Staff Profile:Professor Mary Lewis

Name:

Professor Mary Lewis

Job Title:

Professor

Responsibilities:

• Head of Archaeological Science
• Programme Director of MSc Professional Human Osteoarchaeology

Areas of Interest:

• Child Paleopathology
• Child growth and development
• Osteology of the life course
• Adolescence and puberty
• Medieval and Roman Child Health

Teaching

Mary is convenor for Forensic Anthropology and the Archaeology of Death (Year 1); Biological Anthropology (Year 3); In at the Deep End: Professional Human Osteoarchaeology; Analysis of Human Remains; and Palaeopathology of Adults and Children (Masters). She also teaches on Bioarchaeology (Year 2).

Postgraduate supervision

Mary is happy to discuss proposals for postgraduate research in any area of bioarchaeology, but especially palaeopathology and non-adult osteology. For further information, please contact Dr Lewis and see funding opportunities here.

Mary has supervised students on a variety of topics in bioarchaeology (forensic anthropology, adult ageing and the life course, urbanisation and health, puberty assessment; Roman transitions). She currently supervises 8 postgraduate students:

• Jennifer Austen (UoR International Studentship): Cribra orbitalia, Cribra Humeralis and Cribra Femoralis: understanding their aetiology.
• Florencia Botta (UoR International Studentship): "An evaluation of the impact of famine and plague on childhood stress and adult health in medieval England."
• Emily Carroll (SWW DTP Studentship, with Dr Muldner): "No smoke without fire: cremation practices in Late Iron Age and Roman Hertfordshire. Funerary responses to cultural, social and technological transitions."
• Candace McGovern (International student): "Coming of Age as a Woman in Roman Britain: physical development and the life course from puberty through adulthood."
• Sophia Mills: "Ageing and the Aged: The Social and Physical Implications of Senescence AD 900 - 1550."
• Thomas Mills: "'Be Thou Dead to the World, but Alive unto God':Defining the Diagnosis and Evolution of Leprosy using the evidence of Child and Adult Skeletal Remains."
• Andrea Mobbs: "Transitions to adulthood in Anglo-Saxon England, 5^th - 10^th Century CE: an osteological and stable isotopic investigation into the timing of puberty and the impact of dietary stress"
• Sasha Valme (International student): "Adolescence and the Age of Puberty in Post-Medieval England."

Previous Graduates include:

• Cecilia Collins (International student): "Upper Respiratory Tract Disease in a Medieval Icelandic Population." Graduated 2019.
• Anna Rohnbogner (AHRC Studentship, with Prof. Eckardt) "Dying young: a palaeopathological analysis of child health in Roman Britain" Graduated 2015. Anna currently works as an Outreach officer at the University of Gloucester.
• Petra Verlinden (Leverhulme Trust Studentship) "Child's Play? A new methodology for the identification of trauma in non-adult skeletal remains." Graduated 2015. Petra currently works as an Osteology Demonstrator at the University of Sheffield
• Rebecca Watts (AHRC Studentship) "Childhood development and adult longevity in archaeological populations from medieval and post-Medieval England (AD 950-1855)." Graduated 2014. Rebecca currently works as an osteoarchaeologist for AOC Archaeology.
• Margaret Andrews (with Dr Gabor Thomas) "The palaeopathology of the Romano-British to early Medieval Transition in Southern Britain." Graduated 2014. Margaret is a General Medical Practitioner
• Ceri Falys (International student, AHRC Studentship) "Extending the Life Course: developing new methods for identifying the elderly in the archaeological record." Graduated 2012. Ceri is the Head Osteoarchaeologist at TVAS, Reading,
• Justine Tracey (with Prof. Richard Bradley) "Cultural behaviour or Natural Processes? A review of Southern Britain Iron Age Skeletal Remains." Graduated 2011. Justine works as a civil servant.
• Maria Jelaca-Tavakoli (International student) "A forensic approach to estimation of stature from dimensions of the skeletonised lumbar and sacral spine." Graduated 2008. Maria teaches Anthropology at Southwestern College, California.

Research groups / Centres:

• Diet, Health and the Life Course Research Cluster (Chair)
• Medieval Social Archaeology
• Centre for Health Humanities

Key Facts

Dr Mary Lewis teaches the method and theory behind the study of human skeletal remains, osteological techniques and palaeopathology at undergraduate and Master's level. Mary's research primarily aims to enhance our knowledge of diseases in children from archaeological contexts (palaeopathology). This includes devising new diagnostic criteria (e.g. endocranial lesions, thalassaemia, TB etc.) and exploring social questions such as the impact of urbanisation, work and migration on child health.

Her research has focussed on child health in Roman Britain, stemming from an AHRC-funded Roman Diaspora Project (2007-9), and the health and movement of medieval apprentices (Leverhulme Trust, 2012-4), both previously neglected subjects in bioarchaeology. Second, her work and that of her research students has broadened osteological techniques used to explore aspects of the life course (infancy, childhood, adolescence and old age), including the development of a new method to identify the stages of puberty in skeletal remains.

Mary is Associate Editor for the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and the International Journal of palaeopathology, and sits on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. She is the author of two single-authored books: Paleopathology of Children (Academic Press, 2018) and The Bioarchaeology of Children (CUP, 2007).

A video based on Mary's 'medieval adolescent' research has been created and can be viewed here. Click to follow the story of William Westoby, a 14-year-old apprentice in the city of York.

The Lansdowne Lecture at the University of Victoria was delivered by Mary on January 22^nd, 2019 and is now available online to watch and download. Teenage kicks: osteological evidence for the lived experience of adolescents in medieval England (AD 900 - 1550).

Publications:

Y

Jump to: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004

Number of items: 40.

2019

• Lewis, M. (2019) Chapter 16: endocrine disturbances. In: Buikstra, J. E. (ed.) Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. Academic Press, London, pp. 567-718. ISBN 9780128097380 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809738-0.00016-8
• Lewis, M. (2019) Chapter 17: congenital and neuromechanical abnormalities of the skeleton. In: Buikstra, J. E. (ed.) Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. Academic Press, pp. 585-613. ISBN 9780128097380 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809738-0.00017-X
• Lewis, M. (2019) Chapter 18: skeletal dysplasias and related conditions. In: Buikstra, J. E. (ed.) Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. Academic Press, pp. 615-637. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809738-0.00018-1

2018

• Lewis, M. E. (2018) Children in bioarchaeology: methods and interpretations. In: Katzenberg, M. A. and Grauer, A. L. (eds.) Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton, 3rd edition. Wiley Blackwell, New York. ISBN 9781119151616
• Lewis, M. E. (2018) Disease and trauma in the children from Roman Britain. In: Crawford, S., Hadley, D. and Shepherd, G. (eds.) Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Childhood. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 9780199670697

2017

• Lewis, M. (2017) Fetal paleopathology: an impossible discipline? In: Han, S., Betsinger, T. K. and Scott, A. B. (eds.) The Anthropology of the Fetus: Biology, Culture, and Society. Berghan Books, New York. ISBN 9781785336911
• Lewis, M. (2017) Paleopathology of children: identification of pathological conditions in the human skeletal remains of non-adults. Academic Press, pp300. ISBN 9780124104020
• Rohnbogner, A. and Lewis, M. (2017) Poundbury Camp in context – a new perspective on the lives of children from urban and rural Roman England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 162 (2). pp. 208-228. ISSN 1096-8644 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23106

2016

• Lewis, M. (2016) Childcare in the past: the contribution of palaeopathology. In: Powell, L., Southwell-Wright, W. and Gowland, R. (eds.) Care in the Past. Oxbow. ISBN 9781785703355
• Lewis, M. (2016) Work and the adolescent in medieval England (AD 900-1550): the osteological evidence. Medieval Archaeology, 60 (1). pp. 138-171. ISSN 0076-6097 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2016.1147787
• Lewis, M. E., Shapland, F. and Watts, R. (2016) The influence of chronic conditions and the environment on pubertal development. An example from medieval England. International Journal of Paleopathology, 12. pp. 1-10. ISSN 1879-9817 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2015.10.004
• Shapland, F., Lewis, M. and Watts, R. (2016) The lives and deaths of young medieval women: the osteological evidence. Medieval Archaeology, 59 (1). pp. 272-289. ISSN 1745-817X doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2015.1119392
• Rohnbogner, A. and Lewis, M. (2016) Dental caries as a measure of diet, health, and difference in non-adults from urban and rural Roman Britain. Dental Anthropology, 29 (1). pp. 16-31. ISSN 1096-9411
• Lewis, M., Shapland, F. and Watts, R. (2016) On the threshold of adulthood: a new approach for the use of maturation indicators to assess puberty in adolescents from medieval England. American Journal of Human Biology, 28 (1). pp. 48-56. ISSN 1520-6300 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22761

2015

• Verlinden, P. and Lewis, M. E. (2015) Childhood trauma: methods for the identification of physeal fractures in non-adult skeletal remains. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 157 (3). pp. 411-420. ISSN 0002-9483 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22732

2014

• Eckardt, H., Muldner, G. and Lewis, M. (2014) People on the move in Roman Britain. World Archaeology, 46 (4). pp. 534-550. ISSN 0043-8243 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2014.931821
• Shapland, F. and Lewis, M. E. (2014) Brief communication: a proposed method for the assessment of pubertal stage in human skeletal remains using cervical vertebrae maturation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 153 (1). pp. 144-153. ISSN 1096-8644 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22416
• Lewis, M. (2014) Children in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, pp. 1392-1395. ISBN 9781441904263 (in the Bioarchaeology and Human Osteology section)
• Lewis, M. E. (2014) Sticks and stones: exploring the nature and significance of child trauma in the past. In: Knusel, C. and Smith, M. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict. Routledge, London, pp. 39-63. ISBN 9780415842198

2013

• Shapland, F. and Lewis, M. E. (2013) Brief communication: a proposed osteological method for the estimation of pubertal stage in human skeletal remains. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 151 (2). pp. 302-310. ISSN 1096-8644 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22268
• Lewis, M. E. (2013) Children of the golden minster: St. Oswald's Priory and the impact of industrialisation on child health. Journal of Anthropology, 2013 (959472). ISSN 2090-4053 doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/959472

2012

• Lewis, M.E. (2012) Thalassaemia: its diagnosis and interpretation in past skeletal populations. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 22 (6). pp. 685-693. ISSN 1099-1212 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.1229

2011

• Lewis, M. E. (2011) Tuberculosis in the non-adults from Romano-British Poundbury Camp, Dorset, England. International Journal of Paleopathology, 1 (1). pp. 12-23. ISSN 1879-9817 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2011.02.002
• Falys, C. G. and Lewis, M. E. (2011) Proposing a way forward: a review of standardisation in the use of age categories and ageing techniques in osteological analysis (2004 to 2009). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 21 (6). pp. 704-716. ISSN 1099-1212 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.1179
• Lewis, M. (2011) The human remains. In: Fulford, M. and Clarke, A. (eds.) Silchester: city in transition. The mid-Roman occupation of Insula IX c. A.D. 125-250/300. A report on excavations undertaken since 1997. Britannia Monograph Series (25). Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, pp. 241-243. ISBN 9780907764373
• Lewis, M. (2011) The osteology of infancy and childhood: misconceptions and potential. In: Lally, M. and Moore, A. (eds.) (Re)thinking the little ancesto r: new perspectives on the archaeology of infancy and childhood. BAR International Series (S2271). Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 1-13. ISBN 9781407308456

2010

• Lewis, M. E. (2010) Life and death in a civitas capital: metabolic disease and trauma in the children from late Roman Dorchester, Dorset. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 142 (3). pp. 405-416. ISSN 0002-9483 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21239
• Leach, S., Eckardt, H., Chenery, C., Muldner, G. and Lewis, M. (2010) A Lady of York: migration, ethnicity and identity in Roman Britain. Antiquity, 84 (323). pp. 131-145. ISSN 0003-598X doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00099816
• Chenery, C., Müldner, G. H., Evans, J., Eckardt, H., Leach, S. and Lewis, M. E. (2010) Strontium and stable isotope evidence for diet and mobility in Roman Gloucester, UK. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37 (1). pp. 150-163. ISSN 0305-4403 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.09.025

2009

• Lewis, M. E. and Gowland, R. (2009) Infantile cortical hyperostosis: causes, cases and contradictions. In: Lewis, M. E. and Clegg, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading. BAR International Series (S1918). Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 43-51. ISBN 9781407304014
• Leach, S., Lewis, M. E., Chenery, C., Müldner, G. H. and Eckardt, H. (2009) Migration and diversity in Roman Britain: a multidisciplinary approach to immigrants in Roman York, England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 140 (3). pp. 546-561. ISSN 0002-9483 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21104
• Lewis, M. E. and Clegg, M., eds. (2009) Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading. BAR International Series (S1918). Archaeopress, Oxford, pp135. ISBN 978 1 4073 0401 4

2008

• Barker, C., Cox, M., Flavel, A., Laver, J., Lewis, M. E. and McKinley, J. (2008) Mortuary procedures III – Skeletal analysis 2: Techniques for determining identity. In: Cox, M., Flavel, A., Hanson, I., Laver, J. and Wessling, R. (eds.) The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves. Towards protocols and standard operating procedures. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 383-462. ISBN 9780521865876
• Lewis, M. E. (2008) The children. In: Magilton, J., Lee, F. and Boylston, A. (eds.) ‘Lepers Outside the Gate’. Excavations at the Cemetery of the Hospital of St James and St Mary Magdalene, Chichester, 1986-87 and 1993. Council for British Archaeology Research Report, pp. 174-186.
• Lewis, M. E. (2008) A traitor's death? The identity of a drawn, hanged and quartered man from Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire. Antiquity, 82 (315). pp. 113-124. ISSN 0003-598X

2007

• Lewis, M. E. (2007) The Bioarchaeology of Children. Current Perspectives in Biological and Forensic Anthropology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp248. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkm093
• Lewis, M. E. and Gowland, R. (2007) Brief and precarious lives: Infant mortality in contrasting sites from medieval and post-medieval England (AD 850-1859). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 134 (1). pp. 117-129. ISSN 0002-9483 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20643

2006

• Lewis, M. E. and Flavel, A. (2006) Age assessment of child skeletal remains in forensic contexts. In: Schmitt, A., Cunha, E. and Pinheiro, J. (eds.) Forensic Anthropology and Medicine: complementary sciences from recovery to cause of death. Humana Press Inc, Totowa, pp. 243-258.

2005

• Bennike, P., Lewis, M. E., Schutkowski, H. and Valentin, F. (2005) Comparison of child morbidity in two contrasting medieval cemeteries from Denmark. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 128 (4). pp. 734-746. ISSN 0002-9483 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20233

2004

• Lewis, M. E. (2004) Endocranial lesions: their distribution and aetiology. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 14 (2). pp. 82-97. ISSN 1047-482X doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.713

This list was generated on Thu Feb 20 11:28:27 2020 UTC.

Earlier Publications

Lewis, M.E. and Rutty, G. (2003) Endangered Children: the personal identification of children in forensic anthropology. Science and Justice 43(4): 201-209

Lewis, M.E. (2002) The impact of industrialisation: comparative study of child health in four sites from medieval and post-medieval England (850-1859). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 119(3): 211-223.

Lewis, M.E. and  Roberts C.A. (1997) Growing pains: the interpretation of stress indicators. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 7: 581-586

Lewis, M.E. and  Roberts C.A. (1996) A comparative study of the prevalence of maxillary sinusitis in medieval urban and rural populations in Northern England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 98(4): 497-506.

Lewis, M.E., Roberts C.A. and  Manchester, K. (1995) Inflammatory bone changes in the leprous skeletons from the medieval hospital of St. James and St. Mary Magdalene. International Journal of Leprosy Vol. 63(1): 77-85.

Qualifications:

BA (Leicester), MSc, PhD (Bradford)