A leading authority on the interaction between animals, humans and the environment through history has been awarded a prestigious national fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust, focusing on the crisis surrounding the physical storage of archaeological artefacts.
Professor Naomi Sykes, of the University of Exeter, will spend the next three years working on a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship, providing important context on the value of archaeological archives.
With physical archive space expected to run out across the country in 2028, Professor Sykes will deliver five key pieces of research and a book that will demonstrate how such collections have offered insight into some of the complex histories behind contemporary challenges.
It is hoped that this work, to be conducted in collaboration with heritage specialists, will inform potential government investment strategies for the curation sector. It will include publications on subjects including the genetically confirmed extinction of many animal species in Northern Europe during the fifth century A.D.
"Archives and collections are both the product and focus of archaeological exploration," says Professor Sykes, Head of Exeter's Department of Archaeology and History. "Their importance has grown in tandem with the development of new high-resolution biomolecular and shape-based analyses, including isotopes and ancient DNA.
"These techniques are providing ever more sophisticated perspectives and understandings of past societies, species evolution and migrations, foodways, and environmental change. But this burgeoning research significance is not reflected in the level of investment in collections management, which is putting the future of archaeological archives at risk."
Museums play a central role in the UK in storing excavated archaeological items, but the majority have been full for several years. Under European law, the UK government is committed to supporting this physical storage, but the legislation does not extend to funding for museum archives.
Historic England has been leading a cross-sector initiative to address what is termed the "Curation Crisis", but there is an acknowledged need for research case studies to support the call for funding. To address this, Professor Sykes will complete five co-authored academic papers, each focused on a different zooarchaeological research project. They include studies on the history of Big Cats in the UK; the size, diet, health and environmental impact of domestic cats from 500 BC to the present; and a reanalysis of the archive from the Saxo-Norman settlement of Goltho (Lincolnshire), which will challenge the timings of economic, dietary and animal introductions previously attributed to the Normans.
This work will then be expanded in the pages of a new book, which will be the first to encompass such a diversity of specialisms across extended timescales and territories.
Professor Sykes will spend significant time in various UK archives, and will also draw upon her global research spanning Europe, India, Africa and the Caribbean. She will also oversee further biomolecular analyses to complete her research.
"The focus of this Fellowship is to make publicly available research that will provide leverage to address the UK Curation Crisis," added Professor Sykes. "Together, the outputs will provide the data, case-studies and coherent narrative sought by the heritage sector to evidence the social, economic and environmental value of curating archaeological collections."
