Stockholm University

Faculty Member, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies

Associate professor

Thesis Title: Food and Rank in Early Medieval Time

About

I am Associate Professor/Reader in Archaeological Science, at the Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, Sweden.

My primary research interest is on prehistoric cultures of food and subsistence. Analytically I am working within the field of biomolecular archaeology, more specifically with the chemical characterisation of organic residues found adhering onto and absorbed into ceramic vessels and anthropogenic soils. In this work I advocate an integrated approach, including “traditional” archaeological evidence, the application of several analytical techniques, contextual considerations both for the selection of sampling strategies and analyses, and for the interpretations of data.

Since my dissertation in 2000 I have been the leader of three research projects; One short, "Tracing Ancient Vegetable Food", with funds from the Swedish Royal Academy of Science, and two large three-year projects, "By House and Hearth - The chemistry of cultural layers as a document of the subsistence of prehistoric man" and "A Spartan way of life? On the culture of food in Bronze Age Sweden", both financed by the Swedish Research Council.

In 2000/2001 I was Guest-member of staff at Fossil Fuel and Environmental Geochemistry Newcastle Research Group, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Between 2002 and 2007 I have had a junior research fellowship (Swe. forskarassistenttjänst) at the Archaeological Research Laboratory, also financed by the Swedish Research Council. Between 2007 and 2009 I was engaged in the project "Cultaptation – Dynamics and adaptation in human cumulative culture”, financed by the European Commission through the Sixth Framework Programme. From 2010 I am also engaged in the project "Uniquely Human" at the Center for the study of Cultural Evolution, funded by the Swedish Research Council,focusing on the comparative analysis of long-term food culture transitions.

Professional memberships:

The Swedish Archaeological Society
The Swedish Chemical Society
The Swedish Association of University Teachers
The International Commission on the Anthropology of Food (ICAF), the Swedish network

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