Staff

Dr Janet Montgomery

(email at janet.montgomery@durham.ac.uk)

Graduated in Archaeological Science (BSc Hons. 1st class) in 1996 University of Bradford

Received her NERC funded doctorate in 2002 University of Bradford.

2003- 2007  NERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bradford,

2007-2010 was Lecturer in Archaeological Science at the University of Bradford

Janet’s doctoral thesis awarded in 2002 (available to download from the AHDS website) was the first study to apply combined radiogenic lead and strontium isotope analysis to British archaeological humans. It explored such topics as how enamel lead compositions of archaeological humans become culturally focussed following the widespread use of metals, differential diagenesis of enamel, dentine and bone and the potential of lead and strontium to identify migration to, and within, Britain.
She has published her work in the journals of several disciplines: archaeological, biological, geochemical, geological and environmental. With various collaborators and students, Janet is currently working on a wide range of archaeological projects of humans and animals ranging in date from the Neolithic to the 19th century and funded by the NERC, AHRC, ESRF, Wellcome, British Academy, Royal Archaeological Institute, Royal Irish Academy, Leverhulme Trust, English Heritage and Historic Scotland. Of note is the Beaker People Project (PIs Profs. Parker-Pearson, Richards and Chamberlain) and The Gristhorpe Man Project which she co-directs with Nigel Melton.
In addition to archaeological case studies, her research continues on the two main themes of her NERC fellowship which are fundamental to a better understanding of how isotope analysis can be applied to archaeological questions of diet and mobility. These are the timing, duration and progression of enamel biomineralization and how it impacts on the dietary and mobility information obtained, and with her long-standing collaborator Professor Jane Evans at the British Geological Survey, environmental mapping of biosphere 87Sr/86Sr in Britain so the data obtained from humans and animals can be interpreted.
She is a member of the Academic Awards Committee of the Executive of the British Federation of Women Gradautes.

Current and recent grants awarded as principle or co-investigator:
AHRC CDA Studentship with Museum of London “The end of the world? Famine, plague and climate change in 14th century London”. Awarded 2007 with co-applicants Lee-Thorp and White.

NERC British University Funding Initiative doctoral studentship grant “Sr-isotope biosphere mapping in Britain”. Awarded 2007 with co-applicants Evans and Ander.

NERC standard grant “Does ancient human dental enamel record short-term seasonality? Investigating time-lines in teeth with computed tomography and oxygen isotopes”. Awarded 2008.

The British Academy “An isotopic investigation into the origins of the Iron Age “Chariot” burials of East Yorkshire”. Awarded 2009 with co-applicants Jay and Evans.

The Royal Irish Academy “Moving to “the smoak” – identifying survivors of the Great Irish Famine in a London cemetery”. Awarded 2009.

NERC Isotope Geosciences FSC isotope grant “The end of the world? Famine, plague and climate change in 14th century London.”  Awarded 2010 with co-applicants Evans and White.

The British Academy “Building Silbury Hill - where did the antler picks come from? Awarded 2011 with co-applicants Evans, Worley and Warham.
The Leverhulme Trust (PI Dr. M. Lewis University of Reading) “Adolescence, Migration and Health in Medieval England: the Osteological Evidence”. Awarded 2011.

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (PI Dr. M. Al-Jawad Queen Mary’s) 2D Mapping of Texture in Dental Enamel as a Marker of Maturity. Awarded 2010.

Wellcome Trust VIP Award (PI Dr. M. Al-Jawad Queen Mary’s) 2D Mapping of Texture in Dental Enamel as a Marker of Maturity. Awarded 2010.

Publications

Books: sections

• Richards, M.P. & Montgomery, J. (2012). Isotope analysis and paleopathology: A short review and future developments. In The Global History of Paleopathology: Pioneers and Prospects. Buikstra, J.E. & Roberts, C.A. Oxford University Press. 718-731.
• Zvelebil, M. Lillie, M.C., Montgomery, J. , Lukes, A. Pettitt, P. & Richards, M.P. (2012). The emergence of the LBK: Migration, memory and meaning at the transition to agriculture. In Population Dynamics in Pre- and Early History: New Approaches By Using Stable Isotopes and Genetics. Burger, J. Kaiser, E. & Schier, W. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 133-148.
• Montgomery, J., Knüsel, C. & Tucker, K. (2011). Identifying the origins of decapitated male skeletons from 3 Driffield Terrace, York, through isotope analysis: reflections of the cosmopolitan nature of Roman York in the time of Caracalla. In The Bioarchaeology of the Human Head: Decapitation, Decoration and Deformation. Bonogofsky, M. University Press of Florida. 141-178.
• Montgomery, J., Muldner, G., Cook, G., Gledhill, A. & Ellam, R. (2009). Isotope analysis of bone collagen and tooth enamel. In 'Clothing for the Soul Divine': Burials at the Tomb of St Ninian. Excavations at Whithorn Priory, 1957-67. Lowe, C. Historic Scotland. Archaeology Report No.3: 63-80.
• Montgomery, J., Evans, J. A., Chenery, C. A. & Müldner, G. (2009). Stable isotope analysis of bone. In Wasperton: A Roman, British and Anglo-Saxon Community in Central England. Carver, M.O.H., Hills, C. & Scheschkewitz, J. Boydell and Brewer. 48-49.
• Montgomery, J., Cooper, R.E. & Evans, J.A. (2007). Foragers, farmers or foreigners? An assessment of dietary strontium isotope variation in Middle Neolithic and Early Bronze Age East Yorkshire. In From Stonehenge to the Baltic. Living with cultural diversity in the third millennium BC. Larsson, M. & Parker Pearson, M. Oxford Archaeopress. International Series BAR 1692: 65-75.
• Montgomery, J. & Evans, J. A. (2006). Immigrants on the Isle of Lewis - combining traditional funerary and modern isotope evidence to investigate social differentiation, migration and dietary change in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. In The Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains. Gowland, R. & Knusel, C. Oxbow Books. 122-142.

Journal papers: academic

• Beaumont, J., Gledhill, A., Lee-Thorp, J. & Montgomery, J. (2013). Childhood diet: a closer examination of the evidence from dental tissues using stable isotope analysis of incremental human dentine. Archaeometry 55(2): 277-295.
• Kendall, E., Montgomery, J, Evans, J., Stantis, C. & Mueller, V. (2013). Mobility, Mortality, and the Middle Ages: Identification of Migrant Individuals in a 14th Century Black Death Cemetery Population. American Journal of Phyisical Anthropology 150(2): 210-22.
• Buckley, M., Melton, N. & Montgomery, J. (2013). Proteomics analysis of ancient food vessel stitching reveals >4,000 year old milk protein. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 27: 531-538.
• Beaumont, J., Geber, J., Powers, N., Wilson, A.S., Lee-Thorp, Julia & Montgomery, J. (2013). Victims and survivors: stable isotopes used to identify migrants from the Great Irish Famine to 19th Century London. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 150: 87-98.
• Brettell, R., Evans, J.A., Marzinzik, S., Lamb, A. & Montgomery, J. (2012). ‘Impious Easterners’ Can Oxygen and Strontium Isotopes Serve as Indicators of Provenance in Early Medieval European Cemetery Populations? European Journal of Archaeology 15(1): 117-145.
• Evans, J.A., Chenery, C.A. & Montgomery, J. (2012). A summary of strontium and oxygen isotope variation in archaeological human tooth enamel excavated from Britain. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 27(5): 754.
• Brettell, R., Montgomery, J. & Evans, J. (2012). Brewing and stewing: the effect of culturally mediated behaviour on the oxygen isotope composition of ingested fluids and the implications for human provenance studies. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 27(5): 778.
• Towers, Jacqueline, Jay, Mandy, Mainland, Ingrid, Nehlich, Olaf & Montgomery, Janet (2011). A calf for all seasons? The potential of stable isotope analysis to investigate prehistoric husbandry practices. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(8): 1858-1868.
• Killgrove, K., Montgomery, J. & Tykot, R. (2011). Dietary differences between immigrants and locals in Imperial Rome. American Journal Of Physical Anthropology 144: 185-185.
• Melton, N.D. & Montgomery, J. (2011). GRISTHORPE MAN Bronze Age burial Solving the riddle of this mysterious stranger, first discovered in 1834. Current Archaeology (250): 20-27.
• Mays, S., Ogden, A., Montgomery, J., Vincent, S., Battersby, W. & Taylor, G.M. (2011). New light on the personal identification of a skeleton of a member of Sir John Franklin's last expedition to the Arctic, 1845. Journal Of Archaeological Science 38(7): 1571-1582.
• Towers, J., Montgomery, J., Evans, J., Jay, M. & Pearson, M.P. (2010). An investigation of the origins of cattle and aurochs deposited in the Early Bronze Age barrows at Gayhurst and Irthlingborough. Journal Of Archaeological Science 37(3): 508-515.
• Montgomery, J., Evans, J.A. & Horstwood, M.S.A. (2010). Evidence for long-term averaging of strontium in bovine enamel using TIMS and LA-MC-ICP-MS strontium isotope intra-molar profiles. Environmental Archaeology 15(1): 32-42.
• Buckberry, J.L., Montgomery, J., Neale, N. & Towers, J. (2010). Finding Vikings in the Danelaw: An osteological and isotopic analysis of the Masham Anglo-Scandinavian cemetery. American Journal Of Physical Anthropology 74-74.
• Montgomery, J., Evans, J.A., Chenery, S. R., Pashley, V. & Killgrove, K. (2010). Gleaming, white and deadly” using lead to track human exposure and geographic origins in the Roman period in Britain. Journal of Roman Archaeology Suppl. 78: 199-226.
• Melton, Nigel, Montgomery, Janet, Knüsel, Christopher J., Batt, Cathy, Needham, Stuart, Pearson, Mike Parker, Sheridan, Alison, Heron, Carl, Horsley, Tim, Schmidt, Armin, Evans, Adrian, Carter, Elizabeth, Edwards, Howell, Hargreaves, Michael, Janaway, Rob, Lynnerup, Niels, Northover, Peter, O'Connor, Sonia, Ogden, Alan, Taylor, Timothy, Wastling, Vaughan & Wilson, Andrew (2010). Gristhorpe Man: an Early Bronze Age log-coffin burial scientifically defined. Antiquity 84(325): 796-815.
• Montgomery, J. (2010). Passports from the past: Investigating human dispersals using strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel. Annals Of Human Biology 37(3): 325-346.
• Evans, J.A., Montgomery, J., Wildman, G. & Boulton, N. (2010). Spatial variations in biosphere 87Sr/86Sr in Britain. Journal Of The Geological Society 167(1): 1-4.
• Knusel, C.J., Batt, C.M., Cook, G., Montgomery, J., Muldner, G., Ogden, A.R., Palmer, C., Stern, B., Todd, J. & Wilson, A.S. (2010). The Identity of the St Bees Lady, Cumbria: An Osteobiographical Approach. Medieval Archaeology 54(1): 271-311.
• Montgomery, J., Evans, J. & Horstwood, M.S.A. (2009). Evidence for long-term averaging of Sr-87/Sr-86 in bovine enamel using TIMS and LA-MC-ICP-MS. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta 73(13, Supplement 1): A896-A896.
• Evans, J.A., Montgomery, J. & Wildman, G. (2009). Isotope domain mapping of Sr-87/Sr-86 biosphere variation on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Journal of The Geological Society 166: 617-631.
• Evans, J.A., Montgomery, J. & Wildman, G. (2009). Isotope domain mapping of Sr-87/Sr-86 biosphere variation, UK. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta 73(13): A344-A344.
• Muldner, G., Montgomery, J., Cook, G., Ellam, R., Gledhill, A. & Lowe, C. (2009). Isotopes and individuals: diet and mobility among the medieval Bishops of Whithorn. Antiquity 83(322): 1119-1133.
• Nehlich, O., Montgomery, J., Evans, J., Schade-Lindig, S., Pichler, S.L., Richards, M.P. & Alt, K.W. (2009). Mobility or migration: a case study from the Neolithic settlement of Nieder-Mörlen (Hessen, Germany). Journal Of Archaeological Science 36(8): 1791-1799.
• Heier, A., Evans, J.A. & Montgomery, J. (2009). The potential of carbonized grain to preserve biogenic (SR)-S-87/(SR)-S-86 signatures within the burial environment. Archaeometry 51(2): 277-291.
• Horstwood, M.S.A., Evans, J.A. & Montgomery, J. (2008). Determination of Sr isotopes in calcium phosphates using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and their application to archaeological tooth enamel. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta 72(23): 5659-5674.
• Pellegrini, M., Donahue, R.E., Chenery, C., Evans, J., Lee-Thorp, J., Montgomery, J. & Mussi, M. (2008). Faunal migration in late-glacial central Italy: implications for human resource exploitation. Rapid Communications In Mass Spectrometry 22(11): 1714-1726.
• Richards, M.P., Montgomery, J., Nehlich, O. & Grimes, V. (2008). Isotopic analysis of humans and animals from Vedrovice. Anthropologie XLVI(2-3): 185-194.
• Montgomery, J., Evans, J.A. & Cooper, R.E. (2007). Resolving archaeological populations with Sr-isotope mixing models. Applied Geochemistry 22(7): 1502-1514.
• Montgomery, J., Evans, J.A. & Wildman, G. (2006). Sr-87/Sr-86 isotope composition of bottled British mineral waters for environmental and forensic purposes. Applied Geochemistry 21(10): 1626-1634.
• Pearson, M.P., Chamberlain, A., Craig, O., Marshall, P., Mulville, J., Smith, H., Chenery, C., Collins, M., Cook, G., Craig, G., Evans, J., Hiller, J., Montgomery, J., Schwenninger, J.L., Taylor, G. & Wess, T. (2005). Evidence for mummification in Bronze Age Britain. Antiquity 79(305): 529-546.
• Budd, P., Montgomery, J., Evans, J. & Trickett, M. (2004). Human lead exposure in England from approximately 5500 BP to the 16th century AD. Science of The Total Environment 318(1-3): 45-58.
• Trickett, M.A., Budd, P., Montgomery, J. & Evans, J. (2003). An assessment of solubility profiling as a decontamination procedure for the Sr-87/Sr-86 analysis of archaeological human skeletal tissue. Applied Geochemistry 18(5): 653-658.
• Montgomery, J., Evans, J.A. & Neighbour, T. (2003). Sr isotope evidence for population movement within the Hebridean Norse community of NW Scotland. Journal of The Geological Society 160(5): 649-653.
• Budd, P., Montgomery, J., Barreiro, B. & Thomas, R.G. (2000). Differential diagenesis of strontium in archaeological human dental tissues. Applied Geochemistry 15(5): 687-694.
• Budd, P., Montgomery, J., Evans, J. & Barreiro, B. (2000). Human tooth enamel as a record of the comparative lead exposure of prehistoric and modern people. Science of The Total Environment 263(1-3): 1-10.
• Budd, P., Montgomery, J., Cox, A., Krause, P., Barreiro, B. & Thomas, R.G. (1998). The distribution of lead within ancient and modern human teeth: Implications for long-term and historical exposure monitoring. Science of The Total Environment 220(2-3): 121-136.

Supervises

• Ms Maria Lahtinen
• Miss Samantha Neil