Amy Gray Jones

University of Chester, History & Archaeology, Faculty Member

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I’m a funerary archaeologist and human osteologist and I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Chester.

My research is focused on the treatment of the body throughout the Mesolithic of north-west Europe. In this period there appears to be enormous variation in the way that the body was treated after death and where/how it was deposited – from inhumation in ‘formal’ cemeteries to dismembered, disarticulated or fragmented bodies (or parts of them) deposited on settlements, in middens and as co-mingled “collective” interments in caves.

I use osteological analysis to reconstruct the specific practices that are responsible for these variations in treatment, and explore issues such as the nature of living people’s bodily engagement with the dead (e.g. dismembering fleshed bodies), the parallel treatment of animals and objects, and the role that the manipulation of the body after death plays in the production, reproduction and transformation of Mesolithic identities.

Prior to studying for my PhD I was part of a team of osteologists at the Museum of London Archaeology Service working on the medieval cemetery of St. Mary Spital (Spitalfields, London). With over 10,000 skeletons, this is one of the largest cemeteries ever excavated in Europe providing a unique account of life in medieval London.

I co-direct field projects on Mesolithic sites in the Vale of Pickering (North Yorkshire) and in western Scotland (Small Isles).

http://www.chester.ac.uk/departments/history-archaeology/staff/dr-amy-gray-jones
Phone: 01244512151
Address: Dept. of History & Archaeology,
University of Chester,
Parkgate Road,
Chester CH1 4BJ

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Papers by Amy Gray Jones

The application of micro-Raman for the analysis of ochre artefacts from Mesolithic palaeo-lake Flixton

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018

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Dealing with the dead : manipulation of the body in the mortuary practices of Mesolithic north-west Europe

This thesis focuses on practices of disarticulation and bodily manipulation in the Mesolithic of ... more This thesis focuses on practices of disarticulation and bodily manipulation in the Mesolithic of north-west Europe. While the presence of ?loose human bone? has been noted on Mesolithic sites for several decades, this has often been dismissed as the result of taphonomic factors, such as disturbed graves. Instead, studies of mortuary practices have primarily focused on the cemeteries and issues of social complexity, ranking and status. Disarticulated human bone, which cannot throw new light on such issues, has consequently been ignored. Only with more recent discoveries of larger collections of disarticulated human remains, from secure contexts, has this phenomena begun to be taken more seriously, Cauwe (2001) arguing for example, that disarticulation represents the primary Mesolithic mortuary practice. Despite this claim, little work has focused on practices of manipulation and disarticulation beyond a few studies of individual sites, thus little is understood about the nature and v...

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The application of micro-Raman for the analysis of ochre artefacts from Mesolithic palaeo-lake Flixton.

by Amy Gray Jones, Barry Taylor, Roland Kröger, and Shannon Croft

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018

Ochre is an important mineral pigment used by prehistoric hunter-gatherers across the globe, and ... more Ochre is an important mineral pigment used by prehistoric hunter-gatherers across the globe, and its use in the Mesolithic is no exception. Using optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy with micrometre spatial resolution (micro-Raman), we present evidence that confirms unambiguously the use of ochre by hunter-gatherers at Mesolithic sites surrounding Palaeo-Lake Flixton, Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire, UK. Our results suggest that people collected ochre and processed it in different ways, likely for diverse purposes. The quality and specificity of chemical characterisation possible with micro-Raman facilitates new avenues for further research on ochreous materials in Britain, including provenancing through chemical ‘fingerprinting’.

Cremation and the use of fire in Mesolithic mortuary practice.

In Cerezo-Roman, J. I. Wessman, A. and Williams, H. (eds.). Cremation and the Archaeology of Death. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2017

Cremation is not widely recognized as a form of mortuary treatment amongst the hunter-gatherer co... more Cremation is not widely recognized as a form of mortuary treatment amongst the hunter-gatherer communities of Mesolithic north-west Europe (broadly defined as c.9300 cal. BC to c.4000 cal. BC). However, discoveries within the last two decades have increased the evidence for the practice of cremation (as well as other forms of treatment, such as secondary burial) amongst the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic, both in terms of the geographic distribution of the practice and its temporal spread throughout the period. Although rare in comparison to inhumation, cremation can now be seen to have been practiced throughout both the early and late Mesolithic and, whilst evidence is currently sparse within the modern areas of Germany and the British Isles, examples are known across Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, northern France, and the Republic of Ireland. The aim of this chapter is not to present a comprehensive catalogue of cremations in the Mesolithic, but rather to draw on a number of case studies to provide an overview of cremation practices, and the variety of post-cremation treatment of cremated remains, and to place this within the context of other forms of Mesolithic mortuary practice.

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Being Mesolithic in Life and Death

Journal of World Prehistory, 2018

Fifty years ago, approaches to Mesolithic identity were limited to ideas of ‘Man the Hunter’ and ... more Fifty years ago, approaches to Mesolithic identity were limited to ideas of ‘Man the Hunter’ and ‘Woman the Gatherer’, while evidence of non-normative practice was ascribed to ‘shamans’ and to ‘ritual’, and that was that. As post-processual critiques have touched Mesolithic studies, however, this has changed. In the first decade of the 21st century a strong body of work on Mesolithic identity in life, as well as death, has enabled us to think beyond modern Western categories to interpret identity in the Mesolithic. These studies have addressed the nature of personhood and relational identities, the body, and the relationship between human and other-than-human persons. Our paper reviews these changing approaches, offering a series of case studies from a range of different sites that illustrate how identity is formed and transformed through engagements with landscapes, materials, and both living and dead persons. These are then developed to advocate an assemblage approach to identity in the Mesolithic.

Thesis by Amy Gray Jones

Dealing with the dead: manipulation of the body in the mortuary practices of Mesolithic north-west Europe

Books by Amy Gray Jones

A bioarchaeological study of medieval burials on the site of St Mary Spital: excavations at Spitalfields Market, London E1, 1991–2007

Major excavations on the site of the Augustinian priory and hospital of St Mary Spital uncovered ... more Major excavations on the site of the Augustinian priory and hospital of St Mary Spital uncovered the remains of over 10,500 human skeletons. Unprecedented accuracy of dating and phasing of the cemetery was achieved using a targeted programme of stratigraphic and radiocarbon dating techniques, resulting in four chronological periods of burials. Osteological analysis of a sample of 5387 skeletons has provided a unique insight into the lives of medieval Londoners from the 12th to the early 16th centuries. Many of the skeletons showed evidence of disease and injury and the results of this major project are integrated into a biocultural framework, which includes the recurrent famines and epidemics of the time.