Meet the people behind the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology

Jelena Bekvalac (BA, MSc, FSA)

Curator of Human Osteology
tel: +44 (0)20 7814 5639
email: jbekvalac@museumoflondon.org.uk

Jelena has a Master's degree in Osteology, Palaeopathology and Funerary Archaeology from Sheffield and Bradford University. After university, Jelena worked as a human osteologist on excavations in Jordan on a British Museum excavation and skeletal material from the Czech Republic for the Institute of Archaeology, City Museum and National Museum in Prague; and on the site of the Spitalfields Market excavation from 2000 as an on site human remains finds processer on the skeletal material.

Since 2003, Jelena has been based at the Museum of London and was an original member of the research osteologist team with the establishment of the Wellcome funded Centre for Human Bioarchaeology. As part of the Wellcome team she analysed and recorded on to the Wellcome Osteological Research Database (WORD) skeletal material from different sites and time periods that make up the unique stratified human remains collection curated at the Museum.

 In 2007 Jelena became a Curator of Human Osteology and in the summer of 2008, was deeply involved in the 'Skeletons: London's buried bones' exhibition at the Wellcome Trust.  She has a particular interest in post-medieval bioarchaeology and palaeopathology, with specific knowledge and experience of the large curated London assemblages. Recent analysis and research has focused on the skeletal remains with biographical information retained at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street. From the recent analysis and recording of the individuals this has led to collaborative projects with Quinnipiac University, USA with a digital x-ray project and hair sampling in collaboration with La Trobe University, Australia.

Jelena is a representative on a number of committees, frequently speaks at archaeological and historical societies and was in 2011 elected to be a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Her specialist interests include palaeopathology, osteoarthritis, medieval and post-medieval bioarchaeology.

Areas of expertise: CRANID, medieval and post-medieval, health in London, bioarchaeology.

Current projects

  • Lead curator of forthcoming exhibition at Museum in October 2012 Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men
  • Interpretation and analysis of the St Bride's named sample, London. 
  • Bioarchaeology of the St Bride's sample: collaborative project with Tania Kausmally and Adrian Miles, funded by the Society of Antiquaries.
  • inspire Appeal "Wren Centre" Working Group

Membership of professional bodies

  • Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
  • British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology
  • Paleopathology Association

Professional service

  • Secretary of the Paleopathology Association
  • Museum representative on the BABAO committee
  • Museum Representative of APABE
  • Collaborator on the 'Skeletons: London's buried bones' exhibition curated by the Wellcome Trust (2008)
  • Museum of London co-representative on the Human Remains Subject Specialist Network

Publications

Bekvalac, J and Miles, A (in prep) Royal Mint Square Excavations The London Archaeologist

Redfern, R.C. and Bekvalac, J. forthcoming. Bioarchaeology at the Museum of London. In, Giesen, M. (ed.), Caring for the Dead: changing attitudes towards curation of human remains in Great Britain. Boydell & Brewer.

De Witte, S and Bekvalac, J (2011) The association between periodontal disease and periosteal lesions in the St. Mary Graces cemetery, London, England A.D.  Am. J. of Phys. Anthrop. 146 Issue 4:609-618.

Bekvalac, J and Kausmally, T (2011) Human Bone in Excavations at the Abbey of St Mary Graces, East Smithfield, London. Grainger, I and Phillpotts, C. MoLAS Monograph Series 44. Museum of London Archaeology Service.

De Witte, S and Bekvalac, J (2010) Oral Health and Frailty in the Medieval English Cemetery of St Mary Graces. Am. J. of Phys. Anthrop. 142 Issue 3: 341-354

Bekvalac, J (2009) ‘Skeletons and Disease: Diagnosis from an Osteological Perspective’ Med Sci His Vol 25

Cowie, R, Bekvalac, J and Kausmally, T (2008) Late 17th- to 19th-century burial and earlier occupation at All Saints, Chelsea Old Church, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Museum of London Archaeology Service, Archaeology Study Series 18.

Bekvalac, J and Kausmally, T (2007) A History In Bone. Chelsea Society History Magazine. London.

Bekvalac, J (2007) The Wonderful World of Skeletons. Friends News June -August, Museum of London

Bekvalac, J, Cowal, L and Mikulski, R (2006) Scientific Research of Archaeological Human Remains in the UK: Current Trends and Future Possibilities.  Human Remains Symposium. UNESCO and London.

Bekvalac J and Mikulski, R (2006) Osteology at the Museum of London. Friends News April–June, Museum of London.

Bekvalac, J and Leach, S (1997) Archeologie ve Strednich Cechach 1, Preliminary Report on the Human Skeletal Remains Excavated from the La Tene Site at Tisice during 1996 (Pages 263 to 266)

Dr Rebecca Redfern (BA, MSc, PhD, FSA)

Curator of Human Osteology
tel: +44 (0)20 7814 5649
email: rredfern@museumoflondon.org.uk

Before joining the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology in 2008, Rebecca was the curator of physical anthropology at The British Museum and had previously worked for Museum of London Archaeology as a human osteologist on ‘The Spitalfields Project’ from 2003 to 2007.  In 2008, Rebecca was invited by the Prehistoric Society to give the Sara Champion lecture and in 2009, she participated in the IEMA (University of Buffalo) visiting scholars conference on violence and conflict in past societies.  Rebecca was elected to be a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2011 and in 2012, was awarded the RM Baguley Award by The Prehistoric Society for her paper on the bioarchaeology of Maiden Castle hillfort. Over the past six years, she has been an invited speaker at many conferences, study days and lecture series.

Her special interests include palaeopathology, the archaeologies of ageing and gender, congenital and developmental anomalies, impairment and disability, medical practices and trauma.

Areas of expertise: Iron Age and Roman Britain, bioarchaeology, and palaeopathology.

Current projects

  • Bioarchaeology of Roman London (sub-project funded by CoLAT)
  • Population diversity in Roman London
  • Chemical analysis of soil samples from a Roman cemetery in London with BARC (University of Bradford)
  • Health in Roman Britain and the Empire: regional patterns and differences between rural/urban populations
  • Health consequences of Romanisation in collaboration with Dr DeWitte (University of South Carolina)
  • Congenital and developmental anomalies in medieval London
  • Stable isotope analysis of diet in Iron Age and Roman Dorset: collaborative project with Dr Hamlin (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) and Dr Millard (Durham University). Project funded by the Roman Research Trust.
  • Subadult health from the late Iron Age to the Anglo-Saxon period: collaborative project with Dr Gowland (University of Durham).
  • Bioarchaeology of Iron Age and Roman Dorset

Membership of professional bodies

  • American Association of Physical Anthropologists
  • British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO)
  • Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
  • Paleopathology Association
  • Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
  • The Prehistoric Society

Professional service

  • Chair of the BABAO working-group for ethics and practice
  • Museum of London co-representative on the Human Remains Subject Specialist Network

Publications

Judd, M.A. and Redfern, R.C. In prep. Paleotrauma: bioarchaeological interpretations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Redfern, R.C. and Bekvalac, J. in press. Bioarchaeology at the Museum of London.  In, Giesen, M. (ed.), Caring for the Dead: changing attitudes towards curation of human remains in Great Britain.  Boydell & Brewer.

Clegg, N., Redfern, R.C., Bekvalac, J. and Bonney, H. (eds.), in press. Global ancestors: understanding the shared humanity of our ancestors.  Oxford: Oxbow Books. 

Redfern, R.C. in press.  Violence in the Roman World. In C. Knüsel and M. Smith (eds.) A history of human conflict. Osteology and 'traumatized bodies' from earliest prehistory to the present. London, Routledge.

Redfern, R., Gowland, R. and Powell, L. in press . La santé des enfants sous L’empire romain.  Dossiers d'Archéologie.

Connell, B., Gray Jones, A., Redfern, RC., and Walker, D. 2012. Spitalfields: a bioarchaeological study of health and disease from a medieval London cemetery. Archaeological excavations at Spitalfields Market 1991–2007, Volume 3. London: MoLA Monograph.

Judd, M.A. and Redfern, R.C. 2012. Trauma. In Grauer, A. (ed.), Companion to Paleopathology. Blackwells, Wiley-Liss. 359-79.

Redfern, R.C. 2012. Violence as an aspect of the Durotrige female life course. In Ralph, S. (ed.), The archaeology of violence. Interdisciplinary approaches. IEMA: The University of Buffalo.

Redfern, R.C., Hamlin, C. and Millard, A.R. 2012. A regional investigation of subadult dietary patterns and health in late Iron Age and Roman Dorset, England. Journal of Archaeological Science doi: 10.1016/jas.2011.12.023.

Redfern, R.C., Clegg, M., Giesen, M., Loe, L. and Roberts, C.A. 2011. BABAO Code of Ethics.  British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology.

Redfern, R.C., Clegg, M., Giesen, M., Loe, L. and Roberts, C.A. 2011. BABAO Code of Practice. British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology.

Redfern, R.C. and Chamberlain, A.T. 2011. A demographic analysis of Maiden Castle hillfort: evidence for conflict in the late Iron Age and early Roman period.  International Journal of Paleopathology doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2011.02.004.

Redfern, R.C. and Gowland, R.L. 2011. A bioarchaeological perspective on the pre-adult stages of the life course: implications for the care and health of children in the Roman Empire. In Harlow, M.E. and Loven, L.L. (eds.), Families in the Roman and Late Antique World.  London: Continuum Press, 111-140.

Mitchell, P.D. and Redfern, R.C. 2011. Brief communication: developmental dysplasia of the hip in medieval London. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21448.

Redfern, R.C. and DeWitte, S.N. 2011. Status and health in Roman Dorset: the effect of status on risk of mortality in post-Conquest populations.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology doi:10.1002/ajpa.21563.

Redfern, R.C. and DeWitte, S.N. 2011. A new approach to the study of Romanization in Britain: a regional perspective of cultural change in late Iron Age and Roman Dorset using the Siler and Gompertz-Makeham models of mortality. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21400

Redfern, R.C. 2011. A re-appraisal of the evidence for violence in the late Iron Age human remains from Maiden Castle hillfort, Dorset, England. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 77, 111-138.

Gowland, R.L. and Redfern, R.C. 2010. Childhood health at the core and periphery of the Roman Empire. Childhood in the Past: An International Journal 3, 15-42.

Redfern, R.C. 2010. A regional examination of surgery and fracture treatment in Iron Age and Roman Britain, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 20.4, 443-471.

Redfern, R.C., Hamlin, C. and Beavan Athfield, N. 2010. Temporal changes in diet: a stable isotope analysis of late Iron Age and Roman Dorset, Britain. Journal of Archaeological Science 37.6, 1149-1160.

Redfern, R.C. 2009. Does cranial trauma provide evidence for projectile weaponry in late Iron Age Dorset? Oxford Journal of Archaeology 28.4, 399-424.

Redfern, R.C. and Walker, D. 2009. A life course perspective of growing up in medieval London: evidence of subadult health from St Mary Spital (London).  In Lewis, M.E. and Clegg, M. (eds.), Proceedings of the 9th Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. Oxford: BAR International, 1-11.

Redfern, R.C. 2008.  Book review of: Burial at the site of the parish church of St Benet Sherehog before and after the Great Fire. Excavations at 1 Poultry, City of London. A. Miles, W. White & D. Tankard. MoLAS Monograph 39. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 19.1, 123-124.

Redfern, R.C. 2008. A bioarchaeological investigation of cultural change in Dorset, England (mid-to-late fourth century B.C. to the end of the fourth century A.D.), Britannia XXXIX, 161-191.

Redfern, R.C. 2008. New evidence for Iron Age secondary burial practice and bone modification from Gussage All Saints and Maiden Castle (Dorset, England), Oxford Journal of Archaeology  27.3, 281-301.

Mitchell, P.D. and Redfern, R.C.2008. Diagnostic criteria for developmental dislocation of the hip in human skeletal remains. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 18.1, 61-71.

Mitchell, P.D. and Redfern, R.C. 2007. The prevalence of dislocation in developmental dysplasia of the hip in Britain over the past thousand years. Journal of Paediatric Orthopaedics 27.8, 890-892.

Redfern, R.C. 2007. A bioarchaeological analysis of violence in Iron Age females: a perspective from Dorset England (mid to late seventh century BC to the first century AD). In O.P. Davis, N.M. Sharples, and K.E. Waddington (eds.), Changing Perspectives on the First Millennium B.C. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 139-160.

Redfern, R.C. 2007.The influence of culture upon childhood: an osteological study of Iron Age and Romano-British Dorset, England. In M. Harlow and R. Laurence (eds.), Age and Ageing in the Roman Empire: Approaches to the Roman Life Course, Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series, 64, 171-190.

Redfern, R.C. 2007  An investigation of a possible peri-mortem limb amputation in a post-Medieval subadult from the Isle of Wight, England.  Paleopathology Newsletter 140, 6-11.

Redfern, R.C. and Roberts, C.A. 2005. Health in the Romano-British urban communities: reflections from the cemeteries. In D.N. Smith, M.B. Brickley and W. Smith (eds.), Fertile ground: papers in honour of Susan Limbrey.  Oxford: Oxbow Books, 115-129.

Redfern, R.C. 2003. Sex and the city.  A biocultural investigation into female health in Roman Britain.  In G. Carr, E. Swift and J. Weekes (eds.), TRAC 2002. Proceedings of the twelfth annual theoretical Roman archaeology conference, the University of Kent at Canterbury, 5-6 April 2002. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 147-169.



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