As an archaeological chemist, I am interested in advancing scientific methods that reveal a direct and detailed picture of everyday life in the past, particularly in relation to food production and consumption practices and associated land use change.
My recent Humboldt Research Fellowship (2017–2019) at the University of Frankfurt used isotopic analysis of modern and archaeological crops to explore manuring practices during the first two millennia AD in Burkina Faso. I was involved in an ERC funded project at the University of Oxford (2013–2017), which assessed the role of changing agricultural practices in the emergence of urban centres in central Europe, the Aegean and southwest Asia.