Durham University

Graduate Student, Archaeology

Thesis Title: Marine Resource Exploitation during the Mesolithic of the Atlantic Seaboard of Europe, with First Evidence from the Outer Hebrides, Western Isles of Scotland

About

I am currently studying for my PhD (funded by the Durham Doctoral Studentship scheme) at the Department of Archaeology, Durham University.

GENERAL RESEARCH INTERESTS

My general research interests can be summarised as follows:

Hunter-gatherer subsistence, settlement and society in Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Europe, Palaeolithic art, Mesolithic Atlantic Scotland, zooarchaeology (particulary the study of fish and shellfish remains), experimental archaeology, biomolecular archaeology, and coastal palaeo-landscape reconstruction and its application to archaeological investigations.

CURRENT RESEARCH

The relationship between humans and the sea during the Mesolithic of the Atlantic seaboard of Europe is a major area of archaeological research. However, our understanding of the nature, and subsistence, adaptive and social significance of marine resource exploitation during the Mesolithic of this broad geographical zone is hampered by the existence of regions where very little is known, largely due to a lack of archaeological evidence. One such region is the Western Isles of Scotland (otherwise known as the ‘Outer Hebrides’).

Within the last few years, the first archaeological evidence of a Mesolithic human presence in this region has been discovered at the coastal sites of Northton (Harris), Tràigh na Beirigh (Lewis) and Teampuil Bágh (Harris). Abundant fish bone, shell and animal bone has been recovered from these sites. As such, these sites provide an invaluable opportunity to advance understanding of marine resource exploitation across the Atlantic seaboard of Europe by providing first insights into the relationship between humans and sea in the Western Isles of Scotland.

From this basis, this PhD has two primary research aims:

1.To provide a preliminary reconstruction of the nature, and subsistence, adaptive and social significance of marine resource exploitation during the Mesolithic of the Western Isles of Scotland, based upon the assemblages available from Northton (Harris), Teampuil Bágh (Harris) and Tràigh na Beirigh (Lewis).

2.To provide a preliminary reconstruction of the nature, and subsistence, adaptive and social significance of marine resource exploitation during the Mesolithic of the Atlantic seaboard of Europe, based upon a comparison of the assemblages studied from the Western Isles with those from selected sites from other regions across this geographical zone.

EDUCATION

I graduated from Durham University with a  BA (Hons) in Archaeology in July 2010. In September/ October 2010, the dissertation which I submitted for this degree was awarded first prize  by the AEA (Association for Environmental Archaeology) for the John Evans Dissertation Prize for the best undergraduate dissertation in Britain on any aspect of environmental archaeology . This dissertation was entitled: “Red Herring or Dietary Reality: The Utilisation of Aquatic Resources in Upper Palaeolithic Europe”.

In January 2012, I graduated from the same university with a Masters (Distinction) degree in Prehistoric Archaeology. The dissertation which I submitted for this degree provided first insights into the nature and importance of fishing and shellfishing during the Mesolithic of the Western Isles of Scotland (otherwise known as the 'Outer Hebrides') through a preliminary analysis of the fish and shellfish remains recovered from the first Mesolithic sites yet known in this region: Northton (Isle of Harris) and Tràigh na Beirigh (Isle of Lewis).

EXPERIENCE

In recent years, I have participated in several excavations in Northumberland (Bamburgh Castle), the Channel Islands (Herm) and the Western Isles of Scotland (Northton, Tràigh na Beirigh and Teampuil Bágh). I continue to be actively involved in the post-excavation work from the aforementioned sites in the Western Isles, through which I am gaining valuable environmental archaeological experience.  I have also analysed the fish and shellfish remains from the Mesolithic sites of Northton and Tràigh na Beirigh: a project which is being continued through my PhD, and later prehistoric sites in the Western Isles. My skills of fish bone analysis, in particular, are being further developed through my current analysis of the fish remains recently recovered from Durham Cathedral and Palace Green (Durham). In addition, I have been involved in public outreach. I organised and ran two workshops at the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) event entitled “Eating Through Time” held at Durham University in July 2011, which introduced several members of the public to the study of fish and shellfish remains from archaeological sites. I will run a workshop on identifying fish butchery in the past at the CBA event held at the same instition this year. I was also interviewed alongside Prof. Peter Rowley-Conwy for a South Korean TV documentary about the role and importance of fish and fishing in ancient and modern human societies in which I discussed my research with Mesolithic fish remains. In addition, I have taught undergraduate students on the Experimental Methods in Archaeology module.

Overall, my specialist skills include:

- Analysis of archaeological fish and shellfish remains
- Reconstruction of now-submerged palaeocoastlines using ArcMap
- Excavation
- Post-excavation work (e.g. wet-sieving, residue sorting)
- Public outreach

GREY LITERATURE

Blake, E R R, Church M J & Nesbitt, C 2012 Data Structure Report of Small-Scale Sampling of a Mesolithic Shell Midden at Tràigh na Beirigh, Cnip, Lewis, 2011. Unpublished Report, Department of Archaeology, Durham University.

Blake, E R R, Church M J & Nesbitt, C 2012 Data Structure Report of Small-Scale Sampling of the Mesolithic Site at Teampuil Bágh, Toe Head Peninsula, Northton, Harris, 2011, Unpublished Report, Department of Archaeology, Durham University.

PUBLICATIONS

Church, M J, Bishop, R R, Blake, E R R, Nesbitt, C, Perri, A, Piper, S, Rowley-Conwy, P A In press 'Tràigh na Beirigh' Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, n.d.

Church, M J, Bishop, R R, Blake, E R R, Nesbitt, C, Perri, A, Piper, S, Rowley-Conwy, P A In press 'Temple Bay' Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, n.d.

Nesbitt, C, Church, M J and Gilmour, S M D In press 'Domestic, industrial, (en)closed? Survey and excavation of a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age promontory enclosure at Gob Eirer, Lewis, Western Isles'. With contributions from Bjarke Ballin, T, Blake, E R R, Gidney, L, Johnson, M, McLaren, D, MacSween, A, McGibbon, F, and illustrations by Archaeological Services Durham University, George Mudie and Alan Braby.  (Forthcoming November 2012) Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 141

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