Dr KATE BRITTON

Dr KATE BRITTON The University of Aberdeen School of Geosciences Lecturer work +44 (0)1224 273823 pref k.britton@abdn.ac.uk pref Department of Archaeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, St. Mary's, Elphinstone Road, AB24 3UF UK Room 210

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Biography

Kate began her archaeological career in 2002 at Durham University, where she studied Archaeology (BSc), specialising in prehistory, bioarchaeology and palaeodietary reconstruction. She then moved on to University of Reading in 2005 to study for a NERC-funded MSc degree in Geoarchaeology. It was at Reading that Kate began to incorporate the stable isotope analysis of animal and human remains into her research. In 2006 she returned to Durham to start a PhD in Bioarchaeology, again receiving sponsorship from NERC. In 2007 she joined the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, initially as a doctoral candidate, and after finishing her thesis, as a post-doctoral research scientist and DAAD Junior Scholarship holder.    

Kate was appointed Lecturer in Archaeological Science in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in 2010. Kate is also holds a position as an Associate Researcher at the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig.

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Research Interests

Kate is an archaeological scientist, specialising in the use of stable isotope analysis for the reconstruction of past diets, movements, and environments. Her research centers on the relationship between life-time behaviours, diets and movements, and the stable isotope chemistry of body tissues. She specialises in the use of multi-isotope systems (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, δ³⁴S, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and the reconstruction of individual isotopic histories, focusing on the interaction between humans and animals. This includes the isotopic-identification of subsistence strategies, animal husbandry practices, the isotope ecology of archaeologically-important prey-species, and the identification of broad-scale climatic or environmental isotopic-trends.

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Current Research

• Late Pleistocene faunal biogeography and implications for Neanderthal subsistence strategies and landscape use in southwest France  
• Salt-marsh grazing and coastal agriculture in North-West Europe
• Palaeobiogeography and palaeoecology of European late Pleistocene Rangifer
• Palaeodiet and subsistence practices in northwest Alaska   
• Use of oxygen isotope analysis of faunal remains as terrestrial palaeoclimatic proxies at the late Pleistocene site of Neumark-Nord 2, Germany
• Diet and health in Medieval Aberdeen
• Dietary change and maritime adaptations in prehistoric North-West Alaska
• Isotope applications to late Pleistocene herbivore ecology and food web studies

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Research Grants

2012-2013	Isotope analysis at St. Nicholas Kirk, Aberdeen: Diet, Health and Mobility in a Medieval Maritime Society Royal Society of Edinburgh Arts and Humanities Small Research Grant
2012	Principal's Excellence Fund Travel Grant, University of Aberdeen (SAA 2013)
2012	Maritime adaptations and dietary change in prehistoric Western Alaska: stable isotope investigations at Nunalleq Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Research Travel Grant
2011-2013	Animal Husbandry in the Intertidal Zone: A Stable Isotope Approach to Changing Subsistence Strategies in the Belgian Coastal Plain British Academy Small Research Grant (co-PI with Dr. Gundula Müldner, University of Reading, in collaboration with Dr. Anton Ervynck, Flemish Heritage Institute)
2009-2010	Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstruction at the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic site of Neumark-Nord, Germany Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst research grant for Junior Scholars

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Teaching Responsibilities

Course co-ordinator:

• AY3003 Archaeological Science (Undergraduate 15-credit course)
• AY5001 Northern Worlds (MSc 30-credit course)

Additional teaching:

• SX1501 Humans and Other Animals
• ED1057 What Makes Us Human
• AY1002 Introduction to World Prehistory
• AY1502 Archaeology in Action
• AY2004 The Archaeology of the North: Colonization and Culture Contact
• AY2503 Archaeologies of Social Life
• AY2504 The Archaeology of the North: Lifeways and Worldviews
• AY3007 Advanced Archaeological Practice
• AY3507/4507 Human Palaeoecology
• AY4510 Current Issues in Archaeology
• AY3511/4511 Indigenous, Community and Public Archaeologies
• AY5002 Theory and Method in Archaeological Research

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Admin Responsibilities

• Undergraduate Programme Co-ordinator in Archaeology
• Archaeology website

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PhD Students

Ellen McManus

'Yup'ik economy, subsistence and diet: An intergrated ecosystem approach to ancient arctic lifeways using zooarchaeological analysis and stable isotope techniques'

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Publications

Contributions to Journals

Articles

• Britton, KH., Knecht, R. & Hillerdal, C. (in press). 'Maritime adaptations and dietary variation in prehistoric Western Alaska: Stable isotope analysis of permafrost-preserved human hair'. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
• Britton, KH., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Roebroeks, W., Kindler, L. & Richards, MP. (2012). 'Stable isotope analysis of well-preserved 120,000-year-old herbivore bone collagen from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Neumark-Nord 2, Germany reveals niche separation between bovids and equids'. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, vol 333-334, pp. 168-177.
  [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.03.028
• Britton, KH. & Huntley, J. (2011). 'New evidence for the consumption of barley at Romano-British military and civilian sites from the analysis of cereal bran fragments in faecal material'. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, vol 20, no. 1, pp. 41-52.
  [Online] DOI: 10.1007/s00334-010-0245-3
• Britton, KH., Grimes, V., Niven, L., Steele, T., McPherron, S., Soressi, M., Kelly, T., Jaubert, J., Hublin, J-J & Richards, M. (2011). 'Strontium isotope evidence for migration in late Pleistocene Rangifer: Implications for Neanderthal hunting strategies at the Middle Palaeolithic site of Jonzac, France'. Journal of Human Evolution, vol 61, no. 2, pp. 176-185.
  [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.03.004
• Britton, KH., Grimes, V., Dau, J. & Richards, MP. (2009). 'Reconstructing faunal migrations using intra-tooth sampling and strontium and oxygen isotope analyses: a case study of modern caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti)'. Journal of Archaeological Science, vol 36, no. 5, pp. 1163-1172.
  [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2009.01.003
• Britton, KH., Mueldner, G. & Bell, M. (2008). 'Stable isotope evidence for salt-marsh grazing in the Bronze Age Severn Estuary, UK: implications for palaeodietary analysis at coastal sites'. Journal of Archaeological Science, vol 35, no. 8, pp. 2111-2118.
  [Online] DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2008.01.012

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