Dr Ellie Williams

I am an archaeologist specialising in human osteology and zooarchaeology. My research interests and teaching foci include funerary archaeology, osteoarchaeology and public engagement, medieval history and archaeology, medieval monasticism, and faunal foodways. I hold a BA in Archaeology, an MA in Osteoarchaeology, and a PhD, all from the University of Southampton, where I have also taught at undergraduate and Masters level. Since joining CCCU in 2016, I have been Subject Lead, Programme Director, and Level 4 Year Lead.

I am Co-I and Lead Osteologist on the HLF funded 'Finding Eanswythe: the Life and Afterlife of an Anglo-Saxon Saint'. Here we were exploring 1400 years of Folkestone's past centred on the town's patron Saint Eanswythe.

Since 2014 I have been collaborating with Dr Jaco Weinstock (University of Southampton) on the British Museum's Amara West Project, directed by Dr Neal Spencer (Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge). We are exploring daily life in this late-second millenium bce colonial centre in upper Nubia through the zooarchaeological remains.

I teach across all levels from Foundation Year through to Masters. I convene modules: Research Methods in Archaeology; Life and Death in Medieval Europe; Bones and Bodies: An Introduction to Osteoarchaeology; The Archaeology and Anthropology of Death and Burial. I also contribute to: Archaeological Skills; Fieldwork I and II; Individual Studies and Extended Essays

'My research interests include death and burial rites in medieval England and France; archaeothanatological approaches; health and wellbeing particularly related to 'green heritage'; and exploring lifeways through the zooarchaeological record.

I am collaborating on:

- Finding Eanswythe: The Life and Afterlife of an Anglo-Saxon Saint (HLF Funded)
- The Amara West Project (British Museum) - lifeways through the zooarchaeology.

I currently supervise two funded PhD students: Grace Conium (Kentish coastal heritage); Lisa Duffy (exploring lifeways in Roman Canterbury).

Selected Publications

2023. ‘Fragmented skeletonised remains: Paget’s Disease as a method of biological profiling using radiography’, Forensic Imaging (with L. Duffy, J. Elliott, A. Teoaca and S. Stark).

2022. 'Cluniac Funerary Practices'. In. C. J. Knusel and E. M. J. Schotsmans (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Archaeothanatology (Routledge), 311-330

2020. Finding Eanswythe: The Life and Afterlife of an Anglo-Saxon Saint (with J. Doherty, L. Hardy and A. Richardson) (CCCU).

2019. 'The People Before Us Project': Exploring heritage and wellbeing in a rapidly changing seaside town. In T. Darvill, K. Barrass, L. Drysdale, V. Heaslip and Y. Staelens (eds), Historic Landscapes and Mental Wellbeing (with Lesley Hardy) (Archaeopress), 215-227

2019. Review article of Jake Weekes and John Pearce, eds. Death as a Process: The Archaeology of the Roman Funeral (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2017). Archaeologia Cantiana, 327-328.

2018. 'Medieval monastic text and the treatment of the dead: an archaeothanatological perspective on adherence to the Cluniac customaries'. In B. Hausmair, B. Jervis, R. Nugent and E. Williams (eds), Archaeologies of rules and regulation: between text and practice (Berghahn).

2018. Archaeologies of Rules and Regulation: Between Text and Practice (with B. Hausmair, B. Jervis and R. Nugent) (Berghahn).

2018. Review article of Howard Williams and Melanie Giles, eds. Archaeologists and the dead: mortuary archaeology in contemporary society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). European Journal of Archaeology 21 (3), 475-479.

2017. ‘Holey Goats: multiple cases of supratrochlear foramina in the humerus of caprines from the New Kingdom pharaonic town of Amara West, northern Sudan’ (with J. Weinstock and N. Spencer), Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Palaeoecology 24(3), 263-268.

2016. ‘Los textiles elaborados con cuentas perforadas’. In A. Fernández Flores, L. García Sanjuán and M. DíazZorita Bonilla (eds.) Montelirio (Castilleja de Guzmán, Sevilla) Un Gran Monumento Megalítico de la Edad del Cobre (with Marta Díaz-Guardamino, David W. Wheatley and José Ángel Garrido González). Junta de Andalucia, Consejería de Cultura, 345-364.

2012. ‘Rites funéraires Clunisiens: un examen des recherches antérieures et une proposition pour de futurs travaux’, in D. Hanquiez and A. Petit (eds), Saint-Leu-d'Esserent et l'implantation monastique dans la basse vallée de l'Oise. Amiens: CAHMER, 59-70

Osteoarchaeological Reports/Grey Literature/other
2021. ‘The Faunal Remains’. In D. Millum (ed) Investigations of the Roman riverside settlement in Five Acres at Bridge Farm, Wellingham, East Sussex 2014 (CAP.BF14) Part 1: Fieldwork and Results, 32-34.

2016. ‘The Faunal Remains from Amara West, North Sudan’ (with J Weinstock). Commissioned project report by the British Museum.

2022. ‘O is for Old Bones’. In P. Vujakovic (ed) Science A-Z (with Lisa Duffy) (CCCU).

2012. ‘Assessing the risk of middle meningeal artery damage in pterional craniotomy: An anatomical appraisal using an adult dry skull population’ (with M. Glasson, K. Temple, M. Gilder, S. Inskip, E. J. Sofaer, and S. Border, 2012) Clinical Anatomy, 25 (6), 802.

2012. ‘Skeletons in dusty boxes: the use of dry skeletal samples in medical and osteoarchaeological research and teaching’ (with S. Inskip, K. Temple, M. Glasson, M. Gilder, J Sofaer, and S. Border, Clinical Anatomy, 25 (6), 803— 804.

I am a Trustee of Canterbury Archaeological Trust, and I have collaborated with various local and regional organisations including: Museum of London Archaeology; Historic England; English Heritage; Timescapes Kent; and Isle Heritage, among others.