Dr Alice Rose
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Stable Isotope Analysis
Profile
Biography
Alice is a bioarchaeologist specialising in the isotopic analysis of archaeological skeletal remains. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate as part of the RATTUS project at the University of York. As part of this, she is undertaking stable isotope analysis of brown and black rats sourced from archaeological sites from across Europe to investigate a number of objectives. These include understanding the commensal niches of rats and their population dynamics, as well as investigating their role as a novel proxy for key debates in European historical archaeology.
Before joining the Department at York, Alice completed her PhD and a Postdoctoral Research Associate position as part of the ‘After the Plague: Health and History in Medieval Cambridge’ project at the University of Cambridge, followed by a Postdoctoral Research Associate position as part of the ‘FoodCult: Food, Culture and Identity in Ireland Circa 1550-1650’ project at the University of Durham. These projects involved integrating large scale, multi-isotope analysis with other specialist research produced by the research teams to address questions about diet, mobility and health in the human past. Alice has also worked in the commercial archaeology sector, both as an excavator and as a specialist in human osteology.
Career
2024-Present: Postdoctoral Research Associate in stable isotope analysis on the UKRI project ‘RATTUS: Rats and the Archaeology of Trade, Urbanism, and Disease in Past European Societies’, University of York
2022-2024: Postdoctoral Research Associate in multi-isotope analysis on the ERC project ‘FoodCult: Food, Culture and Identity in Ireland Circa 1550-1650’, Durham University
2020-2022: Postdoctoral Research Associate on the Wellcome Trust project: ‘After the Plague: Health and History in Medieval Cambridge’, University of Cambridge
2016-2020: PhD Student on the Wellcome Trust project: ‘After the Plague: Health and History in Medieval Cambridge’, University of Cambridge. Thesis title: ‘Life in Medieval Cambridge: an isotopic analysis of diet and mobility’
2012-2016: Excavator and human osteology specialist within the Burials team, Oxford Archaeology
2011-2012: MSc Palaeopathology, Durham University, UK
2008-2011: BSc Archaeology, University of Reading, UK
Research
Overview
Alice is a bioarchaeologist specialising in isotopic analysis of archaeological skeletal remains. Alice’s research has involved the application of 𝛿13C, 𝛿15N, 𝛿34S, 𝛿18O, 87Sr/86Sr and Pb isotope analysis to a range of archaeological tissues to investigate inter- and intra-population variation, as well as investigating individual lifecourse. Alice’s research to date has largely been focussed on British and Irish archaeological material and has been situated within large, multidisciplinary projects.
Projects
RATTUS: Rats and the Archaeology of Trade, Urbanism, and Disease in Past European Societies
Past projects
FoodCult: Food, Culture and Identity in Ireland Circa 1550-1650 (2022-2024)
After the Plague: Health and History in Medieval Cambridge (2016-2021)