Dr Stephen Davis PhD
Contact Details
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Biography:
I graduated in Botany with a BSc. (Hons. )from the University of Reading in 1994 and after a brief spell as a molecular biologist headed to Sheffield to take their renowned MSc. in Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomy in 1995. After a brief return to molecular biology and developmental biology, I undertook a PhD at Liverpool John Moores University looking at lowland raised mires in NW England, and particularly focusing on analysis of testate amoebae as an indicator in raised mire restoration schemes. Following my PhD I moved to the University of Exeter and undertook a 3 year NERC postdoctoral fellowship working on palaeoenvironmental reconstruction from the floodplain of the River Culm, Devon with a specific focus on the analysis of insect remains. This research was subsequently followed by two other periods of postdoctoral research at Exeter, initially looking at modern floodplain beetles and palaeoecological analog assemblages, and finally a two year Leverhulme Trust funded project to study insect remains from burnt mound sites with a view to ascertaining their function. I joined the staff at UCD in November 2006 as part of the departmental commitment to expanding environmental archaeology within UCD and have also acted as a consultant specialist in both insect remains and testate amoebae |
Research Interests
| My main research interests lie in the fields of wetland archaeology and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. I am particularly interested in the analysis of modern analog assemblages and their relation to the palaeoenvironmental record and in the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of rural landscapes, focusing on the analysis of palaeochannel sediments. Current Research Projects: Palaeoentomology of Burnt Mounds (Leverhulme Trust) The Van Project: An excercise in contemporary archaeology (with University of Bristol) Climate change and the adoption of agriculture in Ireland (with Dr. Graeme Warren and Dr. Naomi Holmes, IRCHSS Stimulator Scheme) Archaeological insect assemblages and their modern analogs (Heritage Council Archaeological Grants 2008) River Boyne project (INSTAR funded - Dr. Helen Lewis) Analysis of environmental remains from the Drogheda Boat (DoE funded) Testate amoebae as bioindicators in raised mire restoration schemes (Coillte Funded) I am also engaged in a range of consultancy activities as an environmental archaeologist, in particular insect analysis, the analysis of testate amoebae and aspects of sampling and methodology. |
Book Chapters
| Wilkinson, D.M. and Davis, S.R.; (2005) 'An Introduction to Chat Moss' In: Crofts, R.G (eds). Quaternary of the Rossendale Forest and Greater Manchester. London: Quaternary Research Association. [Details] |
| Davis, S.R. and Wilkinson, D.M.; (2005) 'The environmental history of Astley Moss over the last 5000 years' In: Crofts, R.G (eds). Quaternary of the Rossendale Forest and Greater Manchester. London: Quaternary Research Association. [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Davis, S.R., Brown, A.G. and Dinnin, M.H.; (2007) 'Floodplain connectivity, disturbance and change: a palaeoentomological investigation of floodplain ecology from south-west England'. JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, 76 :276-288. [Details] |
| Davis, S.R., Wilkinson, D.M. and Clare, T.; (2007) 'Putative Ritual Deposition of Neolithic Stone Axes in a Wetland Context in Cumbria: Refining the narrative using beetle remains'. Journal of Wetland Archaeology, 7 :73-81. [Details] |
| Davis, S.R. and Wilkinson, D.M.; (2004) 'The conservation management value of testate amoebae as 'restoration' indicators: speculations based on the investigation of two damaged raised mires in northwest England'. THE HOLOCENE, 14 :135-143. [Details] |
| Wilkinson, D.M. and Davis, S.R.; (2000) 'Rapid assessments of microbial biodiversity using relationships between genus and species richness. Studies on testate amoebae'. Acta Protozoologica, 39 :23-26. [Details] |
| Hodgson, J.G., Halstead, P., Wilson, P.J. and Davis, S.R. ; (1999) 'Functional interpretation of archaeobotanical data: making hay in the archaeological record'. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 8 (4):261-271. [Details] |
Other Journals
| Best, J., Gent, T. and contributions from specialists (including S.R. Davis); (2008) 'Bronze Age burnt mounds and early medieval timber structures' The Archaeological Journal . [Details] |
| Bailey, G., Newland, C., Nilsson, A. and Schofield, J. with contributions from Myers, A. and Davis, S.R.; (2008) 'Transit, Transition: Excavating J641 VUJ' Submitted to Cambridge Archaeological Journal . [Details] |
| Myers, A., Bailey, G., Newland, C., Schofield, J., Nilsson, A. and Davis, S.; (2008) 'Archaeology of the recent past - Excavating a 1991 Ford Van' The SAA Archaeological Record 8 (4) :37-40. [Details] |
| Davis, S.R.; (2007) 'Beetles from the Van' The Archaeologist 64 . [Details] |
| Cassie Newland, Greg Bailey, John Schofield, Anna Nilsson and Steve Davis; (2007) 'Sic Transit Gloria Mundi' British Archaeology 92 . [Details] |
Published Reports
| Davis, S.R.; (2008) Restoring Raised Bog in Ireland: Testate Amoebae as Bioindicators of Restoration Progress. Coillte, Ireland. [Details] |
Honours and Awards
| Year: 2007. Title: Honorary Research Fellow |
Conference Contributions
| Davis, S.R. and Turner, J.N.; (2008) The Itrax Core Scanner. [Oral Presentation], IAI Conference 2008, Sligo , 10-OCT-08 - 12-NOV-08. |
| Davis, S.R., Brown, A.G. and O'Neill, J.; (2008) Co-organisor of session on 'Hot Stone Technology'. [Chaired Session], World Archaeological Congress, 2008 (WAC-6), Dublin , 29-JUN-08 - 04-JUL-08. |
| Davis, S.R. and Russell, I.; (2008) Co-organisor of the 'WAC-Fringe'. [Conference Organising Committee Member], World Archaeological Congress, 2008 (WAC-6), Dublin , 29-JUN-08 - 04-JUL-08. |
| Davis, S.R.; (2008) Testate amoebae as bioindicators of mire restoration. [Poster Presentation], Restoring Raised Bog in Ireland, Carrick on Shannon , 08-MAY-08 - 09-MAY-08. |
Committees
| Committee : Bru na Boinne World Heritage Site Research Framework - Palaeoenvironment |
Education
| Year 2001 Institution: Liverpool John Moores University Qualification: PhD Subject: Applied Palaeoecology |
| Year 1997 Institution: University of Sheffield Qualification: MSc Subject: Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomy |
| Year 1994 Institution: University of Reading Qualification: BSc Subject: Botany |
Internal Collaborators
| I am currently involved in projects with Dr. Helen Lewis (Boyne Project) and Dr. Graeme Warren (Climate change and the adoption of agriculture) within the School. Within UCD I am also in collaboration with Dr. Jonathan Turner regarding innovative uses of the Itrax Core Scanner and grant applications concerned with establishing baseline conditions for alluvial woodland in Ireland. Additionally, I am involved in palaeoenvironmental assessment of material from the School's training excavation at Templeteenaun, Co. Wicklow. |
External Collaborators
| External collaborations include:
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Teaching Interests
| I am currently involved in teaching environmental archaeology at Levels 2-4, including co-ordinating the Level 2 introductory Environmental Archaeology module, theLevel 3 module on Bioarchaeology and the Level 4 module on Palaeoenvironment. I will also be co-ordinating the Level 3 Work Placement module in 2008 and the undergraduate Dissertation module in 2010. |
Recent Postgraduates
Modules Taught
| 200800 ARCH30120 Archaeology: Bioarchaeology |
| 200800 ARCH40260 Archaeology: Palaeoenvironment |
| 200800 ARCH20070 Archaeology: Environmental Archaeology |
| 200800 ARCH30150 Archaeology: Wetland Archaeology |
| 200800 ARCH40170 Archaeology: Palaeoenvironment |