Dr Samantha Jones

Biography

Dr. Samantha Elsie Jones has worked at the University of Aberdeen since 2017 as a Research Fellow within the School of Geosciences. Her main interests are in fossil pollen & the use of other environmental proxies to better understand the impacts of environmental & social change on past societies. Between 2017-2022 she was employed on ‘The Comparative Kingship Project’ led by Prof. Gordon Noble to explore how environments changed as early Medieval kingdoms in Scotland & Ireland took shape. Currently she is PI on an exciting new research project (2022-2027) entitled ‘Coming into the Light: Exploring the Dark Age environments of northern Britain’ - a collaborative project working with archaeologists, historians & environmental sciences from the University of Aberdeen, Queen's University Belfast, National Museum Scotland, the University of Glasgow & the University of Santiago de Compostela.

For more info: https://www.comingintothelightproject.co.uk/

Education: Samantha holds a BA joint honor's degree in Geography & German from the University of Plymouth. An MSc in Environmental Archaeology and a PhD in tropical Palynology from QUB. The PhD research involved spending 2 months conducting research in the tropical Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo & produced a vegetation record spanning 50,000 years, including evidence of sago arboreal practices 3000 years ago.     

Previous Research Posts:

2012-2014: A variety of temporary posts at QUB,.

2014-2016: A 2-year Marie Curie fellowship at IPHES, Tarragona, Spain. The project used multi-proxy analysis to examine the effects of abrupt climatic events on prehistoric societies in Alicante. The results produced a 50,000-year record of lake catchment and vegetation change, but also strong evidence of an extreme aridity event 8200 yrs ago which coincided with the disappearance of hunter-gatherers in the area and a delay in the arrival of the 1st farmers.

2017: A brief technical post at the University of Reading.

Research Overview

I am interested in the use of multi-proxy palaeoecological analysis to reconstruct past environments inorder to gain a better understanding of how past societies lived and utilised the environment in which they lived. I am also interested in the impacts of environmental and climatic stress on human-landscape interactions.

Current Research

I have recently been awarded a 5-year Leverhulme grant (Sept 2022 until Sept 2027), entitled ‘Coming into the Light: Exploring the Dark Age environments of northern Britain’. This project is a collaborative project with Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Glasgow, National Museums Scotland and the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain and will combine environmental sciences (e.g. fossil pollen and geochemistry) with archaeology and historical archives to better understand native societies in northern Britain during the 1st millennium AD. The project will focus on the impacts of Roman occupation and abandonment on native communities in frontier regions, north of the Antonine wall, but will also explore the period between the 5th – 10th centuries AD.

See: Coming into the Light: Exploring the Dark age environments of northern Britain (comingintothelightproject.co.uk)  

Photos: Coring on Iona May & June 2023

Past Research

• 2014-2016: Marie Curie: prehistoric-transitions-in-the-mediterranean-cultural-and-economic-responses-to-climate-change

See webpage for more info: Prehistoric Transitions in the Mediterranean: Cultural and Economic Responses to Climate Change (google.com)

See Publication: A multi-proxy approach to understanding complex responses of salt-lake catchments to climate variability and human pressure: A Late Quaternary case study from south-eastern, Spain - ScienceDirect

• PhD research 2007-2012: The Cultured Rainforest Project: The Cultured Rainforest Project | Department of Archaeology (cam.ac.uk)
• Outputs: The Cultured Rainforest Project - Outputs | Department of Archaeology (cam.ac.uk) & some photos below:
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Funding and Grants

• 2022: Leverhulme Trust 5 year project entitled 'Coming into the Light: Exploring the Dark Age environments of Northern Britain'. Project number: RG16612-10
• 2019: Research Futures Fund (RFF): £500 to host an interdisciplinary gaming workshop at Aberdeen University; it aimed to investigate the use of games in teaching, research and outreach.
• 2016: Beta Analytica. 500 Euros towards the cost of the MEDINES workshop.
• 2014-2016: Marie Curie Actions - Intra-European Fellowship (IEF). Project number: 628589.

Teaching Responsibilities

2023-2026

• Module Leader for Geoscience Project B (2025 & 2026)
• Bioarchaeology (4th yr palynology mini module of lectures & practicals)
• Northern worlds Farming on the Fringe lecture & Altering the Earth seminar (MSc)
• Archaeobotany (1st yr)
• Geoarchaeology (1st yr)
• Archaeology of the North (Picts, Vikings & Scots (1st yr)
• Food for Thought seminar (4th yr)
• Introduction to Palynology in Archaeology lecture & Practical (3rd yr)

2022 

• Bioarchaeology
• Sustainable Futures 
• Archaeobotany 
• Geoarchaeology 
• 1st year tutorials – Essay writing 
• 1st year tutorials – Bog bodies 

2021-2017, University of Aberdeen: 

• • Course co-ordinator, lectures & microscopy teaching in Bioarchaeology
  • Food for Thought 
  • Archaeobotany
  • Geoarchaeology
  • MSc Northern Worlds-Farming on the Fringe 
  • Archaeology of the North (Human Environmental Impacts, Picts, Vikings & Scots)
  • 1st year tutorials – Essay writing 

2011-2008: Laboratory demonstrator, Teaching and Fieldwork assistant for Palynology at QUB.