Location
Streatham Campus, Exeter
Bioarchaeology is an exciting and fast-advancing field that combines archaeology with branches of the natural sciences to study key topics such as past health, diet, ecology, subsistence strategies and environmental impacts.
The programme develops advanced practical skills in these areas, making use of the Department’s well-provisioned specialist laboratories and reference collections. We have leading specialists in bioarchaeology and a particular and unusual strength of our provision is that we are able to address the bioarchaeology of both the New and Old Worlds.
On completion, you will have the skills to continue into academic research or employment as a bioarchaeology or environmental archaeology specialist in field units, museums or CRM companies.
Human Osteology is an immensely stimulating and dynamic field. There are so many fascinating paths to walk and questions to ask. I enjoy piecing facts and people together from the broad how and why we move and grow, to unveiling the life-course of an individual, sharing each bump and scrape they took along the way. My special passion is for the molecular make-up of homo sapiens and hostile microorganisms and how this can be used to understand movement through space and time.
I have had the opportunity to visit other institutions such as the Universities of Winchester and Surrey as part of research oriented and experience garnering projects. At Winchester, I was allowed access to skeletal remains with lesions associated with leprosy and was then privileged to spend a week at Surrey receiving instruction in the analysis of ancient pathogen DNA. These have been rare and valuable experiences for which I am extremely grateful.
Jamie Toombs, MSc Bioarchaeology (Human Osteology) 2010/11
