Biography
During my MA at the University of Southampton, I developed an interest in Neolithic funerary practices and the analysis of commingled remains through taphonomy. For my PhD, which formed part of the 'FRAGSUS' ERC project, I investigated the treatment of the dead in late Neolithic Malta through taphonomic analysis of human remains from two collective burial sites: the Xagħra Circle (Gozo) and Xemxija Tombs (Malta). Since 2014, I have been involved in fieldwork in the Avebury region, and I am the osteologist for the 'Living with Monuments' AHRC project. I have also excavated prehistoric sites and human remains in Italy, Malta and Egypt. From 2018-2019, I worked as a Collections Assistant at the Duckworth Laboratory and between 2018-2020 I worked as a Research Assistant on the 'After the Plague: Health in Medieval Cambridge' project. In 2020, I started my current role on the ERC-funded 'ANCESTORS' project. In addition, I am Co-Investigator for the 'The Sentinels of Ħal Saflieni, Malta' project, led by Dr. Ronika Power, which is carrying out the first full bioarchaeological study of the human remains from the UNESCO inscribed Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum. I am leading a project funded by the McDonald Institute to construct osteobiographies of a Beaker period double burial from the West Kennet Palisades, and I am Co-Investigator on a project led by Dr. Emily Banfield to re-analyse the human remains from West Kennet long barrow.
Education:
- PhD in Archaeology, Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, funded by the AHRC - 2019
- MA Osteoarchaeology (Distinction), funded by the AHRC, University of Southampton - 2015
- BA Archaeology (Hons), University of Southampton - 2013
Research
I am a bioarchaeologist specialising in European prehistory, particularly the Neolithic to Bronze Age in Britain and the central Mediterranean. My research is concerned with reconstructing interactions with the dead through funerary taphonomy, and situating the body and deathways within their broader social context. I am especially interested in methods of analysing and interpreting commingled and fragmented remains. My work is predicated on the understanding that deathways respond to, and can extend, aspects of an individual's life and I seek to intertwine the study of life histories with funerary practices to ask questions about individual and communal identity, power, gender and personhood.
- Neolithic Europe
- Italian prehistory
- Maltese prehistory
- Bioarchaeology
- Commingled human remains
- Death and burial
- Funerary taphonomy
- Archaeological theory
Key Publications
Edited volumes:
Stoddart, S., Power, R.K., Thompson, J.E., Mercieca-Spiteri, B., McLaughlin, R., Pace, A. and Malone, C. (eds). Forthcoming. Temple People: Bioarchaeology, Resilience and Culture in Prehistoric Malta. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Fine, L.J and Thompson, J.E. (eds.) 2018. Glocal Archaeology. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 33(1). ISSN 0261-4332.
Peer-reviewed articles:
Tafuri, M.A., Soncin, S., Thompson, J.E., Panella, S., Scheib, C., Sivilli, S., Radina, F., Minozzi, S., Muntoni, I.M., Fiorentino, G., Robb, J. 2023. Regional long-term analysis of dietary isotopes in Neolithic southeastern Italy: new patterns and research directions. Scientific Reports 13: 7914 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-34771-y
Elliott, E., Saupe, T., Thompson, J.E., Robb, J.E. and Scheib, C.L. 2023. Sex Bias in Neolithic Megalithic Burials. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180(1): 196–203. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24645
Ariano, B., Mattiangeli, V., Breslin, E.M., Parkinson, E.W., McLaughlin, T.R., Thompson, J.E., Power, R.K., Stock, J.T., Mercieca-Spiteri, B., Gopalakrishnan, S., Stoddart, S., Malone, C., Cassidy, L.M. and Bradley, D.G. 2022. Seaways or highways? Ancient Maltese genomes and the genetic geography of Neolithic Europe. Current Biology 32(12): 2668–2680.e6. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.069
Thompson, J.E., Power, R.K., Mercieca-Spiteri, B., Magnussen, J., Buck, L.T., Stock, J.T., McLaughlin, T., Stoddart, S., Malone, C. 2021. Analysis of periosteal lesions from commingled remains at the Xagħra Circle hypogeum (Gozo) reveals the first case of probable scurvy in Neolithic Malta. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 32(1):18-37. DOI: 10.1002/oa.3040
Thompson, J.E., Parkinson, E.W., McLaughlin, T.R., Barratt, R., Power, R.K., Mercieca-Spiteri, B., Stoddart, S., Malone, C. 2020. Placing and remembering the dead in late Neolithic Malta: bioarchaeological and spatial analysis of the Xagħra Circle hypogeum, Gozo. World Archaeology 52(1): 71–89. DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2019.1745680
Thompson, J.E. 2019. Tinkering with the Dead: Taphonomic analysis of human remains from Tinkinswood Chambered Tomb. Archaeologia Cambrensis 168: 35–57. ISSN 0306-6924
Thompson, J.E., Martín-Vega, D., Power, R. K., Stoddart, S. and Malone, C. 2018. Identification of dermestid pupal chambers to Neolithic human bone: Implications for funerary practices at the Xemxija Tombs, Malta. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 22: 123–131. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.09.016
Book chapters:
Malone, C., McLaughlin, R., Mercieca-Spiteri, B., Parkinson, E., Power, R.K., Stock, J., Stoddart, S. and Thompson, J. 2018. The social implications of death in prehistoric Malta. In Schmitt, A., Déderix, S., Driessen, J. and Crevecoeur, I. (eds.) Gathered in Death: Archaeological and Ethnological Perspectives on Collective Burial and Social Organisation. Aegis Archéologie du Monde Minoen. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain, 128–142.
Articles (not peer-reviewed):
Thompson, J. 2017. Reconstructing Burial Practices at the Xagħra Circle, Gozo. Tesserae, The Bulletin of Heritage Malta 4: 28–35.
Publication
2023
2022
2020
2018
2022
2018
Teaching and Supervisions
I will teach the osteology component of A2 (Archaeology in Action) and A21 (Introduction to Archaeological Science) for 2023-2024. I am happy to act as a co-supervisor on dissertations focused on osteology, taphonomy, death and burial, and prehistoric Europe.
In the past, I have supervised on papers A1 (World Archaeology), A4 (Being Human) and A12 (Archaeological Theory and Practice II) and I have acted as a guest lecturer on papers including the Archaeology of Death and Burial (Macquarie University), Archaeological Theory and Practice I (Cambridge University), European Prehistory (Cambridge University) and MA Practical Archaeology (University of Malta).
Other Professional Activities
Principal Investigator – Osteobiographies of a Double Burial at the West Kennet Palisades, funded by the D M McDonald Grants & Awards Fund
Co-Investigator – Domesday for West Kennet (PI: Dr. Emily Banfield), funded by the D M McDonald Grants & Awards Fund
Co-Investigator – The Sentinels of Ħal Saflieni, Malta Project (PI: Assoc. Prof. Ronika Power), funded by the Union Académique Internationale
