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Bioarchaeology & Osteoarchaeology @ Southampton

To celebrate the start of a new academic year here at Southampton, we have launched a new website to showcase some of our bioarchaeology, palaeopathology and osteology research. This launch is happening that very same week that aspects of our collaborative research with Historic England and Bioengineering (here at Southampton) are being talked about at the European Union in Brussels! But why are we called BOS? Bioarchaeology & Osteoarchaeology at Southampton - but that much is obvious... Continue reading →

Left Handers Day & Lefties: how can we identify handedness (or hand preference)?

Today is (apparently) International Left Handers Day.... There are few lefties among the Archaeology staff... Prof Jon Adams (our UG admissions tutor) for one - he is usually recognizable when diving as the only left handed underwater archaeologist (just see the films of the excavation and lifting of the Mary Rose). More famously (?) Leonardo da Vinci was a leftie. So why is this? Population-level right-handedness is a defining characteristic of being human. Continue reading →

Are YOU ready? Life after A levels…

Are you ready to join us? Did you get your place with us? We're really looking to seeing you soon!  If you got your A-level grades, we're really pleased that you're going to be joining us in September. Let's hope that it is with better weather than today! If you didn't get the A level results you wanted, don't panic! Archaeology still has a few places for suitable candidates. Continue reading →

Day of Archaeology

Today is the international Day of Archaeology (if you search twitter #dayofarch and the official webpage you will lots of postings). And it's when some of us try to tell the world what we really do - using just one day as a snapshot. Well my day started slowly. Heavy rain outside. Not a great day to be in the field. I felt sorry for people trying to excavate in the heavy rain - but I had a day of data analysis planned. Continue reading →

Festival of British Archaeology

It is less than a week until the start of the Festival of British Archaeology - and we will be holding lots of events, both on and off-campus, during 2 weeks of the Festival. Everything kicks off with an Archaeology Activity Day this Saturday 11th July. Just drop in to take part in a series of hands-on activities related to aspects of archaeology within the department. Continue reading →

Bioarchaeology & Osteoarchaeology @ Southampton Interns (#BOSI)

Our first group of interns working on skeletal bioarchaeology started today – focusing on the human skeletons from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Great Chesterford in Essex. During the 3 week internship, topics to be covered by Dr Ellie Williams & Sarah Stark (with occasional help from others including Alistair Pike and Sonia Zakrzewski amongst others) will include ageing and sexing of human remains – and all the problems and issues that arise in trying to do this. Continue reading →

Archaeology Activity Day for the Festival of British Archaeology

As part of the Festival of British Archaeology we are organising an Archaeology Activity Day at the University of Southampton. There will plenty of opportunities for hands-on experience via free interactive workshops: Bones & Burials CSI Shipwrecks Meet the Monkeymen Virtual Realities: Archaeology, Lego and Minecraft Hants & Wight Maritime bus The workshops are open to everyone of all ages. Drop in sessions running all day from 10am to 4pm. Continue reading →