Geoff M Nowell
Biographic Data
| ID | 169462 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Geoff M Nowell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Geoff M |
| FAMILY NAME | Nowell |
| SIGNATURE | NOWELL G M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3229-128X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 248 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Written in ‘her’ bones
Gladiators at Roman Colchester
The locally made colour-coated ware vessel known as the Colchester Vase is argued to be a commissioned piece recording a performance in the town. The inscription on the vessel, cut pre-firing, names individual arena performers depicted en barbotine . One name, Memnon, is argued to be a ‘stage name’ taken from a protagonist in the Trojan war. The connection of another combatant, Valentinus, to the 30th legion is re-considered as evidence for gladi…
Combining dental calculus with isotope analysis in the Alps
Mobility and connection among the Early Bronze Age Syrian elite
The archaeological site of Umm el-Marra (in the Jabbul plain, western Syria), is a large, fortified urban center. Excavations have uncovered ten tomb structures built during the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2600–2150 BCE) that possibly contain royalty as evidenced by lavish grave goods and paleopathological evidence suggesting sociocultural buffering from the harsh social and physical environments of agricultural urban centers in the Bronze Age Near Eas…
Migration and mobility in Roman Beirut
Rescue excavations in Beirut, Lebanon, have uncovered large burial assemblages dating to the Roman period. As the first Roman colony in the Near East, the human skeletons from Beirut provide a unique opportunity to explore migration to the city using biomolecular analyses. This study applies strontium and oxygen isotope analysis to nineteen human skeletons and establishes primary local reference values through the analysis of human and faunal den…
Seeking their fortunes on the Otago goldfields, New Zealand – Constructing isotopic biographies of colonial goldminers
The nineteenth century New Zealand goldfields were a place where people from across the world came together in search of their fortunes. Written accounts of life on the diggings do exist but are of varying veracity and we therefore have little knowledge of the life experiences of those who came seeking gold. Recent excavations in cemeteries associated with the Otago goldrushes, however, are allowing direct reconstruction of lives using biological…
'Buried with his boots on'
The New Zealand goldrushes of the mid nineteenth century saw an influx of, mostly, men surging into the Otago region in search of riches. Times were tough and the men had to cope with harsh weather and dangerous work practices to survive. Many lost their lives and most of these men remain anonymous. This paper presents a detailed life-course case study of a middle-aged man who lived, and died, in this biosocial landscape. The integration of osteo…
The All Saints Anchoress? An Osteobiography
BURIAL SK 3870 WAS EXCAVATED AT ALL SAINTS CHURCH, FISHERGATE, YORK, IN 2007. This unusual, tightly crouched burial was found in a large grave in the church apse. Preliminary research at the time of excavation suggested that this skeleton may represent the remains of Lady Isabel German, a prominent anchoress who resided at All Saints in the 15th century. The current study combines evidence from detailed osteological analysis with radiocarbon dati…
Strontium isotope identification of possible rural immigrants in 17th century mass graves at St. Gertrude Church cemetery in Riga, Latvia
The aims of this study were to explore the origins of 19 children buried in two mass graves and the general cemetery at the post‐medieval St Gertrude Church cemetery in Riga, Latvia, using strontium isotope analysis ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr), and to establish local soil Sr biosphere ranges from faunal samples from two areas of Latvia. The results confirmed the presence of one clear outlier in the population and one child who may have had originated from th…
Jordanian migration and mobility in the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2100-1550 BCE) at Pella
The site of Pella, located in the foothills of the east Jordan valley, was a prosperous city-state throughout the Middle Bronze Age (MBA, ca. 2000-1500 BCE). As part of a widespread trading network, Pella enjoyed extensive socio-economic relationships with Egypt, Cyprus, and the Aegean, Anatolia, and Babylonia during this period. We report isotopic analysis (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O, and δ13C) from enamel of 22 human permanent second molars of which 13 se…
An isotopic and genetic study of multi-cultural colonial New Zealand
Source of strontium in archaeological mobility studies-marine diet contribution to the isotopic composition
The strontium isotope composition of human tissues is widely used in archaeological mobility studies. However, little attention is paid to the relative contributions of terrestrial versus marine sources of strontium in these studies. There is some debate over the role of a solid diet versus drinking water as the most important source of strontium for the human body, with related possibilities of misinterpretation of the archaeological record if o…
Establishing a strontium isotope baseline in New Zealand for future archaeological migration studies
Captain of All These Men of Death”
The South Island of New Zealand saw several major waves of migration in the mid-nineteenth century, predominantly from Europe but also with an ethnically distinct Chinese presence. The rural community of Milton, Otago, was a settler community established primarily by immigrants from the United Kingdom in search of a better quality of life. However, these settlers faced unique challenges related to surviving in an isolated location with very littl…
Lead astray
At the world's edge
Objectives A multi‐isotope study was conducted on individuals buried at Skriðuklaustur monastery (AD 1493–1554) to investigate their geographic origins and dietary composition. Comparative material from individuals excavated from Skeljastaðir, an inland farm site was also analyzed. Materials and methods Bone collagen was extracted from 50 humans (Skriðuklaustur and Skeljastaðir) and 25 animals (Skriðuklaustur) and analyzed for δ 13 C, δ 15 N, and…
A multi‐isotope, multi‐tissue study of colonial origins and diet in New Zealand
Objectives Colonial period New Zealand was lauded as a land of plenty, where colonists could improve their station in life and secure a future for their families. Our understanding of colonial experience, however, is often shaped by historical records which communicate a state‐sponsored version of history. This study aims to reconstruct the lives of settlers using isotopic evidence from the colonial skeletons themselves. Materials and methods We …
The origins of decorated ostrich eggs in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East
Isotopic analysis of the Blick Mead dog
Investigation of a historical crime scene” - A comprehensive study of an unusual burial in the Calvinist Church of Sóly, Hungary
A multi-isotope (C, N, O, Sr, Pb) study of Iron Age and Roman period skeletons from east Edinburgh, Scotland exploring the relationship between decapitation burials and geographical origins
Recent excavations at Musselburgh, East Lothian (Scotland) revealed twelve skeletons, radiocarbon dated to the Iron Age and Roman period. The high incidence of skeletal trauma characteristic of decapitation in those of Roman date makes this site unusual. A multi-isotope investigation of seven of these individuals was conducted to explore any link between intrusive burial practices and migration at one of Britain’s most northerly frontiers. Bulk c…
Multi-isotope evidence for cattle droving at Roman Worcester
Isotopic analysis of burials from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Eastbourne, Sussex, U.K
A Meeting in the Forest
The Coneybury ‘Anomaly’ is an Early Neolithic pit located just south-east of Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Excavations recovered a faunal assemblage unique in its composition, consisting of both wild and domestic species, as well as large quantities of ceramics and stone tools, including a substantial proportion of blades/bladelets. We present a suite of new isotope analyses of the faunal material, together with ancient DNA sex determination, and recons…
Detecting Mobility in Early Iron Age Thessaly by Strontium Isotope Analysis
This article presents evidence of population movements in Thessaly, Greece, during the Early Iron Age (Protogeometric period, eleventh–ninth centuries bc ). The method we employed to detect non-local individuals is strontium isotope analysis ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) of tooth enamel integrated with the contextual analysis of mortuary practices and osteological analysis of the skeletal assemblage. During the Protogeometric period, social and cultural transf…
Moving peoples, changing diets
Isotopic Investigation of Diet and Residential Mobility in the Neolithic of the Lower Rhine Basin
Multiple isotopic systems (C, N, O, S, Sr, Pb) are applied to investigate diet and mobility amongst the Middle Neolithic populations at Schipluiden and Swifterbant (Netherlands). A review of carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of European Mesolithic and Neolithic populations shows a shift in diet from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, but also great variety in Neolithic diets, several of which incorporate fish. At Swifterbant ( c. 4300–4000 BC) t…
Lapita Migrants in the Pacific's Oldest Cemetery
Teouma, an archaeological site on Efate Island, Vanuatu, features the earliest cemetery yet discovered of the colonizers of Remote Oceania, from the late second millennium B.C. In order to investigate potential migration of seventeen human individuals, we measured isotopes of strontium (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen (δ18O), and carbon (δ13C), as well as barium (Ba) and strontium (Sr) concentrations, in tooth enamel from skeletons excavated in the first two …
Community Diversity at Ban Lum Khao, Thailand
Isotopes of strontium, carbon, and oxygen were analyzed in human tooth enamel from the Bronze Age site of Ban Lum Khao (c. 1400 B.C. -500 B.C. ) in Thailand. The strontium and oxygen isotopes, which generally reflect place of origin, delimit discrete groups among the individuals. Among the females, different groups determined through isotopic signatures were buried with distinctive pottery types. This suggests that social identity, drawn from vil…
Source of strontium in archaeological mobility studies-marine diet contribution to the isotopic composition
The strontium isotope composition of human tissues is widely used in archaeological mobility studies. However, little attention is paid to the relative contributions of terrestrial versus marine sources of strontium in these studies. There is some debate over the role of a solid diet versus drinking water as the most important source of strontium for the human body, with related possibilities of misinterpretation of the archaeological record if o…
Anglo-Saxon origins investigated by isotopic analysis of burials from Berinsfield, Oxfordshire, UK
Strontium isotope evidence of early Funnel Beaker Culture movement of cattle
The movement of livestock across and within landscapes is increasingly being recognized as common in northern European prehistoric contexts, and was performed for various purposes. However, almost nothing is known about the movement of livestock in the earliest phase of the southern Scandinavian Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (ENI, TRB, 4000–3500 cal BC), or even if such movement is indicated. In this study, domestic cattle (Bos taurus) teeth fr…
Captain of All These Men of Death”
The South Island of New Zealand saw several major waves of migration in the mid-nineteenth century, predominantly from Europe but also with an ethnically distinct Chinese presence. The rural community of Milton, Otago, was a settler community established primarily by immigrants from the United Kingdom in search of a better quality of life. However, these settlers faced unique challenges related to surviving in an isolated location with very littl…
Detecting Mobility in Early Iron Age Thessaly by Strontium Isotope Analysis
This article presents evidence of population movements in Thessaly, Greece, during the Early Iron Age (Protogeometric period, eleventh–ninth centuries bc ). The method we employed to detect non-local individuals is strontium isotope analysis ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) of tooth enamel integrated with the contextual analysis of mortuary practices and osteological analysis of the skeletal assemblage. During the Protogeometric period, social and cultural transf…
Lead astray
A Meeting in the Forest
The Coneybury ‘Anomaly’ is an Early Neolithic pit located just south-east of Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Excavations recovered a faunal assemblage unique in its composition, consisting of both wild and domestic species, as well as large quantities of ceramics and stone tools, including a substantial proportion of blades/bladelets. We present a suite of new isotope analyses of the faunal material, together with ancient DNA sex determination, and recons…
Using isotopic evidence to assess the impact of migration and the two‐layer hypothesis in prehistoric Northeast T hailand
OBJECTIVES: The nature of the agricultural transition in Southeast Asia has been a topic of some debate for archaeologists over the past decades. A prominent model, known as the two-layer hypothesis, states that indigenous hunter-gatherers were subsumed by the expansion of exotic Neolithic farmers into the area around 2000 BC. These farmers had ultimate origins in East Asia and brought rice and millet agriculture. Ban Non Wat is one of the few ar…
Roots of diversity in a Linearbandkeramik community
The early Neolithic in northern Central Europe ought to be the theatre in which incoming farmers meet local hunter-gatherers, with greater or lesser impact. By way of contrast, the authors use isotope analysis in a cemetery beside the Danube to describe a peaceful, well-integrated community with a common diet and largely indigenous inhabitants. Men and women may have had different mobility strategies, but the isotopes did not signal special origi…
An isotopic and genetic study of multi-cultural colonial New Zealand
Mobility histories of 7th–9th century AD people buried at early medieval Bamburgh, Northumberland, England
Early Medieval England is described historically as a time when people migrated from the Continent to English shores. This study tests the hypothesis that those buried in the Bowl Hole cemetery, Bamburgh, Northumberland were nonlocally born, because of its royal status. Ninety‐one male and female adult, and nonadult, skeletons were studied. Isotope ratios of strontium ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) and oxygen (δ 18 O) were generated for 78 individuals (28 femal…
Isotopic tracing of the impact of mobility on infectious disease
Treponematosis has been one of the most studied and debated infectious diseases in paleopathology, particularly from the standpoint of its origin, evolution, and transmission. This study links evidence for treponematosis in skeletons from the 14th–16th century AD cemetery of the Augustinian friary of Hull Magistrates Court, England, with data from stable isotope analysis to test the hypothesis that the people with treponemal disease buried at thi…
At the world's edge
Objectives A multi‐isotope study was conducted on individuals buried at Skriðuklaustur monastery (AD 1493–1554) to investigate their geographic origins and dietary composition. Comparative material from individuals excavated from Skeljastaðir, an inland farm site was also analyzed. Materials and methods Bone collagen was extracted from 50 humans (Skriðuklaustur and Skeljastaðir) and 25 animals (Skriðuklaustur) and analyzed for δ 13 C, δ 15 N, and…
The origins of decorated ostrich eggs in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East
A multi-isotope (C, N, O, Sr, Pb) study of Iron Age and Roman period skeletons from east Edinburgh, Scotland exploring the relationship between decapitation burials and geographical origins
Recent excavations at Musselburgh, East Lothian (Scotland) revealed twelve skeletons, radiocarbon dated to the Iron Age and Roman period. The high incidence of skeletal trauma characteristic of decapitation in those of Roman date makes this site unusual. A multi-isotope investigation of seven of these individuals was conducted to explore any link between intrusive burial practices and migration at one of Britain’s most northerly frontiers. Bulk c…
Strontium isotope identification of possible rural immigrants in 17th century mass graves at St. Gertrude Church cemetery in Riga, Latvia
The aims of this study were to explore the origins of 19 children buried in two mass graves and the general cemetery at the post‐medieval St Gertrude Church cemetery in Riga, Latvia, using strontium isotope analysis ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr), and to establish local soil Sr biosphere ranges from faunal samples from two areas of Latvia. The results confirmed the presence of one clear outlier in the population and one child who may have had originated from th…
A multi‐isotope, multi‐tissue study of colonial origins and diet in New Zealand
Objectives Colonial period New Zealand was lauded as a land of plenty, where colonists could improve their station in life and secure a future for their families. Our understanding of colonial experience, however, is often shaped by historical records which communicate a state‐sponsored version of history. This study aims to reconstruct the lives of settlers using isotopic evidence from the colonial skeletons themselves. Materials and methods We …
Economic change after the agricultural revolution in Southeast Asia
Three prehistoric sites in the Upper Mun River Valley of north-eastern Thailand have provided a detailed chronological succession comprising 12 occupation phases. These represent occupation spanning 2300 years, from initial settlement in the Neolithic (seventeenth century BC) through to the Iron Age, ending in the seventh century AD with the foundation of early states. The precise chronology in place in the Upper Mun River Valley makes it possibl…
Establishing a strontium isotope baseline in New Zealand for future archaeological migration studies
Isotopic analysis of burials from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Eastbourne, Sussex, U.K
Seeking their fortunes on the Otago goldfields, New Zealand – Constructing isotopic biographies of colonial goldminers
The nineteenth century New Zealand goldfields were a place where people from across the world came together in search of their fortunes. Written accounts of life on the diggings do exist but are of varying veracity and we therefore have little knowledge of the life experiences of those who came seeking gold. Recent excavations in cemeteries associated with the Otago goldrushes, however, are allowing direct reconstruction of lives using biological…
Lapita Migrants in the Pacific's Oldest Cemetery
Teouma, an archaeological site on Efate Island, Vanuatu, features the earliest cemetery yet discovered of the colonizers of Remote Oceania, from the late second millennium B.C. In order to investigate potential migration of seventeen human individuals, we measured isotopes of strontium (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen (δ18O), and carbon (δ13C), as well as barium (Ba) and strontium (Sr) concentrations, in tooth enamel from skeletons excavated in the first two …
Community Diversity at Ban Lum Khao, Thailand
Isotopes of strontium, carbon, and oxygen were analyzed in human tooth enamel from the Bronze Age site of Ban Lum Khao (c. 1400 B.C. -500 B.C. ) in Thailand. The strontium and oxygen isotopes, which generally reflect place of origin, delimit discrete groups among the individuals. Among the females, different groups determined through isotopic signatures were buried with distinctive pottery types. This suggests that social identity, drawn from vil…
Isotopic Investigation of Diet and Residential Mobility in the Neolithic of the Lower Rhine Basin
Multiple isotopic systems (C, N, O, S, Sr, Pb) are applied to investigate diet and mobility amongst the Middle Neolithic populations at Schipluiden and Swifterbant (Netherlands). A review of carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of European Mesolithic and Neolithic populations shows a shift in diet from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, but also great variety in Neolithic diets, several of which incorporate fish. At Swifterbant ( c. 4300–4000 BC) t…
Roots of diversity in a Linearbandkeramik community
The early Neolithic in northern Central Europe ought to be the theatre in which incoming farmers meet local hunter-gatherers, with greater or lesser impact. By way of contrast, the authors use isotope analysis in a cemetery beside the Danube to describe a peaceful, well-integrated community with a common diet and largely indigenous inhabitants. Men and women may have had different mobility strategies, but the isotopes did not signal special origi…
Community differentiation and kinship among Europe’s first farmers
Community differentiation is a fundamental topic of the social sciences, and its prehistoric origins in Europe are typically assumed to lie among the complex, densely populated societies that developed millennia after their Neolithic predecessors. Here we present the earliest, statistically significant evidence for such differentiation among the first farmers of Neolithic Europe. By using strontium isotopic data from more than 300 early Neolithic…
Moving peoples, changing diets
Anglo-Saxon origins investigated by isotopic analysis of burials from Berinsfield, Oxfordshire, UK
Mobility histories of 7th–9th century AD people buried at early medieval Bamburgh, Northumberland, England
Early Medieval England is described historically as a time when people migrated from the Continent to English shores. This study tests the hypothesis that those buried in the Bowl Hole cemetery, Bamburgh, Northumberland were nonlocally born, because of its royal status. Ninety‐one male and female adult, and nonadult, skeletons were studied. Isotope ratios of strontium ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) and oxygen (δ 18 O) were generated for 78 individuals (28 femal…
Isotopic tracing of the impact of mobility on infectious disease
Treponematosis has been one of the most studied and debated infectious diseases in paleopathology, particularly from the standpoint of its origin, evolution, and transmission. This study links evidence for treponematosis in skeletons from the 14th–16th century AD cemetery of the Augustinian friary of Hull Magistrates Court, England, with data from stable isotope analysis to test the hypothesis that the people with treponemal disease buried at thi…
Economic change after the agricultural revolution in Southeast Asia
Three prehistoric sites in the Upper Mun River Valley of north-eastern Thailand have provided a detailed chronological succession comprising 12 occupation phases. These represent occupation spanning 2300 years, from initial settlement in the Neolithic (seventeenth century BC) through to the Iron Age, ending in the seventh century AD with the foundation of early states. The precise chronology in place in the Upper Mun River Valley makes it possibl…
Using isotopic evidence to assess the impact of migration and the two‐layer hypothesis in prehistoric Northeast T hailand
OBJECTIVES: The nature of the agricultural transition in Southeast Asia has been a topic of some debate for archaeologists over the past decades. A prominent model, known as the two-layer hypothesis, states that indigenous hunter-gatherers were subsumed by the expansion of exotic Neolithic farmers into the area around 2000 BC. These farmers had ultimate origins in East Asia and brought rice and millet agriculture. Ban Non Wat is one of the few ar…
Strontium isotope evidence of early Funnel Beaker Culture movement of cattle
The movement of livestock across and within landscapes is increasingly being recognized as common in northern European prehistoric contexts, and was performed for various purposes. However, almost nothing is known about the movement of livestock in the earliest phase of the southern Scandinavian Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (ENI, TRB, 4000–3500 cal BC), or even if such movement is indicated. In this study, domestic cattle (Bos taurus) teeth fr…
Multi-isotope evidence for cattle droving at Roman Worcester
Isotopic analysis of burials from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Eastbourne, Sussex, U.K
A Meeting in the Forest
The Coneybury ‘Anomaly’ is an Early Neolithic pit located just south-east of Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Excavations recovered a faunal assemblage unique in its composition, consisting of both wild and domestic species, as well as large quantities of ceramics and stone tools, including a substantial proportion of blades/bladelets. We present a suite of new isotope analyses of the faunal material, together with ancient DNA sex determination, and recons…
Detecting Mobility in Early Iron Age Thessaly by Strontium Isotope Analysis
This article presents evidence of population movements in Thessaly, Greece, during the Early Iron Age (Protogeometric period, eleventh–ninth centuries bc ). The method we employed to detect non-local individuals is strontium isotope analysis ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) of tooth enamel integrated with the contextual analysis of mortuary practices and osteological analysis of the skeletal assemblage. During the Protogeometric period, social and cultural transf…
Isotopic analysis of the Blick Mead dog
Investigation of a historical crime scene” - A comprehensive study of an unusual burial in the Calvinist Church of Sóly, Hungary
A multi-isotope (C, N, O, Sr, Pb) study of Iron Age and Roman period skeletons from east Edinburgh, Scotland exploring the relationship between decapitation burials and geographical origins
Recent excavations at Musselburgh, East Lothian (Scotland) revealed twelve skeletons, radiocarbon dated to the Iron Age and Roman period. The high incidence of skeletal trauma characteristic of decapitation in those of Roman date makes this site unusual. A multi-isotope investigation of seven of these individuals was conducted to explore any link between intrusive burial practices and migration at one of Britain’s most northerly frontiers. Bulk c…
Establishing a strontium isotope baseline in New Zealand for future archaeological migration studies
Captain of All These Men of Death”
The South Island of New Zealand saw several major waves of migration in the mid-nineteenth century, predominantly from Europe but also with an ethnically distinct Chinese presence. The rural community of Milton, Otago, was a settler community established primarily by immigrants from the United Kingdom in search of a better quality of life. However, these settlers faced unique challenges related to surviving in an isolated location with very littl…
Lead astray
At the world's edge
Objectives A multi‐isotope study was conducted on individuals buried at Skriðuklaustur monastery (AD 1493–1554) to investigate their geographic origins and dietary composition. Comparative material from individuals excavated from Skeljastaðir, an inland farm site was also analyzed. Materials and methods Bone collagen was extracted from 50 humans (Skriðuklaustur and Skeljastaðir) and 25 animals (Skriðuklaustur) and analyzed for δ 13 C, δ 15 N, and…
A multi‐isotope, multi‐tissue study of colonial origins and diet in New Zealand
Objectives Colonial period New Zealand was lauded as a land of plenty, where colonists could improve their station in life and secure a future for their families. Our understanding of colonial experience, however, is often shaped by historical records which communicate a state‐sponsored version of history. This study aims to reconstruct the lives of settlers using isotopic evidence from the colonial skeletons themselves. Materials and methods We …
The origins of decorated ostrich eggs in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East
Archaeology (35 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (32 works) · Geography (32 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (18 works) · History (18 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (16 works) · Biology (14 works) · Art (12 works) · Ecology (12 works) · History (12 works)