Lisa-Marie Shillito is a British archaeologist and senior lecturer in landscape archaeology as well as director of the Wolfson Archaeology Laboratory and Earthslides at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

. Her practical work focuses on using soil micromorphology,

phytolith Phytoliths (from Greek language, Greek, "plant stone") are rigid, microscopic mineral deposits found in some plant tissues, often persisting after the decay of the plant. Although some use "phytolith" to refer to all mineral secretions by plants, ...

analysis and

geochemistry Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the e ...

in order to understand human behaviour and landscape change. Her work includes the Neolithic settlements of

Çatalhöyük Çatalhöyük (English: Chatalhoyuk ; ; also ''Çatal Höyük'' and ''Çatal Hüyük''; from Turkish language, Turkish ''çatal'' "fork" + ''höyük'' "tumulus") is a Tell (archaeology), tell (a mounded accretion resulting from long-term huma ...

in Turkey and

Ness of Brodgar The Ness of Brodgar is a Neolithic archaeological site covering located between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. Excavations took place from ...

and

Durrington Walls Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshire ...

in Britain, but also Crusader castles and medieval settlements in Poland and the Baltic and in the Near East. Additionally, she is editor of ''

The Archaeological Journal ''The Archaeological Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal for archaeological and architectural reports and articles. It was established in 1844 by the British Archaeological Association as a quarterly journal, but was taken over by the B ...

'', assistant-editor of the journal ''

Landscape Research A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

'', member of AHRC Peer Review College and member of the UKRI Future Leadership Fellows PRC.

Education

Shillito started her education in archaeology at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, where she earned a BA (Hons) in geography. She completed a MSc in

geoarchaeology Geoarchaeology is a multi-disciplinary approach which uses the techniques and subject matter of geography, geology, geophysics and other Earth sciences to examine topics which inform archaeological and chronological knowledge and thought. Geoarc ...

at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

in 2004. Subsequently, she took on a PhD at the same university dealing with the geoarchaeological analysis of middens from Çatalhöyük in Turkey, which she completed in 2008. Results from this PhD research were published in various papers and a book in 2011. Alongside this PhD project, her job as a Research Assistant working in Geoarchaeology focused in particular on using FT-IR and other methods for studying residues from soil samples for analysis of organic lipids.

Career and research

Since her PhD, Shillito has worked as a Research Associate in Archaeological Chemistry at the University of York between 2010 and 2012 and again at the University of Reading between 2012 and 2013. In 2013 she became a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, until 2015. She took up a lecturer position at the University of Newcastle, which allowed her to organise a MSc curriculum in Geoarchaeology and direct the Wolfson Archaeology Laboratory. Within all these different research positions, she managed to provide an interdisciplinary perspective using micromorphological, geochemical, phytolith and coprolite datasets to archaeological case studies from all across the world. Since 2018 she is the head of the Earthslides facility: a lab for thin-section preparation and analysis for commercial clients and collaborative academic research into archaeological and geological questions.

Selected publications

* Shillito, L.-M. and P. Ryan 2013. Surfaces and streets: phytoliths, micromorphology and changing use of space at Neolithic Çatalhöyük (Turkey), ''Antiquity'' 87, 684–700. * Shillito, L.-M., W. Matthews, I.D. Bull, M.J. Almond, J.M. Williams and R.P. Evershed 2013. Integrated geochemical and microscopic analysis of human coprolites, animal dung and organic remains in burials. In: Hodder, I. (ed.) ''Humans and Landscapes of Çatalhöyük: reports from the 2000–2008 excavations'', Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute Press (Çatalhöyük Research Project Series Volume 8. British Institute at Ankara Monograph No. 47/Monumenta Archaeologica 30), 75–79. * Shillito, L.-M., W. Matthews, M.J. Almond and I.D. Bull 2011. The microstratigraphy of middens: capturing daily routine in rubbish at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey, ''Antiquity'' 85 (329), 1024–1038. * Shillito, L.-M. 2011. ''Daily activities, diet and resource use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük : microstratigraphic and biomolecular evidence from middens'', Oxford: Archaeopress (British Archaeological Reports: International series 2232). * Shillito, L.-M., I.D. Bull, W. Matthews, M.J. Almond, J.M. Williams and R.P. Evershed 2011. Biomolecular and micromorphological analysis of suspected faecal deposits at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey, ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' 38, 1869–1877. * Shillito, L.-M. and W. Matthews 2013. Geoarchaeological Investigations of Midden-Formation Processes in the Early to Late Ceramic Neolithic Levels at Çatalhöyük, Turkey ca. 8550-8370 cal BP, ''Geoarchaeology'' 28, 25–49. * Shillito, L.-M., M.J. Almond, K. Wicks, L.-J.R. Marshall and W. Matthews 2009. The use of FT-IR as a screening technique for organic residue analysis of archaeological samples, ''Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy'' 72, 120–125.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shillito, Lisa-Marie British women archaeologists British archaeologists Alumni of the University of Reading Living people Academics of Newcastle University British academic journal editors Year of birth missing (living people)