Mary Lewis is Professor of Bioarchaeology 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, ...

. After completing a PhD in

bioarchaeology Bioarchaeology (osteoarchaeology, osteology or palaeo-osteology) in Europe describes the study of biological remains from archaeological sites. In the United States it is the scientific study of human remains from archaeological sites. The term ...

at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

in 1999, Lewis went on to lecture at

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The universi ...

(2000–2004) before moving to the University of Reading in 2004. She conducted the first osteological study of a body which has been hanged, drawn, and quartered. Lewis has held editorial roles with the '' International Journal of Osteoarchaeology'', '' International Journal of Paleopathology'', and the '' American Journal of Biological Anthropology''.

Career

Mary Lewis completed a BA in archaeology at the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

in 1992 and attended the

where she studied for an MSc in

Osteology Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practiced by osteologists . A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, archaeology and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone mo ...

, Palaeopathology and Funerary Archaeology and a PhD in bioarchaeology. Her thesis was titled ''The impact of urbanisation and industrialisation in medieval and post-medieval Britain: an assessment of the morbidity and mortality of non-adult skeletons from the cemeteries of two urban and two rural sites in England (AD 850–1859)'' supervised by Charlotte Roberts. While at Bradford, Lewis and Roberts examined human remains excavated from the church of St Helen-on-the-Walls in York. Looking at 2,000 skeletons, it was one of the first studies to use archaeological evidence to examine how the environment effects health. They found that people living in the industrial area of medieval York were more likely to develop sinus infections than people from rural areas exposed to less air pollution. Lewis joined the University of Reading in 2004. Lewis conducted the first osteological study of the skeleton of a man who had been hanging, drawing, and quartering. The man is believed to be Hugh Despenser the Younger. The results were published in the 2008 edition of '' Antiquity'' and shortlisted for the Ben Cullen Prize. Along with Reading University colleagues Gundula Müldner and Hella Eckardt, Lewis took part a research project to examine the archaeological evidence for immigration in

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

and how these people interacted. The project, which began in 2007, was funded by the

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...

(£337,000) and the results were used to inform displays at the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...

and create educational resources for

Key Stage 2 Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11 years. England and Wales Legal definition The ...

pupils. The team produced the 'Romans Revealed' website aimed at school children to give more information on Roman Britain, broadening the history taught in schools which usually focuses on men from Italy. The AHRC provided additional funding (62,000) while the Runnymede Trust also supported the project to help the website addressed what children wanted to learn about. Between 2011 and 2014, Lewis was Principal Investigator working with Janet Montgomery and Fiona Shapland on the Leverhulme-funded project 'Adolescence, Migration and Health in Medieval England: the osteological evidence'. The project examined remains of over 2000 adolescent skeletons aged 10–25 from cemeteries in England, including St Mary Spital and Barton-on-Humber. In 2016, Lewis won the

Society for Medieval Archaeology The Society for Medieval Archaeology was founded in 1957. Its purpose was to publish a journal on medieval archaeology and organise conferences and events around the subject. It was the third archaeological society founded with a focus on a particul ...

Martyn Jope Award ''Medieval Archaeology'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering the archaeology of the medieval period, especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established in 1957 by the Society for Medieval Archaeology and is publish ...

for "the best novel interpretation, application of analytical method or presentation of new findings" published in that year's volume of ''

Medieval Archaeology ''Medieval Archaeology'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering the archaeology of the medieval period, especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established in 1957 by the Society for Medieval Archaeology and is publish ...

''. Mary has produced two single-authored books dedicated to child bioarchaeology.

Selected publications

* * * * * *

Sources

* '' International Journal of Osteoarchaeology'' editorial board https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/10991212/homepage/editorialboard.html * ''

American Journal of Physical Anthropology The ''American Journal of Biological Anthropology''Info pages about the renaming are: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/26927691/homepage/productinformation.html and https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/26927691 (previously known as ...

'' associate editor https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajpa.23096 (but not by 2019?) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/10968644/homepage/editorialboard.html * '' International Journal of Palaeopathology'' associate editor

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Mary Living people British women archaeologists British women classical scholars 20th-century British archaeologists 21st-century British archaeologists Alumni of the University of Bradford Alumni of the University of Leicester Academics of the University of Reading Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British women writers