Contact
Biography
I'm a zooarchaeologist, interested in human animal relationships in the past. I have more than 10 years of experience studying faunal assemblages, and have studied archaeological animal remains dating from the Middle Pleistocene through to the Post-Medieval period, across many European areas. I have a particular interest in ancient cattle.
Expertise Summary
My PhD research investigated the morphological variation of the European aurochs (extinct wild cattle) through a biometrical study. This work is now the widest reaching study of aurochs morphological variation to date, and provides a picture of body size fluctuations according to geographical area and climatic change. I've also published important methodological work on pig tooth wear and seasonality at late Neolithic Durrington Walls.
I'm especially interested in:
- Animal husbandry
- Domestication
- Biometrical techniques
- Ageing methodologies
- Cattle-human relationships in prehistory and beyond
Research Summary
I'm currently working on the AHRC funded Box Office Bears project; studying faunal remains excavated from bearbating arenas in London. Through zooarchaeolgical, archaeogenetic and archival work… read more
Recent Publications
WRIGHT, E, SCHÄFER, M, STOPP, B, MARTI-GRÄDEL, E, GINELLA, F, KERDY, M, BOPP ITO, M, DESCHLER-ERB, S and SCHIBLER, J, 2021. Neolithic and Bronze Age cattle data from Switzerland https://opencontext.org/projects/c89e6a9e-105a-4368-9e90-26940d7bf37a. (In Press.)
WRIGHT, E, 2020. Mammal and Bird remains. In: FELL, D, ed., Contact, Concord and Conquest: Britons and Romans at Scotch Corner Volume 5. Northern Archaeological Associates Monograph Series. 599-619 WRIGHT, ELIZABETH, WATERMAN, ANNA J., PEATE, DAVID W., KUNST, MICHAEL, LUIS CARDOSO, JOAO and DETRY, CLEIA, 2019. Animal mobility in Chalcolithic Portugal: Isotopic analyses of cattle from the sites of Zambujal and Leceia JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE-REPORTS. 24, 804-814
Current Research
I'm currently working on the AHRC funded Box Office Bears project; studying faunal remains excavated from bearbating arenas in London. Through zooarchaeolgical, archaeogenetic and archival work (through collaboration with colleagues at the Universities of Oxford and Roehampton) we hope to better understand the animals involved in this popular (and brutal) form of entertainment, aswell as its role in the lives of people during the Early Modern Period in Britain.
Past Research
My most recent project (funded through a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship based at the University of Basel 2018-2020), has been investigating cattle husbandry during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Switzerland (https://ipna.duw.unibas.ch/de/forschung/archaeobiologie/archaeozoologie/projekte/lakebos/).
I also have a vast amount of experience on other zooarchaeological projects in both the academic and developer-funded sectors, including:
2016 - 2018 A1 Leeming to Barton Upgrade (Northern Archaeological Associates). I was employed as a Zooarchaeologist, studying the faunal remains from Roman Catterick and other sites excavated as part of this large project.
2016 People and Animals at Norton Priory (University of Sheffield). I was employed as Post-Doctoral Research Associate, studying the faunal remains from Medieval and post-Medieval levels at Norton Priory (Cheshire, UK).
2015-2016 Animal husbandry in late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Portugal Archaeological Institute of America, Archaeology in Portugal Fellowship 2015-16. This project involved the isotopic analysis of cattle remains from two of the largest prehistoric sites in southern Portugal, Zambujal and Leceia, in order to investigate both diet and mobility.
2014 - 2015 The Zooarchaeology of British Roman roadside settlements (University of Sheffield) I studied a number of faunal assemblages from a Roman roadside settlement site at Ware, Hertfordshire, UK.