Staff Profiles

Dr Eline van Asperen is a palaeoecologist and archaeological scientist who specialises in palynology, with wider interests in Quaternary mammals and the European Palaeolithic. Her research examines the relationships between environmental factors and the dynamics of human and animal populations, using both zooarchaeological material and dung fungal spores. At Newcastle she is a technician responsible for the day to day management of the Wolfson Archaeology Laboratory, as well as a Visiting Researcher.

Previous positions

- Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Liverpool John Moores University, 2013-2016

- Marie Curie ERG Fellow, Liverpool John Moores University, 2010-2013

Qualifications

- PhD in Archaeology, University of York, 2010

- MA in Archaeology, Leiden University (The Netherlands), 2004

My main research interests concern the impact of past environmental change on Quaternary vertebrate and plant community composition, evolution and adaptation, as well as the impact of past human land use and husbandry on the environment.

Current research projects:

- The use of dung fungal spores as a proxy for herbivore impacts on past vegetation. Actualistic experiments in the modern environment in Chillingham Wild Cattle Park. Analysis of lacustrine and peat cores, soil and moss samples; in collaboration with Dr. Jason Kirby (Liverpool John Moores University) and Dr. Helen Shaw (Maynooth University, Ireland), 2013-present.

- Fuelling the northern Frontier: landscape impacts of fuel extraction in the Hadrian’s Wall region c AD 0 to AD 500. Analysis of peat cores from several locations combining pollen and NPP analysis with ICP-MS to establish the impact of mining and metallurgy, and the wider impact of the Roman army on the landscape, 2021-present.

- European Quaternary mammal fauna: dietary adaptations and variability of deer from the early Middle Pleistocene site of Untermassfeld; in collaboration with Prof. Ralph-Dietrich Kahlke of the Senckenberg Institut (Weimar, Germany), 2018-present.

• Articles

  • Basumatary, SK, Van Asperen, EN, McDonald, HG, Tripathi, S, Gogoi, R. Pollen and non-pollen palynomorph depositional patterns in Kaziranga National Park, India: Implications for palaeoecology and palaeoherbivory analysis. The Holocene 2024. In Press.
  • Van Asperen, EN, Kirby, JR, Shaw, HE. Multi-proxy evidence for woodland clearance in northeast Northumberland (England) during the Iron Age. Vegetation history and archaeobotany 2023. In Press.
  • Wei Y, Gao G, Jie D, van Asperen E, Song L, Meng M, Yang Z, Chen N, Yu J, Li Y. Indication of coprophilous fungal spores for monitoring grazing intensity in the Horqin Sandy Land, northern China. Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 2024, 48(4), 518-535.
  • Blong JC, Whelton HL, van Asperen EN, Bull ID, Shillito L-M. Sequential biomolecular, macrofossil, and microfossil extraction from coprolites for reconstructing past human behavior and environments. Frontiers in Ecology And Evolution 2023, 11, 11312694.
  • Gunton R, Hejnowicz AP, Basden A, van Asperen E, Christie I, Hanson D, Hartley SE. Valuing nature beyond economics: A pluralistic evaluation framework for environmental policymaking. Ecological Economics 2022, 196, 107420.
  • Pokharia AK, Basumatary SK, Thakur B, Tripathi S, McDonald HG, Tripathi D, Tiwari P, Van Asperen E, Spate M, Chauhan G, Thakkar MG, Srivastava A, Agarwal S. Multiproxy analysis on Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) dung from Little Rann of Western India and its implications for the palaeoecology and archaeology of arid regions. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 2022, 304, 104700.
  • Van Asperen EN, Brennan J, Reid A. Dispersal distances of dung fungal spores: an in vivo experimental setup. Current Research in Environmental and Applied Mycology 2022, 12(1), 220-237.
  • Basumatary SK, Gogoi R, Tripathi S, Ghosh R, Pokharia AK, McDonald HG, Sherpa N, van Asperen EN, Agnihotri R, Chhetri G, Saikia K, Pandey A. Red Panda feces from Eastern Himalaya as a modern analogue for palaeodietary and palaeoecological analyses. Scientific Reports 2021, 11, 18312.
  • Stefaniak K, Stachowicz-Rybka R, Borówka RK, Hrynowiecka A, Sobczyk A, Moskal-del Hoyo M, Kotowski A, Nowakowski D, Krajcarz MT, Billia EME, Persico D, Burkanova EM, Leschinsky SV, van Asperen E, Ratajczak U, Shpansky AV, Lempart M, Wach B, Niska M, van der Made J, Stachowicz K, Lenarczyk J, Kovalchuk O. Browsers, grazers or mix-feeders? Study of the diet of extinct Pleistocene Eurasian forest rhinoceros Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Jäger, 1839) and woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799). Quaternary International 2021, 605-606, 192-212.
  • Shillito L-M, Blong JC, Greene EJ, van Asperen E. The what, how and why of archaeological coprolite analysis. Earth Science Reviews 2020, 207, 103196.
  • Van Asperen EN, Kirby JK, Shaw HE. Relating dung fungal spore influx rates to animal density in a temperate environment: implications for palaeoecological studies. The Holocene 2020, 30(2), 218-232.
  • Boulbes N, Van Asperen EN. Biostratigraphy and Paleoecology of European Equus. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 2019, 7, 301.

• Book Chapter

  • Van Asperen EN, Perrotti A, Baker A. Coprophilous fungal spores: non-pollen palynomorphs for the study of past megaherbivores. In: Marret F; O'Keefe J; Osterloff P; Pound M; Shumilovskikh L, ed. Applications of Non-Pollen Palynomorphs from Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions to Biostratigraphy. London, UK: Geological Society/The Micropalaeontological Society, 2021, pp.245-267.