Author Post Archive

Posts by Hannah O'Regan

Jumbo – a short history of a giant animal

Dr Holly Miller briefly explores the history of elephants, and one animal in particular: “The elephant is the largest of them all, and in intelligence approaches the nearest to man. It understands the language of its country… It is sensible alike of the pleasures of love and glory, and, to a degree that is rare among men even, …

When Dance and Science meet – a personal view

Recently I was invited to contribute to an Arts Council-funded dance project on human experience ‘Organic Entity’. It combined three choreographers (Anna Watkins, Neus Gil Cortés, Salah El Brogy) and three scientists (me, Julieta Galante and Amanda Williamson) to advise on a triple bill of individual pieces with the themes of Body, Mind and Transcendence. …

Remember Remember the Fifth of November!

Searching for Hidden Spaces in Catholic Houses A team of researchers from The University of Nottingham has recently been doing new work at one of the most important places associated with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Following the English Reformation, English Catholics were forced to make difficult choices between their loyalty to the crown and …

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Missing mushrooms: foraging for fungi in the archaeological record

Mushrooms are a common part of modern human diets, yet they are rarely considered from an archaeological perspective. As soft-bodied organisms they readily rot, so are very rarely found on archaeological sites. Search for academic papers on archaeology and fungi and you are most likely to find articles discussing how microscopic fungi eat wall paintings and …

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Isotope Investigators Summer School report

It’s been an exciting summer in the Archaeology Department, not least because of our Isotope Investigators Summer School! Report by UoN Archaeology students Tom Fox and Phil Rawlinson The Summer School was a five-day programme of work which taught the theory, application and practical lab techniques of isotope analysis in archaeology. With funding from University …

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Archaeobotanical Adventures in Paris

Hi, my name is Leslie Bode, and I am a 3rd year PhD candidate at the University of Nottingham and am co-supervised between Archaeology (Dr Alexandra Livarda) and Geography (Dr Matthew Jones). I also receive a lot of extra isotope guidance from Dr Angela Lamb at the British Geological Survey. Last month I presented a talk at …

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Two go on an adventure to Orkney

On the 31st of March Thomas Fowler, studying a Masters (by Research) in Zooarchaeology and Thomas Fox, a BSc Archaeology student went to Orkney to attend their first conference. In fact they went to two: the Association of Environmental Archaeology Conference and the Professional Zooarchaeology Group meeting. This is their story, by Tom Fox. AEA …

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Isotope Investigators Summer School

Isotope Investigators Summer School – News from our undergraduates We have had an exciting few months in the BioArch Research Group as we planned, and received funding for, our Isotope Investigators Summer School! The Summer School will be held from Monday the 27th June to Friday the 1st July. We will learn all about archaeological …

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What inspires people to become archaeologists?

What inspires people to become archaeologists? Below two archaeologists from the University of Nottingham tell their stories. Hannah O’Regan I don’t remember when I decided to be an archaeologist – my fascination with the past started long before I could spell ‘archaeology’ but I knew that’s what I wanted to do. We lived in a …

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Hidden history – cave archaeology (part 1)

The last two weeks have been quite busy in terms of cave archaeology. On Wednesday Oct 28th I went for a brief expedition to Fox Hole Cave in Derbyshire led by Paul Mortimer from the National Trust. The archaeology from this site (excavated in 1928 and again in the 1960s-80s), includes the earliest evidence of people in …

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