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Department of Archaeology

 

Biography

My academic background is primarily concerned with agrarian history, with an emphasis on developing post-medieval livestock stockbreeding techniques and livestock management practices, as well as how these changes shaped our agricultural histories, geographical variation and various connected industries. I hold a First-Class Honours in Archaeology from the University of York, however my research to-date has often crossed several academic disciplines, combining economic history, archaeology, legal history and geography. Upon completion, I undertook a fully funded Masters (by research) at the University of York continuing previous research though with an emphasis on the effects on the post-medieval parchment industry. This project supported the work of several colleagues within the Palaeome group working on hDNA studies of historic parchment samples. The combination of these projects has brought me to the University of Cambridge, after being awarded the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award, in partnership with the Museum of Leathercraft, to study the English leather industry during the long nineteenth century.

Research

My current research is in collaboration with the Museum of Leathercraft (Northampton), the University of Cambridge Archaeology Department and with Leigh Shaw-Taylor of the University of Cambridge History Department. This project will explore the economy of leather, using the published data from the Livery Companies archives, contemporary trade journal and various other occupational data sources discovered during my previous years of research. This project also aims to contextualise the oral and written archives of the leather economy within the legal history of the industry. Finally, I will review the material culture of the industry by examining the Museum’s vast collection, the work of the Leather Conservation Centre and the archives of the partnered Livery Companies. It is my intention that this research can then be woven into several of the projects currently being conducted by those within the Beasts2Craft group.

Teaching and Supervisions

Research supervision: 

Supervisors: Matthew Collins, Leigh-Taylor Shaw, Graham Lampard

Job Titles

PhD student in Archaeology

General Info

Not available for consultancy
Research Expertise / Fields of study: 
Computational and Quantitative Archaeology
Environmental Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, and Landscape studies
Cultural Heritage

Contact Details

seh222 [at] cam.ac.uk

Affiliations

Person keywords: 
Post-Medieval Archaeology
Leather
Parchment
British History
Occupational History
Subjects: 
Archaeology
Themes: 
Material Culture
Geographical areas: 
Britain
Cambridgeshire
Europe
Periods of interest: 
Post-Medieval