Saxon Raunds Furnells alongside new data for juvenile skeletal and dental age. An improvement in the method by sampling the first 0.5 mm of the sub-cuspal or sub-incisal dentine allows the isoto...

Medieval Archaeology, 2016

This paper combines an analysis of social status and biological status within late Anglo-Saxon ce... more This paper combines an analysis of social status and biological status within late Anglo-Saxon cemetery populations in order to illuminate how burial was used for social display in Christian cemeteries. It relies on recent re-evaluations of late Saxon mortuary ritual, which emphasise variability in burial rites and grave elaborations, and which suggest that funerary display did not cease after the eighth century, as has sometimes been implied (Buckberry 2007; Hadley 2000a; 2004; Thompson 2004). This recent acknowledgement of social expression in the later Anglo-Saxon burial record allows inferences to be made about social status and society. The concepts of biological status used here were developed in the 1930s (Selye 1936), but not introduced into archaeological contexts until the 1980s, largely in studies with an economic focus (e.g. Cohen and Armelagos 1984). The combined analysis of the biological and social statuses of individuals within a community can greatly enhance our understanding of mortuary ritual by emphasising which individuals in society were afforded specific forms of treatment in death. Analysis of the spatial organisation of a cemetery also has the potential to reveal social and cultural patterning through a consideration of hierarchy of space, as, for example, graves in close proximity to a ritual focus could be considered to occupy a higher status position than those at a distance.

The Antiquaries Journal

In ad 872–3 a large Viking Army overwintered at Torksey, on the River Trent in Lincolnshire. We h... more In ad 872–3 a large Viking Army overwintered at Torksey, on the River Trent in Lincolnshire. We have previously published the archaeological evidence for its camp, but in this paper we explore what happened after the Army moved on. We integrate the findings of previous excavations with the outcomes of our fieldwork, including magnetometer and metal-detector surveys, fieldwalking and targeted excavation of a kiln and cemetery enclosure ditch. We provide new evidence for the growth of the important Anglo-Saxon town at Torksey and the development of its pottery industry, and report on the discovery of the first glazed Torksey ware, in an area which has a higher density of Late Saxon kilns than anywhere else in England. Our study of the pottery industry indicates its continental antecedents, while stable isotope analysis of human remains from the associated cemetery indicates that it included non-locals, and we demonstrate artefactual links between the nascent town and the Vikings in th...

The Antiquaries Journal, 2016

This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary project that has revealed the location, ex... more This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary project that has revealed the location, extent and character of the winter camp of the Viking Great Army at Torksey, Lincolnshire, of ad 872–3. The camp lay within a naturally defended area of higher ground, partially surrounded by marshes and bordered by the River Trent on its western side. It is considerably larger than the Viking camp of 873–4 previously excavated at Repton, Derbyshire, and lacks the earthwork defences identified there. Several thousand individuals overwintered in the camp, including warriors, craftworkers and merchants. An exceptionally large and rich metalwork assemblage was deposited during the Great Army’s overwintering, and metal processing and trading was undertaken. There is no evidence for a pre-existing Anglo-Saxon trading site here; the site appears to have been chosen for its strategic location and its access to resources. In the wake of the overwintering, Torksey developed as an important Anglo-Sa...

This project was funded by the University of Sheffield Digital Humanities Exploration Fund in 201... more This project was funded by the University of Sheffield Digital Humanities Exploration Fund in 2015. The project integrated computer science and archaeological approaches in an investigation of the subterranean medieval charnel chapel of Holy Trinity church in Rothwell (Northamptonshire), which houses one of only two remaining in situ medieval ossuaries in England. The chapel, which was constructed during the 13th century, houses disinterred human skeletal remains radiocarbon dated to the 13th-15th and 18th-19th centuries. While medieval charnelling was a European-wide phenomenon, evidence has largely been lost in England following the early 16th-century Reformation, and Rothwell is the most complete surviving example of a charnel chapel with in situ medieval remains. Recent research within the Department of Ar...

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2013

This study investigated stable-isotope ratio evidence of weaning for the late Anglo-Saxon populat... more This study investigated stable-isotope ratio evidence of weaning for the late Anglo-Saxon population of Raunds Furnells, Northants., UK. δ N and δ 13 C values in rib collagen were obtained for individuals of different ages to assess the weaning age of infants within the population. A peak in δ 15 N values at c. two years old, followed by a decline in δ 15 N values until age three indicates a change in diet at that age. This change in nitrogen isotope ratios corresponds with the prevalence of an osteological indicator of stress (cribra orbitalia) and the mortality profile from the site, as well as with archaeological and documentary evidence on attitudes towards juveniles in the Anglo-Saxon period. The pattern of δ 13 C values was less clear. Comparison of the predicted age of weaning to published data from sites dating from the Iron Age to the 19 th century in Britain reveals a pattern of changing weaning practices over time. Such a change has implications for the interpretation of socioeconomic changes during this period of British history.

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Current Archaeology, 2016

PLOS ONE, 2020

Mortality, 2019

American journal of physical anthropology, Jan 29, 2018

American journal of physical anthropology, Jan 21, 2018

American journal of physical anthropology, Jan 6, 2018

Medieval Archaeology, 2016

The Antiquaries Journal

The Antiquaries Journal, 2016

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2013

In 2002 Christopher Daniell drew attention to the apparent invisibility of characteristic post-Co... more In 2002 Christopher Daniell drew attention to the apparent invisibility of characteristic post-Conquest funerary rites in England, noting that documentary resources recount sweeping changes to many walks of life, but neglect to mention any significant changes to burial practices. Other authors writing extensively on the archaeology of the church during the Conquest tend to focus on church buildings, their status and roles, omitting any detailed discussion of potential changes in the form or place of burial used in post-Conquest periods. In this paper I would like to re-examine the evidence for change and development within the funerary sphere during the 11th and 12th centuries in England, with a view to highlighting the ways in which Norman influence might have impacted on burial rites. By reviewing documentary, archaeological and osteological data in concert, I hope to reveal that there were indeed some developments relating to cemetery location and funerary rites, and that these appear to have been associated with post-conquest reforms made in political, religious and economic life, and can be thus argued to be characteristic of Anglo-Norman funerary practice.

St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire – excavated during the 1990s by Philip Rahtz and ... more St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire – excavated during the 1990s by Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts – has become famous for its early medieval inscriptions and filigree glasswork. Certain funerary practices identified at Kirkdale have also become relatively well-known, and include the so-called ‘nest of skulls’ and a lead plate inscribed with the Old English word banc [bone chest]. The former comprised a pre-conquest charnel pit containing the remains of three adults, in which the post-cranial bones had been rather haphazardly interred but the crania carefully arranged on top at the western end, each sitting on their cranial base such that they faced east – the prevailing direction in which other contemporary burials faced. The latter appears to represent the remains of an 8th-10th century ossuary, thus providing further evidence of the post-mortem manipulation of skeletal remains at Kirkdale.
This paper begins by presenting new insights into the population buried at Kirkdale, based on ongoing osteological re-analysis. Discussion then moves on – inspired by the unique ‘nest of skulls’ and the inscribed ossuary plaque – to explore the disturbance and manipulation of skeletonised remains during the early medieval period at Kirkdale. A context is provided by highlighting further contemporary examples of charnelling, disinterment, reburial and relic taking. It is concluded that interactions between the living and the remains of the dead during the early medieval period were both pragmatic and purposeful – contradicting the still widely-held assumptions that Christian funerary rites proscribed any disturbance of the dead.

In many early medieval Christian cemeteries across England, the bodies of neonates and infants ar... more In many early medieval Christian cemeteries across England, the bodies of neonates and infants are selectively interred in proximity to standing structures such as churches. It has been hypothesised that water running from the church eaves would provide posthumous baptism to these children, thus the practice has been termed eaves-drip burial.
This paper explores the demography and topography of eaves-drip burials, revealing that children who died before the end of their first year were selectively buried in zones within two metres of churches, chapels and, in one case, standing posts. At several sites, interments of women of child-bearing age, including two cases of peri-partum mortality, are also found in eaves-drip zones. In consequence it is hypothesised that a form of burial conventionally provided to infants could also be extended to women whose deaths were associated with childbirth.
Examples of infant clustering around structures that could not have created eaves-drip and cases dating prior to the 9th century, when baptismal rites become fully established, cast doubt on the universal applicability the eaves-drip hypothesis and in consequence, a wider discussion of possible motivations for this practice is presented. Evidence for the effects of local peaks in infant mortality, selective burial of young children in a restricted number of cemeteries and issues of selective preservation and recovery of juvenile bones are all evaluated. It is concluded that eaves-drip burial provides a valuable insight into the interconnected identities of mother and infant in an early Christian context, both in life and in death.

Research funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Award Scheme (Grant No: 2006/127490)