Research Assistant
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+44 (0)1224 273615
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jowen@abdn.ac.uk
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Room 209
Research Assistant
BSc Hons (dunelm), MSc (York)
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Personal Details
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Biography
Joe started his life as an archaeologist at Durham University, where he became interested in zooarchaeology (the study of human - animal interactions throughout history) and bioarchaeology. His dissertation examined the changing role of pigs in the Philistine economy in the Levant during the early Iron Age. He then moved to York, to complete an MSc in zooarchaeology. Following this he became an itinerant contract archaeologist, working in Australia as a field archaeologist and Ireland as a zooarchaeologist. He returned to the UK to take up a NERC and Leverhulme Trust funded PhD applying Geometric Morphometrics to the study of pig domestication, biogeography and evolution. Joe joined Aberdeen University in September 2012 as a research associate.
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Research Interests
My research interests focus on human-animal interactions, especially domestication. I study the physical responses exhibited by domesticates, quantifying shape changes using a statistical technique called geometric morphometrics. I have been working on modern comparative material to compare to archaeological specimens, while also examining the different ontogenetic pathways of wild and domestic pigs to elucidate why domestication produces a different phenotype compared to the wild ancestors. I am also interested in biogeography, physical responses to climate change, suid systematics and evolution, and the applicability of geometric morphometrics to wider archaeological and bioarchaeological questions.
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Research Grants
2008-2012 NERC tied studentship "Pigs, people and the Neolithisation of Europe"
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Teaching Responsibilities
AY3003 Archaeological Science
AY3507/4507 Human Palaeoecology
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