Biography
My background is interdisciplinary, centred on the use of scientific approaches to understand the daily lives of normal people in the past.
In 2018 I completed my Bachelor of Science (Anatomy/Histology and Geography) and Bachelor of Arts (Archaeology) (First Class Hons) at the University of Sydney. My honours thesis concerned the detection of funerary thermal modification at EBI Jericho. During this time, I also worked in the commercial archaeology sector.
Upon relocating to the UK, I worked in collections management and preventative conservation in Scotland, before joining the TEMPERA European Taining Network as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the University of York. There, under the supervision of Dr. Jessica Hendy, I undertook research in the proteomics of pottery residues, which I now continue today in the form of a PhD at the University of Cambridge.
Research
My research concerns the application of proteomic methods to ceramics and their residues to investigate ancient foodways and cuisine. I explore the impact of food preparation practices and depositional environment on the survival of ancient dietary proteins, and implicit preservation biases. My primary case study involves an exploration of diet and cuisine through proteomic analysis of a large pottery assemblage from Roman Northstowe, and I have a smaller late Neolithic case study from Central Poland where I explore the detection of dairy processing.
My supervisory team includes Jessica Hendy (external), Tamsin O'Connell, Matthew Collins and Martin Millet. I am supported by the Cambridge Trust and Newnham College.
I also continue my previous research on the taphonomy of burning on human skeletal remains.
Key Publications
Detection of dairy products from multiple taxa in Late Neolithic pottery from Poland: an integrated biomolecular approach, Evans M, Lundy J, Lucquin A, Hagan, Kowalski Ł, Wilczyńki J, Bickle P, Adamczak K, Craig O E., Robson H K, and Hendy J (2023), Royal Society Open Science
Investigating intentionality of burning through macroscopic taphonomy in complex legacy funerary assemblages: opportunities and challenges Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 41 (2022): 103243. Evans M, Faulkner P, and Asmussen B
Teaching and Supervisions
Demonstrator for B18: Decoding the Skeleton, B1: Humans in biological perspective, AS8: Biomolecular Archaeology
Supervisor for Biomolecular and Osteology topics in A21: Introduction to Archaeological Science
Other Professional Activities
Commercial Archaeology, Preventative conservation
