Human Osteoarchaeology SIG online day conference

Human Osteoarchaeology Group online day conference

Saturday 18 October 2025, 10:00 - 16:00

CIfA's Human Osteoarchaeology Special Interest Group 2025 conference will take place online on Saturday October 18 2025 and will focus on dissemination of human osteoarchaeological findings, new projects, case studies, fieldwork, methods and research networking.

The group welcomes anyone studying, working or simply interested in the field of human osteoarchaeology to join us for the day.

Agenda

10:00 Welcome and introduction to the day

10:05 Conflict, Trauma, and Identity: Human Remains from the Battle of East Stoke, Sam Tipper

10:20 A Comparative Analysis of Fracture Patterns: Distinguishing Blunt Force Trauma from Sharp Force Trauma, Fay Jarvis

10:35 Post-Mortem Predators: Identifying and Tracking Scavengers of Remains in a Northwest European Context, Sarina Riechmann

10:40 Shrouds of Smoke:  Identifying Microscopic Low Temperature Heat Alterations of Bone in Intentional Corpse Preservation, Avril Lauren Lindsay 

10:55 Questions

11:05 Break 

11:20 The use of Photogrammetry and Archaeothanatology to uncover minority mortuary practices, Ellen Green

11:35 Osteoarchaeological Analysis of Human Remains from the Fourth Season of Excavation at Deh Dumen Cemetery, Yasuj, Iran, Mahsa Najafi and Reza Naseri 

11:50 A biomolecular and digital analysis of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Newark castle, Tanja Karlsen and Sam Tipper

11:55 "Good things come in small packages"  7th-9th century burials; evidence for Anglo-Saxon Malmesbury, Sharon Clough

12:10 The palaeopathology of the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery of Soham, Cambridgeshire, Paola Ponce

12:25 Questions

12:35 Lunch break

13:15  Licence to Handle the Dead: Authority, Accountability, and the Competent Person, Benjamin Neil

13:30 Passage Tomb People: (Re)assessing Neolithic Human Remains from Past Excavations in Ireland, Jonny Geber and Jessica Smyth

13:45 Mobilizing Existing aDNA Data Sets to Test the Accuracy of Skeletal Sex  Estimation on Assemblages from Northern England, Taylor P. Roe

13:50 Challenging Assumptions: Bioarchaeological findings from Rural Yorkshire, Malin Holst, Anwen Caffell, Becky Gowland and Michelle Alexander 

14:05 Urban Lives in Late and Post-Medieval Wales: An Osteological Analysis of Human Remains from the Western Quayside assemblage, Haverfordwest, Katie Erin Faillace and Ciara O'Brien Butler

14:20 Questions

14:30 Break

14:45 The Bare Bones: a fresh take on the interpretation of our ancient past and contemporary archaeological science, Matt Ritchie

15:00 Echoes of Agony: An Exploration into the Impacts of Pain from Skeletal Infections in Individuals from Medieval Scotland, Hope Easton

15:15 Skeletal Signs of Sensory Loss in the Past, Srijanita Maurya

15:20 Without a leg to stand on: Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease in the archaeological record, Ryan Frederick and Paola Ponce

15:25 Understanding elderly bodies: a case study of George and Elizabeth Cumberland, Heidi Dawson-Hobbis

15:40 Questions

16:00 End of day

Price

• £5 for those that hold CIfA student or early career membership
• £15 CIfA members or registered Human Osteoarchaeology Group supporters
• £35 non-member (includes 1 year of Human Osteoarchaeology Group supporter membership!)

Student bursaries are available. Please contact groups@archaeologists.net if you require support with funding for student members.