Staff Profiles

Roles and Responsibilities

Director of the Wolfson Archaeology Laboratory, Earthslides and NeMCAS

School Research Committee

REF UoA15 co-Lead

Qualifications

PhD Chemistry and Archaeology, University of Reading, 2008.

NERC MSc Geoarchaeology, University of Reading, 2004.

BA (Hons) Geography, University of Oxford, 2003.

Honours and External Appointments

Member of NERC NEIF Peer Review Panel B

British Council ISPF review college and natural sciences panel member

Member of the UKRI Future Leadership Fellows and AHRC Peer Review Colleges

Associate Editor Geoarchaeology Journal

Google scholar: Click here.

SCOPUS: Click here.

ORCID profile here.

Current Research Projects

Human-environment interactions in the Hadrian's Wall region, these are interconnected pilot projects looking at different aspects of resource use, climate and landscape change, in collaboration with Dr Eline van Asperen:

• Fuelling the northern Frontier: landscape impacts of fuel extraction in the Hadrian’s Wall region c AD 0 to AD 500 (British Academy 2023 - 2025)
• Exploring the environmental impact of the Iron Age-Roman transition at the northern frontier (Royal Archaeological Institute 2022-23)
• Birdoswald Roman Fort (directed by Prof. Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott)

TerraSAgE: Terraces as Sustainable Agricultural Environments (AHRC 2019 - 2024)

Biofuels and Respiratory Health at Catalhoyuk World Heritage Site, Turkey (Wellcome Trust 2017 - 2018)

Ness of Brodgar, Orkney (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Orkney Archaeology Society 2013 - )

Paisley Caves, Oregon USA (NERC 2016 - 2021)

Collaborations

Powerful Plants (University of Glasgow)

Modified function of a stem cell regulator in monocots and dicots (BBSRC 2022-25)

Rome Transformed (ERC 2019 - 2024)

Round Mounds of the Isle of Man

Olynthos Project (University of Michigan)

Freston Archaeological Research Mission (McMaster University)

Past Research Projects

Ecology of Crusading

Central Zagros Archaeological Project

Feeding Stonehenge

Margat Castle

Postgraduate supervision

Dimitra Skoulikari (NERC One Planet Studentship 2023 - 2027) (lead Vasile Ersek, Northumbria)

Abbie Rogers (NERC One Planet Studentship 2023 - 2027) (lead Miranda Prendergast-Miller, Northumbria)

Miriam Cooke (AHRC Northern Bridge Studentship 2021 - 2026)

Eleanor Harrison (AHRC Northern Bridge Studentship 2020 - 2024) (lead Chris Fowler)

Raphael Kahlenberg (NERC IAPETUS2 Studentship 2020 - 2023) (lead Karen Milek, Durham)

Phyllida Bailey (ERC Rome Transformed 2020 -2024) (lead Ian Haynes)

Felicitas Ruschel (AHRC Northern Bridge Studentship 2021 - 2025) (lead Dan Lawrence, Durham)

Completed PhDs

Mara Schumacher (AHRC Northern Bridge Studentship 2018 - 2022)

Alicia Sawyer (Research Excellence Academy Studentship 2017- 2021)

I can take on a small number of new PhD students from 2024, get in touch if you have an idea related to my research interests. I am especially keen on projects in these areas which take advantage of our NeMCAS facilities:

• Development of micro CT for non-destructive analysis of coprolites, wood and other materials
• Case studies integrating anthracology, ash geochemistry and microfossils to examine fuel use in different contexts
• Health and environmental impacts of pyrotechnological activities past and present
• Integrating microstratigraphic and biomolecular techniques to examine taphonomy and human activity in complex depositional contexts including caves and urban deposits
• (Pre)history of concepts of waste and pollution and relationship with waste disposal management practices and sanitation 

I am very happy to arrange meetings with personal tutees and students taking my modules, at a time that works for us both. Please email me in the first instance so we can fix a time then schedule via NU Reflect . Please add a short note to explain the meeting topic (e.g. Personal Tutor meeting to discuss PEC; Meeting to discuss feedback for essay 1, ARA2004 etc), and whether you would prefer the meeting on Teams or in person (ARMB 2.25).

Module leader

ARA2004 - Animals, Plants and People: An Introduction to Environmental Archaeology

ARA3113 - Lessons from the Past: Archaeo-historic approaches to sustainability in the Anthropocene (not running 24/25)

ARA8395 - Heritage Science NEW FOR 24/25

Not running 24/25, but if you are interested in this training I can do one to one tutorials as an independent study module:

ARA3004 - Geoarchaeology: from Soils to Societies

ARA8391 - Archaeology under the microscope: an introduction to sediment micromorphology 

Module contributor

ARA1026 - Introduction to Archaeological Science

ARA8190 - Research Themes, Theories and Skills in Archaeology

Masters students - please get in touch if you would like to work with me on an independent study topic or dissertation project in any areas related to my research interests.

• Articles

  • Zhao W, Whelton HL, Blong JC, Shillito L-M, Jenkins DL, Bull ID. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as a rapid means of assessing the dietary origins of coprolites. iScience 2023, 26(6), 106806.
  • 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.
  • Holcomb JA, McDonough KN, Rosencrance RL, Shillito L-M, Jenkins DL. Frost action during the Younger Dryas inferred from soil micromorphology at Connley Cave 5. PaleoAmerica 2023, 9(4), 289-303.
  • Mitchell PD, Anastasiou E, Whelton HL, Bull ID, Parker Pearson M, Shillito L-M. Intestinal Parasites in the Neolithic Population Who Built Stonehenge (Durrington Walls, 2500 BCE). Parasitology 2022, 149(8), 1027-1033.
  • Shillito L-M, Namdeo A, Bapat AV, Mackay H, Haddow SD. Analysis of fine particulates from fuel burning in a reconstructed building at Çatalhöyük World Heritage Site, Turkey: assessing air pollution in prehistoric settled communities. Environmental Geochemistry and Health 2022, 44, 1033-1048.
  • Pawlowska K, Shillito L-M. An Integrated Zooarchaeological and Micromorphological Perspective on Midden Taphonomy at Late Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Open Archaeology 2022, 8(1), 436-459.
  • Blong JC, Shillito L-M. Coprolite Research: Archaeological and Paleoenvironmental Potentials. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 2021, 13, 15.
  • Wade K, Shillito L-M, Marston JM, Bonsall C. Assessing the Potential of Phytolith Analysis to Investigate Local Environment and Prehistoric Plant Resource Use in Temperate Regions: A Case Study from Williamson’s Moss, Cumbria, Britain. Environmental Archaeology 2021, 26(3), 295-308.
  • Blong JC, Adams ME, Sanchez G, Jenkins DL, Bull ID, Shillito L-M. Younger Dryas and Early Holocene Subsistence in the Northern Great Basin: Multiproxy Analysis of Coprolites from the Paisley Caves, Oregon, USA. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 2020, 12, 224.
  • 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.
  • Shillito L-M, Whelton H, Blong JC, Jenkins DL, Connolly TJ, Bull ID. Pre-Clovis occupation of the Americas identified by human faecal biomarkers in coprolites from Paisley Caves, Oregon. Science Advances 2020, 6(29), eaba6404.
  • Shillito L-M, Mackay H. Middens, Waste Disposal, and Health at Çatalhöyük. Near Eastern Archaeology 2020, 83(3), 168-174.
  • Ledger ML, Anastasiou E, Shillito L-M, Mackay H, Bull ID, Haddow SD, Knüsel C, Mitchell PD. Parasite infection at the early farming community of Çatalhöyük. Antiquity 2019, 93(369), 573-587.
  • Kluiving SJ, Durcan JA, Bebermeier W, Inglis R, Heyvaert VMA, Howard A, Shillito L-M. Geoarchaeology: Human adaptation to landscape changes, landscape resilience to human impact and integrating palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records. Quaternary International 2019, 501(Part B), 269-271.
  • Shillito L-M, Blong JC, Sawyer AH, Mackay H. Geoarchaeology from Landscapes to Material Culture: papers from the 7^th Developing International Geoarchaeology conference. Geoarchaeology 2019, 34(4), 377-379.
  • Shillito L-M. Building Stonehenge? An alternative interpretation of lipid residues in Grooved Ware from Durrington Walls. Antiquity 2019, 93(370), 1052-1060.
  • Shillito L-M, Blong J, Jenkins D, Stafford TW, Whelton H, McDonough K, Bull I. New Research at Paisley Caves: Applying New Integrated Analytical Approaches to Understanding Stratigraphy, Taphonomy and Site Formation Processes. PaleoAmerica 2018, 4(1), 82-86.
  • Shillito L-M. Multivocality and multiproxy approaches to the use of space: lessons from 25 years of research at Çatalhöyük. World Archaeology 2017, 49(2), 237-259.
  • Brown AD, Banerjea R, Wynne AD, Stivrins N, Jarzebowski M, Shillito L-M, Pluskowski AG. The Ecological Impact of Conquest and Colonization on a Medieval Frontier Landscape: Combined Palynological and Geochemical Analysis of Lake sediments from Radzyń Chełminski, Northern Poland. Geoarchaeology 2015, 30(6), 511-527.
  • Sawicki Z, Pluskowski AG, Brown A, Badura M, Makowiecki D, Shillito L-M, Zabilska-Kunek M, Seetah K. Survival at the Frontier of Holy War: Political Expansion, Crusading, Environmental Exploitation and the Medieval Colonizing Settlement at Biała Góra, North Poland. European Journal of Archaeology 2015, 18(2), 282-311.
  • Shillito L-M, McKenzie J, Card N, Pike S, Chan B. Subsistence, technology and resource use in Neolithic Orkney at the Ness of Brodgar. Antiquity 2015, 348, proj gall.
  • Shillito L-M, Fairnell E, Williams H. Special Issue: Experimental Archaeology. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 2015, 7(1), 1-2.
  • Craig OE, Shillito L-M, Albarella U, Viner-Daniels S, Chan B, Cleal R, Ixer R, Jay M, Marshall P, Simmons E, Wright E, Pearson MP. Feeding Stonehenge: cuisine and consumption at the Late Neolithic site of Durrington Walls. Antiquity 2015, 89(347), 1096-1109.
  • Shillito L-M, Major B, Almond MJ, Anderson E, Pluskowski A. Micromorphological and geochemical investigation of formation processes in the refectory at the Crusader Castle of Margat (Qal’at al-Marqab). Journal of Archaeological Science 2014, 50, 451 – 459.
  • Shillito L-M. Geoarchaeology at the microscale. European Geologist 2014, 38, 59-62.
  • Pluskowski AG, Sawicki Z, Shillito L-M, Badura M, Makowiecki D, Zabilska-Kunek M, Seetah K, Brown A. Biała Góra: The Forgotten Colony in the Medieval Pomeranian-Prussian Borderlands. Antiquity 2014, 88(341), 863-882.
  • Shillito L-M, Ryan P. Surfaces and streets: phytoliths, micromorphology and changing use of space at Neolithic Çatalhöyük (Turkey). Antiquity 2013, 87(337), 684 – 700.
  • Shillito L-M. Grains of truth or transparent blindfolds? Debates in archaeological phytolith analysis. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 2013, 22(1), 71-82.
  • Shillito L-M, Matthews W. Geoarchaeological Investigations of Midden-Formation Processes in the Early to Late Ceramic Neolithic Levels at Çatalhöyük, Turkey ca. 8550–8370 cal BP. Geoarchaeology 2013, 28, 25 – 49.
  • Robertson A, Lochrie R, Timpany S, Bailey L, Mynett L, Shillito L-M, Smith C. Built to last: Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement at two sites beside the Forth estuary. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 2013, 143, 1-64.
  • Shillito L-M, Matthews W, Almond MJ, Bull ID. The microstratigraphy of middens: capturing daily routine in rubbish at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Antiquity 2011, 85(329), 1024 - 1038.
  • Shillito L-M. Taphonomic observations of archaeological wheat phytoliths from Neolithic Çatalhöyük , Turkey, and the use of conjoined phytolith size as an indicator of water availability. Archaeometry 2011, 53, 631 – 641.
  • Shillito L-M. Simultaneous thin section and phytolith observations of finely stratified deposits from Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey: implications for paleoeconomy and Early Holocene paleoenvironment. Journal of Quaternary Science 2011, 26(6), 576–588.
  • Shillito L-M, Bull ID, Matthews W, Almond MJ, Williams J, Evershed RP. Biomolecular and micromorphological analysis of suspected faecal deposits at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Journal of Archaeological Science 2011, 38, 1869 – 1877.
  • Shillito L-M, Almond MJ. Comment on “Fruit and seed biomineralization and its effect on preservation” . Journal of Anthropological and Archaeological Science 2010, 2, 225-229.
  • Shillito L-M, Almond MJ, Wicks K, Marshall L, Matthews W. The use of FT-IR as a screening technique for organic residue analysis of archaeological samples. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 2009, 72, 120 – 125.
  • Shillito L-M, Almond MJ, Nicholson J, Pantos M, Matthews W. Rapid characterisation of archaeological midden components using FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM-EDX and micro XRD. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 2009, 73, 133-9.

• Authored Book

  • Shillito L-M. Daily activities, diet and resource use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Archaeopress, 2011.

• Book Chapters

  • Blong JC, Jenkins DL, Sanchez GM, Shillito LM. Human Subsistence. In: Jenkins, DL, ed. Multidisciplinary Studies of the First Americans at the Paisley Caves. 2023. Submitted.
  • Kubiak-Martens L, van der Linden M, Hardy K, Mackay H, Ngan-Tilgard D, Shillito L-M, Zeiler JT. Synthesis - Human versus community diet. In: Kubiak-Martens, L; van der Linden, M, ed. Neolithic Human Diet Based on Studies of Coprolites from the Swiferbant Culture Sites, the Netherlands. Amersfoort: Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, 2022, pp.119-139.
  • Shillito L-M. Phytoliths. In: Kubiak-Martens, L; van der Linden, M, ed. Neolithic Human Diet Based on Studies of Coprolites from the Swiferbant Culture Sites, the Netherlands. Amersfoort: Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, 2022, pp.77-84.
  • Turner S, Shillito L-M, Carrer F. Landscape Archaeology. In: P. Howard, I. Thompson, E. Waterton and M. Atha, ed. The Routledge Companion to Landscape Studies. London, UK: Routledge, 2019, pp.155-165.
  • Shillito L-M. Phytolith Analysis. In: López-Varela S, ed. The SAS Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2018.
  • Shillito L-M. Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). In: Nicosia C; Stoops GR, ed. Archaeological Soil and Sediment Micromorphology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017, pp.399-402.
  • Radini R, Nikita E, Shillito L-M. Human Dental Calculus and a Medieval Urban Environment. In: Jervis, B; Broderick, L; Grau-Sologestoa, I, ed. Objects, Environment, and Everyday Life in Medieval Europe. Turnhout: Brepols, 2016, pp.297-313.
  • Shillito L-M. Middens and other trash deposits. In: Karen Bescherer Metheny, Mary C. Beaudry, ed. Archaeology of Food: An Encyclopedia. AltaMira Press, 2015.
  • Matthews W, Shillito L-M, Elliot S, Bull ID, Williams J. Neolithic lifeways: microstratigraphic traces within houses, animal pens and settlements. In: Whittle, A; Bickle, P, ed. Early Farmers: The View from Archaeology and Science. British Academy and OUP, 2014, pp.251-279.
  • Shillito L-M, Elliot S. Phytolith indicators of plant resource use at Sheikh-e Abad and Jani. In: Matthews, R; Matthews, W; Mohammadifar, Y, ed. The Earliest Neolithic of Iran: 2008 Excavations at Sheikh-e Abad and Jani. Oxford: Oxbow and British Institute for Persian Studies, 2013, pp.185-200. In Preparation.
  • Shillito L-M, Bull ID, Matthews W, Almond MJ, Evershed RJ. 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. Cotsen Institute/BIAA, 2013, pp.75-79.
  • Shillito L-M, Matthews W, Almond MJ. Ecology, diet and discard practices: new interdisciplinary approaches to the study of middens – integrating micromorphological, phytolith and geochemical analyses. In: Hodder, I, ed. Humans and Landscapes of Çatalhöyük: reports from the 2000-2008 excavations. Cotsen Institute/BIAA, 2013, pp.63-75.
  • Shillito L-M, Matthews W, Bull ID, Williams J. Biomolecular investigations of faecal biomarkers at Sheik-e Abad and Jani. In: Matthews, R; Matthews, W; Mohammadifar, Y, ed. The Earliest Neolithic of Iran: 2008 Excavations at Sheikh-e Abad and Jani. Oxford: Oxbow and British Institute for Persian Studies, 2013, pp.105-115.
  • Shillito L-M. Preliminary Microstratigraphic Observations of Ash Deposits and Architectural Materials at Kamiltepe, Azerbaijan. In: Lyonnet, B; Guliyev, F; Helwing, B; Aliyev, T; Hansen, S; Mirtskhulava, G, ed. Ancient Kura 2010–2011. The First Two Seasons of Joint Fieldwork in the Southern Caucasus. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 2012, pp.31-36.
  • Carson S, Shillito L-M, Brown AD, Pluskowski AG. Environmental assessment of samples from the castle site at Grudziądz, Poland. In: Wiewióra, M, ed. Zamek w Grudziądzu w świetle badań archeologiczno-architektonicznych. Materiały i studia. Toruń: UMK, 2012.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

  • Srivastava A, Kinnaird T, Turner S, Sevara C, Holcomb J, Lekakis S, Shillito LM. Agricultural terraces in the Mediterranean: a multidisciplinary approach to understanding human-landscape interactions. In: EGU General Assembly 2022. 2022, Vienna, Austria: European Geosciences Union (EGU).

• Note

  • Blong JC, Whelton HL, van Asperen EN, Bull ID, Shillito L-M. Corrigendum: Sequential biomolecular, macrofossil, and microfossil extraction from coprolites for reconstructing past behavior and environments (Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, (2023), 11, (1131294), 10.3389/fevo.2023.1131294). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 2023, 11, 1217115.