Professor Richard Thomas

Professor Richard Thomas’ research in zooarchaeology centres on the analysis of animal bones from archaeological sites and has two main strands: the reconstruction of past human-animal relationships, predominantly in the historic period; and animal palaeopathology – the study of animal health, disease and injury in the past. His research explores the changing relationships between humans and animals and examines the contemporary relevance of these findings.

Richard is Principal investigator of a three-year Leverhulme Trust research project - "Raptors Unwrapped" - which will shed new light on mummified birds of prey in Late Period and Ptolemaic Egypt. Richard also co-directs the Bradgate Park Fieldschool – a multi-period archaeological excavation of a country park in Leicestershire, which includes the ruins of the childhood home of Lady Jane Grey, nine-day queen of Tudor England. Finally, Richard is the project zooarchaeologist for the excavations of the early Neolithic site of Can Hasan III, one of a series of three tells on the Konya Plain in central Turkiye. 

Professor Thomas is the Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise and Dean of the Doctoral College.

My research centres on the analysis of animal bones from archaeological sites (zooarchaeology) and has two main strands:

• the reconstruction of past human-animal relationships, predominantly in the historic period
• palaeopathology – the study of animal health and disease in the past.

Best, J., Doherty, S., Buster, L.S., Armit, I., Boev, Z. N., Cunliffe, B., Foster, A., Frimet, B., Hamilton-Dyer, S. Higham, T., Lebrassuer, O., Mepham, L., Miller, H., Peters, J., Seigle, M., Skelton, C., Symmons, R. , Thomas, R., Trentacoste, A., Maltby, M., Larson, G., and Sykes, N. 2021. Radiocarbon dating redefines the timing and circumstances of the chicken’s introduction to Europe and northwest Africa. Antiquity

Doherty, S. P., Foster, A., Best, J., Larson, G., Lebrasseur, O., Knapp, Z., Sadler, P., Skelton, C, Smallman, R., Wolderikos, H., Thomas, R. and Sykes, N. 2021. Estimating the age of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus) cockerels through spur development. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 10.1002/oa.2988.

Harvey, J., Browning, J. and Thomas, R., 2023. The earliest evidence for settled occupation within Bradgate Park, Leicestershire: survey and evaluative excavation of an Iron Age enclosure. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society 97: 29-40.

Holmes, M., Hamerow, H. and Thomas, R. 2021. Close Companions? A Zooarchaeological Study of the Human–Cattle Relationship in Medieval England. Animals 11: 1174. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11041174

Holmes, M., Thomas, R. and Hamerow, H. 2021. Periodontal disease in sheep and cattle: understanding dental health in past animal populations. International Journal of Paleopathology 33: 43-54 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2021.02.002

Holmes, M., Thomas, R. and Hamerow, H. 2021. Identifying draught cattle in the past: lessons from large-scale analysis of archaeological datasets. International Journal of Paleopathology 33: 258-269. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879981721000322

Holmes, M., Thomas, R. and Hamerow, H. 2021. Lesions in sheep elbows: insights from a large-scale study. International Journal of Paleopathology 34: 50-62. 10.1016/j.ijpp.2021.05.007

Librado, P., Tressières, G., Chauvey, L....Thomas, R. et al. 2024. Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2,200 BCE in Eurasia. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07597-5

Lloveras Ll., Thomas R., Moreno-García M., Nadal J., Tomàs-Gimeno X., Rissech C. and Bellis L. 2021. Pathological and sub-pathological changes in European rabbit bones: two reference cases to be applied to the analysis of archaeological assemblages. International Journal of Paleopathology 34: 90-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2021.06.004

McKerracher, M., Hamerow, H. Bogaard, A., Bronk Ramsey, C., Charles, M., Forster, E., Hamerow, H., Hodgson, J., Holmes, M., Neil, S., Roushannafas, T., Stroud, E., and Thomas, R. 2023. Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: a bioarchaeological dataset for the study of early medieval agriculture (Data paper). Internet Archaeology 61 https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue61/5/index.html.

Thomas, R., Harvey, J., Browning, J., Liddle, P. Addison, H., Blinkhorn, P., Hill, N. and Walsh, J. 2023. Fit for a king? A post-medieval stable and horse bone assemblage from Bradgate Park, Leicestershire. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society 97: 145-176.

Zooarchaeology, past human-animal relationships, non-human animal palaeopathology.

I teach across all three levels of undergraduate study to campus-based and distance learning students and teach postgraduate taught students. My teaching primarily focusses on the analysis of biological materials in the archaeological record, including environmental archaeology and zooarchaeology. I also contribute to teaching on the archaeology of medieval and early modern Britain. I was co-direct the Bradgate Park Fieldschool.

• 1999: Royal Archaeological Institute Dissertation Prize

• 2025 Co(l)laboratory DTP (Leicestershire Civic Universities Partnership) (Research England Development Fund, £1.8m, CI)
• 2024 Strengthening research governance and research management capacity in East Africa and the East Midlands (British Academy, £48k, PI)
• 2024 Raptors unwrapped: the exploitation of birds of prey in Late and Ptolemaic Egypt (Leverhulme Trust, £390k, PI)
• 2017 Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: The Bioarchaeology of an Agricultural Revolution (ERC, €1.94 million, CI)
• 2016 Going Places: Empowering Women, Enhancing Heritage and Increasing Chicken Production in Ethiopia (AHRC, £225k, CI)
• 2014 Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions (AHRC, £1.94 million, CI)
• 2011 Texts and bones: zooarchaeological and written evidence of animal healthcare in Early Modern England (Wellcome Trust, £1400, PI)
• 2011 Livestock ‘improvement’ in the city of London 1300-1800 (City of London Archaeological Trust, £3268, PI)
• 2009: Pathological analysis of a population of sheep held at the Copenhagen Natural History Museum (EU SYNTHESYS access grant, €1361, PI)
• 2009: Taphonomy and differential diagnosis of paleopathologies in faunal archaeological remains (Social Sciences and Humanities, Batista i Roca Projects from the Generalitat of Catalonia, €6500, CI)
• 2006: DNA microsatellite study to determine the nature of post Black-Death improvement in the size of animals in medieval England (British Academy, £7,492, PI)

• 2024: ARTE: The Anthropocene: the Undeniable Truth
• 2019: The Economist: Why is Chicken so Cheap? (>4m views)
• 2019: BBC2 Digging for Britain (featuring Bradgate Park)
• 2017: BBC1 Attenborough and the Giant Elephant (>7m views)
• 2017: CBC Jumbo: The Life of an Elephant Superstar
• 2017: Radio4 Natural Histories: Cow
• 2015: BBC2 Horizon 70 Million Animal Mummies: Egypt's Dark Secret
• 2014: Channel 4 Richard III: The New Evidence
• 2014: PBS Resurrecting Richard III

Print media

• 2023: Times Higher Education: Don't keep your distance learners at a distance

I was lead scientist for a BBC and CBC documentary about Jumbo the elephant presented by Sir David Attenborough and David Suzuki respectively. The former achieved viewing figures of 7 million in its first airing and was long-listed for a National Television Award. This research was adapted by children’s author Alexandra Stewart and published by Bloomsbury. 

Press releases related to my research have received widespread national and international attention. The publication of an article about broiler production in 2018, for example, featured in print and online news media (e.g. BBC, Daily Mail, Guardian, NY Times, Telegraph), websites (e.g. Live Science, Newsweek, New Scientist, Phys.org), online magazines (e.g. Smithsonian magazine, Cosmos magazine), radio interviews (BBC Scotland, BYU Radio, Portland), a podcast (Scientific American) and blog posts (The Conversation, Western Producer). To cite a second example, the discovery of tortoise remains resulted in: radio interviews for BBC Scotland, BBC5Live Drive and BBC Stoke; coverage in national and international newspapers; features in specialist media (e.g. THE supplement and British Archaeology) and an article on the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10574385).

The discoveries and public events arising from the Bradgate Park Fieldschool featured in a range of local media including: BBC Radio Leicester, BBC East Midlands, ITV Central News, Leicester Mercury, Pukaar News and The Loughborough Echo (e.g.: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Exciting-archaeologists-Bradgate-Park-dig/story-27788936-detail/story.html; http://www.pukaarnews.com/archaeology-students-explore-hidden-history-of-bradgate-park/14565). The archaeological research at Bradgate has also featured in Philippa Gregory’s The Last Tudor (2017) and inspired a poetic response (https://blog.lboro.ac.uk/poetinthepark/category/poetry/).

Qualifications

• 1998-2002: Ph.D. Archaeology, Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Birmingham
• 1995-1998: BA (Hon.) Ancient History and Archaeology (First Class), Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Birmingham

Fellowships

• 2010: Fellow of the Linnean Society
• 2010: Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
• 2019: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy