University of Reading

Faculty Member, Department of Archaeology

Senior Lecturer in Biological Anthropology

About

I currently teach the method and theory behind the study of human skeletal remains, osteological techniques and palaeopathology at undergraduate and Masters level at the University of Reading. My main research interests lie in non-adult skeletal pathology (palaeopathology) and in the personal identification of children in forensic anthropology. My research examines the changing pattern of disease in children in relation to socio-economic transitions in the past (Romano-British to Anglo-Saxon; urban to industrial) with particular focus on metabolic and infectious diseases. My other research interests include the use of stable isotope and trace element analysis in reconstructing past migratory patterns in the UK.  In 2009, I completed research into Diaspora in Romano-British communities (with Hella Eckhart and Gundula Muldner) which examined the osteological and isotopic evidence for diversity and migration during the Roman period. In particular I explored the impact of migration on the health of children living in Poundbury Camp, Dorset. I am currently compiling information on child health in Britain though the ages.

Professional responsibilites:
Committee Member of BABAO
Associate Editor for the International Journal of Paleopathology
European Associate Editor for the Paleopathology Newsletter

My Publications:
Books:
Lewis ME (2007) The Bioarchaeology of Children. Current Perspectives in Biological and Forensic Anthropology. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge (248 pages).

Lewis ME and Clegg M eds. (2009) Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading. BAR International Series S1918.

Lewis ME (2002) Urbanisation and Child Health in Medieval and Post-Medieval England. BAR British Series 339 (85 pages).

Roberts CA, Lewis ME and Manchester K (2002) ‘The Past and Present of Leprosy.’ BAR International Research Series S1054. Archaeopress: Oxford.

Peer-Reviewed Papers:
Lewis ME (2010) Life and Death in a Civitas Capital: metabolic disease and trauma in the children from late Roman Dorchester, Dorset. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21239

Chenery C, Müldner G, Evans J, Eckardt H, and Lewis ME (2010) Strontium and stable isotope evidence for diet and mobility in Roman Gloucester, UK. Journal of Archaeological Science 37: 150-163.

Leach S, Lewis ME, Chenery C, Müldner G, and Eckardt H (2009) Migration and diversity in Roman Britain: a multidisciplinary approach to the identification of immigrants in Roman York, England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 140(3): 546-561.

Leach S, Eckardt H, Chenery C, Müldner G and Lewis ME (2010) A Lady of York: migration, ethnicity and identity in Roman Britain. Antiquity 84: 131-145.

Lewis ME (2008) A Traitor's Death: the identity of a drawn, hanged and quartered man from Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire. Antiquity 82: 113-124. Shortlisted for Antiquity Prize, and runner-up for the Ben Cullen Prize, 2009.

Lewis ME and Gowland R (2007) Brief and Precarious Lives: infant mortality in contrasting sites from medieval and post-medieval England (AD 850-1859). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 134(1): 117-129

Bennike P, Lewis ME, Schutkowski H & Valentin F. (2005) A comparison of childhood morbidity and mortality in two late medieval cemeteries from Denmark. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 128(4):734-746

Lewis, ME (2004) Endocranial lesions: their distribution and aetiology. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 14(2): 82-97.

Lewis ME & Rutty G (2003) Endangered Children: the personal identification of children in forensic anthropology. Science and Justice 43(4): 201-209

Lewis ME (2002) The impact of industrialisation: comparative study of child health in four sites from medieval and post-medieval England (850-1859). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 119(3): 211-223.

Lewis ME & Roberts CA. (1997) Growing pains: the interpretation of stress indicators. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 7: 581-586

Lewis ME & Roberts CA. (1996) A comparative study of the prevalence of maxillary sinusitis in medieval urban and rural populations in Northern England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 98(4): 497-506.

Lewis ME, Roberts CA & Manchester K. (1995) Inflammatory bone changes in the leprous skeletons from the medieval hospital of St. James and St. Mary Magdalene. International Journal of Leprosy Vol. 63(1): 77-85.

Book Chapters:
Lewis ME and Gowland R. (2009) Infantile Cortical Hyperostosis: causes, cases and contradictions. In: Lewis ME and Clegg M eds. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading. BAR International Series S1918, pp43-51.

Lewis ME. The Children. In: J Magilton, F Lee & A Boylston eds. (2008). ‘Lepers outside the Gate’ Excavations at the Cemetery of the Hospital of St James and St Mary Magdalene, Chichester, 1986-87 and 1993. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 158: York, pp 174-186.

Barker C, Cox M, Flavel A, Laver J, Lewis ME, McKinley J (2008) Mortuary procedures III – Skeletal analysis 2: Techniques for determining identity. In: Cox M et al. (eds) The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves. Towards protocols and standard operating procedures. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp 383-462.

Lewis ME and Flavel A (2006) Age assessment of child skeletal remains in forensic contexts. In Schmitt A, Cunha E and Pinheiro J (eds) Forensic Anthropology and Medicine: Complementary Sciences from Recovery to Cause of Death. Humana Press: New Jersey .

Lewis ME (2003) A comparison of health in past rural, urban and industrial environments. In P. Murphy & P. Wiltshire (eds.) The Environmental Archaeology of Industry. Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology of Industry No. 20. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Lewis ME (2002) Infant and childhood leprosy: clinical and palaeopathological implications. In ‘The Past and Present of Leprosy’. Edited by Roberts, CA and Lewis, ME and Manchester, K.

Roberts, CA & Lewis ME (2002) Ecology and infectious disease in Britain from Prehistory to the present: the case or respiratory infections. In: Environmental Archaeology Association Yearbook, 2002.

Lewis ME (2000) Non-adult palaeopathology: current status and future potential. In: M Cox & S Mays (eds.). Human Osteology in Archaeological and Forensic Science: 39-57. London: Greenwich Medical Media.

Roberts CA, Lewis ME & Boocock P (1998) Infectious disease, sex and gender: the complexity of it all. In AL Grauer & P Stuart-Macadam (eds.). Sex and Gender in Palaeopathological Perspective: 93-113. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Lewis ME (2010) Life and Death in a Civitas Capital: metabolic disease and trauma in the children from late Roman Dorchester, Dorset. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21239

Leach S, Lewis ME, Chenery C, Müldner G, and Eckardt H (2009) Migration and diversity in Roman Britain: a multidisciplinary approach to the identification of immigrants in Roman York, England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 140(3): 546-561.

Lewis ME and Gowland R. (2009) Infantile Cortical Hyperostosis: causes, cases and contradictions. In: Lewis ME and Clegg M eds. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading. BAR International Series S1918, pp43-51.

Lewis ME. The Children. In: J Magilton, F Lee & A Boylston eds. (2008). ‘Lepers outside the Gate’ Excavations at the Cemetery of the Hospital of St James and St Mary Magdalene, Chichester, 1986-87 and 1993. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 158: York, pp 174-186.

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