Moving to Inter- and Trans-disciplinarity: Integrating Bioarchaeology into Early Medieval Studies

Organizers

Sam Leggett, Katie Hemer

session information

This lab aims to facilitate open dialogue about collaboration, data integration and the utility of bioarchaeological methods in study the early medieval period in the North Atlantic islands. A series of small case studies showcasing methodologies such as: osteology, isotopic analysis, ancient DNA and proteomics will form the basis of the lab. After which we invite participants to discuss the future of these techniques in the field, the “big” questions about our period of study which they can help to answer and those which they cannot. As we are amidst, or possibly moving beyond, what some have called the ‘Third Scientific Revolution’ in archaeology due to the improvements in aDNA, palaeoproteomics, residue analysis and now also metabolomics, fruitful discussions around the capabilities, suitability and limitations of biomolecular techniques are even more pressing. We will discuss how we can move beyond multi-disciplinary discussions and achieve inter-and trans-disciplinarity as called for by Tamsin O’Connell in her 2021 International Society for Biomolecular Archaeology keynote, and Sam Leggett’s International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England keynote of the same year. How do we design truly trans-disciplinary projects? And how do we meaningfully train the early medievalists of the future in this emerging landscape of biomolecular data? We will solicit participants from our current networks and further afield with the hope of an open forum where any conference attendee can participate.

Contact Information

For more information, please get in touch with the organizers, Sam Leggett, Sam.Leggett@ed.ac.uk, and Katie Hemer, k.hemer@ucl.ac.uk.