Michelle Alexander (archaeologist)

Michelle Alexander is a bioarchaeologist with an interest in multi-faith societies and is Senior Lecturer in Bioarchaeology at the University of York.[1]

Research

Alexander specialises in the study of medieval diet through stable isotope analysis. She was part of the research team for the European Research Council funded project The Archaeology of Regime Change: Sicily in Transition, which explored the changes in population in medieval Sicily.[2] She is part of the research team for the Urban Ecology Zanzibar project.[3] She is project lead for the Faith in Food, Food in Faith Network funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council.[4] She is part of the research team for ArchSci2020, which explores new scientific techniques to understand the circumpolar world.[5] She is Co-Investigator on Landscapes of (Re)Conquest, which seeks to understand relationships between people, castles and landscapes in medieval Iberia.[6] Alexander has published or co-authored work on millet in diets in early medieval Italy,[7] medieval diet in Leopoli-Cencelle,[8] medieval diet in agrarian Apulia,[9]

Additionally Alexander has worked within teams to apply her research across a range of species, including:

  • Chicken evolution[10]
  • Changes in human exploitation of marine vertebrates, through the SeaChanges project[11]
  • The domestication of geese[12]
  • Meso-American turkeys[13][14]
  • Ancient pigs[15]

As well as across time periods:

  • Isotopic analysis of hair from post-medieval London[16]
  • Osteology of sixteenth century Italian workers[17]
  • The Roman Imperial population at Muracciola Torresina[18]
  • Neolithic milk consumption[19]

Career

In 2011, Alexander was appointed as a Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology at Aberdeen University.[1] In 2011, she returned to Durham University as a Visiting Research Fellow, as well as holding a post at Cornell University, USA in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.[1] In 2012, Alexander was appointed Lecturer in Bioarchaeology at the University of York, which was followed by a Senior Lectureship in 2018.[1]

Education

Alexander graduated with BSc (Hons) in Archaeology from Durham University in 2005.[1] She studied for an MSc in Bioarchaeology supported by Manchester and Sheffield Universities in 2006.[1] Alexander graduated with a PhD from Durham University in 2010, which was funded by a Durham Doctoral Fellowship.[1] Her doctoral thesis was entitled: Exploring Diet and Society in Medieval Spain: New Approaches Using Stable Isotope Analysis.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Michelle Alexander - Archaeology, The University of York". www.york.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  2. ^ "Sicily in Transition | Exploring the Archaeology of Regime Change". www.sicilyintransition.org. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  3. ^ "Staff". Urban Ecology and Transitions of the Zanzibar Archipelago. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  4. ^ "Faith in Food and Food in Faith: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Dietary Practice « White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities". wrocah.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  5. ^ "ArchSci2020 - About". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  6. ^ "About us". Landscapes of (Re) Conquest. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  7. ^ Ganzarolli, Giovanna; Alexander, Michelle; Chavarria Arnau, Alexandra; Craig, Oliver E. (2018-08-01). "Direct evidence from lipid residue analysis for the routine consumption of millet in Early Medieval Italy". Journal of Archaeological Science. 96: 124–130. Bibcode:2018JArSc..96..124G. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2018.06.007. hdl:11577/3271879. ISSN 0305-4403. S2CID 135021468.
  8. ^ Baldoni, Marica; Scorrano, Gabriele; Alexander, Michelle; Stasolla, Francesca Romana; Marsella, Luigi Tonino; Rickards, Olga; Martínez-Labarga, Cristina (2019-04-01). "The medieval population of Leopoli-Cencelle (Viterbo, Latium): Dietary reconstruction through stable isotope analysis from bone proteins" (PDF). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 24: 92–101. Bibcode:2019JArSR..24...92B. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.12.013. ISSN 2352-409X. S2CID 134013504.
  9. ^ Rolandsen, Guro Linnerud; Arthur, Paul; Alexander, Michelle (2019-12-01). "A tale of two villages: Isotopic insight into diet, economy, cultural diversity and agrarian communities in medieval (11th–15th century CE) Apulia, Southern Italy" (PDF). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 28: 102009. Bibcode:2019JArSR..28j2009R. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102009. ISSN 2352-409X. S2CID 210290907.
  10. ^ "Chicken study reveals evolution can happen much faster than thought | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  11. ^ "SeaChanges". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  12. ^ Heikkinen, M. E.; Ruokonen, M.; Alexander, M.; Aspi, J.; Pyhäjärvi, T.; Searle, J. B. (2015). "Relationship between wild greylag and European domestic geese based on mitochondrial DNA" (PDF). Animal Genetics. 46 (5): 485–497. doi:10.1111/age.12319. ISSN 1365-2052. PMID 26096191.
  13. ^ Manin, Aurelie; Corona-M, Eduardo; Alexander, Michelle; Craig, Abigail; Thornton, Erin Kennedy; Yang, Dongya Y.; Richards, Michael; Speller, Camilla F. (2018). "Diversity of management strategies in Mesoamerican turkeys: archaeological, isotopic and genetic evidence". Royal Society Open Science. 5 (1): 171613. doi:10.1098/rsos.171613. PMC 5792941. PMID 29410864.
  14. ^ Reitz, Elizabeth J.; Speller, Camilla; McGrath, Krista; Alexander, Michelle (2016-12-01). "A sixteenth-century turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) from Puerto Real, Hispaniola" (PDF). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 10: 640–646. Bibcode:2016JArSR..10..640R. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.05.050. ISSN 2352-409X.
  15. ^ Frantz, Laurent A. F.; Haile, James; Lin, Audrey T.; Scheu, Amelie; Geörg, Christina; Benecke, Norbert; Alexander, Michelle; Linderholm, Anna; Mullin, Victoria E.; Daly, Kevin G.; Battista, Vincent M. (2019-08-27). "Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (35): 17231–17238. Bibcode:2019PNAS..11617231F. doi:10.1073/pnas.1901169116. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6717267. PMID 31405970.
  16. ^ Brown, Chloe; Alexander, Michelle (2016-11-21). "Hair as a Window on Diet and Health in Post-Medieval London: an isotopic analysis". Internet Archaeology (42). doi:10.11141/ia.42.6.12. ISSN 1363-5387.
  17. ^ Baldoni, Marica; Scorrano, Gabriele; Gismondi, Angelo; D’Agostino, Alessia; Alexander, Michelle; Gaspari, Luca; Vallelonga, Fabrizio; Canini, Antonella; Rickards, Olga; Martínez-Labarga, Cristina (2018-10-11). Caramelli, David (ed.). "Who were the miners of Allumiere? A multidisciplinary approach to reconstruct the osteobiography of an Italian worker community". PLOS ONE. 13 (10): e0205362. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1305362B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0205362. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6181348. PMID 30308078.
  18. ^ Baldoni, Marica; Gismondi, Angelo; Alexander, Michelle; D'Agostino, Alessia; Tibaldi, Domitilla; Di Marco, Gabriele; Scano, Giuseppina; Canini, Antonella; Caserta, Emmanuela; Rickards, Olga; Martínez-Labarga, Cristina (2019-10-01). "A multidisciplinary approach to investigate the osteobiography of the Roman Imperial population from Muracciola Torresina (Palestrina, Rome, Italy)" (PDF). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 27: 101960. Bibcode:2019JArSR..27j1960B. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101960. ISSN 2352-409X. S2CID 202356712.
  19. ^ Charlton, Sophy; Ramsøe, Abigail; Collins, Matthew; Craig, Oliver E.; Fischer, Roman; Alexander, Michelle; Speller, Camilla F. (2019-11-01). "New insights into Neolithic milk consumption through proteomic analysis of dental calculus". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 11 (11): 6183–6196. Bibcode:2019ArAnS..11.6183C. doi:10.1007/s12520-019-00911-7. ISSN 1866-9565.
  20. ^ MUNDEE, MICHELLE (2010). Exploring Diet and Society in Medieval Spain: New Approaches Using Stable Isotope Analysis (Doctoral thesis). Durham University.