People

Dr Anna Davies-Barrett

Research Associate

Anna Davies-Barrett profile

School/Department: Archaeology and Ancient History, School of

Email: amdb2@leicester.ac.uk

Address: Office 1.18, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH

Web: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna-Davies-Barrett

Profile

I am a Research Associate in human palaeopathology on the UKRI-funded project ‘Tobacco, Health and History’. I work as an osteoarchaeologist specialising in the analysis and curation of human remains, with a focus on the study of ancient diseases (palaeopathology). I have a particular interest in respiratory conditions, including the effect of air pollution, environment, living conditions, and cultural behaviours on respiratory health in different past societies. Prior to coming to Leicester, I worked as a lecturer in human osteology at Cardiff University and as a bioarchaeologist at the British Museum, where I investigated respiratory diseases in populations from ancient Sudan.

I now work on Industrial era British and Dutch skeletons to investigate what impact the introduction of tobacco into Europe had on disease prevalence during this period.

Research

Research specialisms:

  • Palaeopathology
  • Tobacco consumption
  • Bone taphonomy and diagenesis
  • Inflammatory, respiratory and infectious disease 
  • Osteological recording methods
  • Sudanese/Nubian archaeology
  • Calculus/microfossil analysis

Current and recent projects:

  • Tobacco, Health and History (current) (UKRI AHRC funded)
  • Respiratory Disease in the Middle Nile Valley (AHRC funded)

Publications

Davies-Barrett, A. M., & Inskip, S. (2024). Who smokes anymore? Documentary, archaeological and osteological evidence for tobacco consumption and its relationship to social identity in industrial England (AD 1700-1850). In E. Craig-Atkins & K. Harvey (Eds), The Material Body: Embodiment, History and Archaeology in Industrializing England, 1700-1850. Manchester University press.

Davies-Barrett, A. M., Antoine, D., & Roberts, C. A. (Early view). Desert dust and city smoke: investigating the impact of urbanisation and aridification on the prevalence of pulmonary/pleural inflammation in the Middle Nile Valley (2500 BC to AD 1500). Bioarchaeology International. https://doi.org/10.5744/bi.2022.0037

Badillo-Sanchez, D., Serrano Ruber, M., Davies-Barrett, A. M., Jones, D. J. L., Hansen, M., & Inskip, S. (2023). Metabolomics in archaeological science: A review of their advances and present requirements. Science Advances, 9(32), eadh0485. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh0485

Badillo-Sanchez, D., Serrano Ruber, M., Davies-Barrett, A. M., Jones, D. JL., & Inskip, S. (2023). Botanical collections as an opportunity to explore nature through the time: An untargeted metabolomic study in historical and modern Nicotiana leaves. Journal of Archaeological Science, 153, 105769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105769

Robbins Schug, G., Buikstra, J. E., DeWitte, S. N., Baker, B. J., Berger, E., Buzon, M. R., Davies-Barrett, A. M … Zakrzewski, S. R. (2023). Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(4), e2209472120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209472120

Badillo-Sanchez, D., Ruber, M. S., Davies-Barrett, A. M., Sandhu, J. K., Jones, D. J. L., Hansen, M., & Inskip, S. A. (2023). Examination of human osteoarchaeological remains as a feasible source of polar and apolar metabolites to study past conditions. Scientific Reports, 13(1), Art. 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-27401-0

Rajab, T., & Davies-Barrett, A. M. (2022). A bioarchaeological analysis of the prevalence of rhinosinusitis across two Romano-British and early medieval populations. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 143, 193–213.

Owens, L. S., Davies-Barrett, A. M., & Service, L. M. C. (2022). Unilateral Congenital Aural Atresia from an Ychsma Group Burial at the Site of Pachacamac, Peruvian Central Coast. Journal of Bioanthropology, 2(1), pp. 45-55. https://doi.org/10.54062/jb.2.1.3

Davies-Barrett, A. M., Owens, L. S., & Eeckhout, P. A. (2021). Paleopathology of the Ychsma: Evidence of respiratory disease during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1476) at the Central Coastal site of Pachacamac, Peru. International Journal of Paleopathology, 34, 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2021.06.001

Davies-Barrett, A. M., Roberts, C. A., & Antoine, D. (2021). Time to be nosy: Evaluating the impact of environmental and sociocultural changes on maxillary sinusitis in the Middle Nile Valley (Neolithic to Medieval periods). International Journal of Palaeopathology, 34, 182-196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2021.07.004

Davies-Barrett, A. M., Antoine, D., & Roberts, C. A. (2020). Respiratory disease in the Middle Nile Valley: the impact of environment and aridification. In G. Robbins Schug (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change (pp. 122-140). Abingdon: Routledge.

Davies-Barrett, A. M. (2020). Human bone. In N. Sharples (Ed.), The economy of a Norse settlement in the Outer Hebrides. Excavations at mounds 2 and 2A, Bornais, South Uist, Volume 4 (pp. 313-315). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Davies-Barrett, A. M., Antoine, D., & Roberts, C. A. (2019). Inflammatory periosteal reaction on ribs associated with lower respiratory tract disease: a method for recording prevalence from sites with differing preservation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 168(3), 530-542. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23769

Davies-Barrett, A. M., Whiting, R., & Antoine, D. (2018). New insights into disease prevalence in two Medieval cemeteries from the Fourth Cataract. In S. Tipper & G. Tully (Eds.), Current Research in Nubian Archaeology (pp. 129-154). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.

Teaching

Although I am mainly research focussed, you can occasionally find me helping with the teaching of human osteology in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History.

I have previous teaching experience at Cardiff University, Durham University, and at Birkbeck, University of London.

My teaching specialisms are in:

  • Human osteology
  • Palaeopathology
  • Ethics in archaeology
  • Study and writing skills
  • Database management in archaeology

Activities

Conference organisation and hosting:

Primary organiser and chair: ‘Taking a breath: reflecting on respiratory disease in bioarchaeology’ online symposium (7th – 8th June 2021)
Co-organiser: ‘Tobacco, Health & History’ Annual Seminar, University of Leicester (23rd – 24th Jan. 2023)
Session chair: ‘Intersectional Bodies’ Symposium, University of Leicester (16th – 17th June 2022)

Outreach:

Great Exhibition Road Festival, 18th-19th June 2022. How old are we anyway? (Public Engagement stall)
British Science Festival, Leicester, 17th Sep. 2022. Skeleton Science. (Public Engagement stall).

Conferences

BABAO 24th Annual Conference, UCL, 15th – 17th Sep. 2023
A.M. Davies-Barrett, D. Badillo Sanchez, M. Serrano Ruber, & S. Inskip. The archaeometabolomic identification of tobacco users: Improving understanding of tobacco-associated disease prevalence in post-medieval England.

29th EAA Annual Meeting, Belfast,           30th Aug. - 2nd Sep. 2023
A.M. Davies-Barrett, D. Badillo Sanchez, M. Serrano Ruber, & S. Inskip. Disease prevalence and its relationship to tobacco consumption in Industrial England.

Food Systems and Practices: Past, Present and Future, The University of Sheffield,   27th-28th June 2023
A. M. Davies-Barrett. The historic health impacts of the commodification and consumption of tobacco: an osteoarchaeological perspective (Invited talk).

‘Back(bone) to the future – bioarchaeological perspectives on climate change and climate crisis’, German Archaeological Institute, 2nd – 3rd Dec. 2021
A. M. Davies-Barrett. Desert dust and city smoke: investigating the impact of environmental aridification and urbanisation on respiratory health in the past. (Online; Invited talk).

BABAO 22nd Annual Conference, Teeside University (Online), 17th – 19th Sep. 2021
A. M. Davies-Barrett, D. Badillo Sanchez, M. Serrano Ruber, & S. Inskip. Piping up on the issue of notches: microscopic investigation of dental modifications caused by tobacco pipe-smoking.

5th Sudan Studies Research Conference, Warsaw, 4th – 5th Sep. 2021
A. M. Davies-Barrett & T. Vlemincq-Mendieta. Life and death at the town of Kawa: findings of the recent osteological analysis of the Kushite cemetery assemblage. (Online; Invited talk).

Taking a breath: reflecting on respiratory disease in bioarchaeology (Online), 7th – 8th June 2021
A. M. Davies-Barrett, L. S. Owens & P. A. Eeckhout. Palaeopathology of the Ychsma: respiratory disease at the Central Coastal site of Pachacamac, Peru.
T. Rajab & A. M. Davies-Barrett. A bioarchaeological analysis of the prevalence of rhinosinusitis across Romano-British and Early Medieval populations.

BABAO 21st Annual Conference, Natural History Museum, 13th – 15th Sep. 2019
A. M. Davies-Barrett, C. A. Roberts, & D. Antoine. Respiratory disease in the Middle Nile Valley: the impact of environmental and sociocultural change from the Neolithic to Medieval periods.

Third Sudan Studies Postgraduate Conference, Oxford University, 4th May 2019
A. M. Davies-Barrett. Respiratory disease in the Middle Nile Valley: the impact of environmental and sociocultural change from the Neolithic to Medieval periods.

BABAO 19th Annual Conference, Liverpool John Moores University, 8th – 10th Sep. 2017
A. M. Davies-Barrett, C. A. Roberts,& D. Antoine. A new method for recording and presenting the true prevalence of rib lesions related to respiratory disease.

‘Stressed out: debunking the stress myth in the study of archaeological human remains’, UCL, 9th – 20th May 2017
A. M. D. Barrett. Respiratory disease as a ‘non-specific indictor of stress’? The value of identifying specific causative factors.

Sudan Studies Postgraduate Conference, Durham University, 13th May 2017
A. M. D. Barrett, R. Whiting, & D. Antoine. Insights into disease and lifestyle in two medieval cemeteries from the 4th Cataract of Sudan.

The Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS) Colloquium, The British Museum, 8th May 2017
D. Antoine & A. M. D. Barrett. Life and Death in the Kerma Classique at the Fourth Cataract: the evidence from site 4-L-2.

Palaeopathology Association (PPA) 44th Annual North American Meeting, New Orleans, 17th – 19th April 2017
A. M. D. Barrett, C. A. Roberts, & D. Antoine. Investigating the impact of air quality on the occurrence of respiratory disease in the Middle Nile Valley: comparing Kerma and Medieval sites.

BABAO 18th Annual Conference, University of Kent, 8th – 10th Sep. 2016
A. M. D. Barrett & P. Nystrom. Why water matters: investigating the effects of site hydrology on the diagenetic alteration of bone.

Qualifications

PhD: Durham University/The British Museum, Oct. 2015 – Dec. 2018
Viva: May 2019. Graduated: July 2019.
PhD in Archaeology/Palaeopathology - AHRC funded Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA)
Thesis: Respiratory disease in the Middle Nile Valley: a bioarchaeological analysis of the impact of environmental and sociocultural change from the Neolithic to Medieval periods.

MSc: The University of Sheffield, Oct. 2014 – Sep. 2015
MSc Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology (Distinction)
Dissertation: An investigation into the potential effects of site hydrology on the diagenetic alteration of bone.

BA: University of Kent, Sep. 2011 – June 2014
BA (Hons.) Archaeology and Anthropology (First Class Honours)

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