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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It was great to host the Professional Zooarchaeology Group meeting as part of our RICHeS (see www.riches.ukri.org) activities to make our labs and collections available to the wider heritage community. The theme of the day: sheep and goats. Sheffield has a long tradition of studying these species!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Bones brought in and skills brushed up! 🦴 This week’s RICHeS Open Day welcomed Josh Toulson from CFA with some mystery equid bones and Clare Stubbs, a freelance archaeologist, refreshing her ID skills. We love seeing the many kinds of animal bone enthusiasts our collection attracts! 🔎🐴

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

🐺🐕🦊 Great to welcome Izabella Klipsch to our Zooarchaeology Collection this week for our RICHeS Open-Day! She spent the day comparing wolf, dog, fox and other carnivore skeletons as part of her PhD research on dog domestication at Cardiff. 🦴🔍 Good luck with your PhD, Izzy — and come back soon!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Say hello to the newest member of our Zooarchaeological Reference Collection! 👋🦴 This American mink has shed its coat, embraced the skeletal look and is now ready to help us identify animal remains from the past🦴🔍. Huge thanks to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust for donating this fantastic animal to us

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

⚠️ Warning: photos of a dead fish!🐟 🦴 Skeletonising a boxfish is no walk in the park! This longhorn cowfish comes with its own built-in armour: a rigid, box-shaped body covered in hard bony plates. Basically, nature made a fish that comes in a box… and then challenged us to get it out. 😅

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

We are very happy to introduce our new volunteer, Alice! 🎉 With an MSc in Osteoarchaeology from Exeter, Alice is still very much in love with zooarchaeology and has kindly offered to help us regularly with our lab and collections. Thank you, Alice! ❤️

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Great to welcome Alice Dixon back to the Zooarchaeology Research Collection yesterday during our RICHeS Open Day! After completing her MSc with us at Sheffield, Alice now works for Archaeology Warwickshire and visited to brush up on her zooarchaeology skills. Alice, we hope to see you again soon!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Summer might be heating up, but the lab certainly isn't slowing down! ☀️🦴 We've just started skeletonising an American mink. Huge thanks to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust for providing this fantastic specimen. Stay tuned for the finished skeleton!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

THEMES IN OLD WORLD ZOOARCHAEOLOGY, our book dedicated to Simon Davis is now available at a very competitive price! @icaz-news.bsky.social @oxbowbooks.bsky.social

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

🐂 Meet Attila! No, he's not here to conquer Europe—but he is the newest addition to our zooarchaeology collection. This Highland bull reached the grand age of 22, and his skeleton shows some fascinating age-related changes. Thanks to RICHeS for making this acquisition possible. 🦴

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Our very own Justin Ayres and Tracy Platts have presented at the PZAF - Postgraduate ZooArchaeology Forum currently taking place in Lisbon. Congratulations guys and also to the organisers of what seems to be a very successful conference!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

A familiar face returned to the lab yesterday for our Open Day! 🦴 Former student Josh Toulson, now working for CFA Archaeology, stopped by to use our Zooarchaeology Reference Collection while investigating animal bones from a medieval site and checking some tricky identifications.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas in the lab! 📦🎁 Thanks to RICHeS funding, we've received three new storage cabinets that will help make our growing bird collection much more accessible. There are also 4 mysterious boxes.. What's in them? 🦴🐦 Well, well... Stay tuned for the unboxing!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Great to welcome visitors to our Zooarchaeology collection during a recent RICHeS open day! Prof. Paul Halstead, Dr Valasia Isaakidou, and Dr Olga Zagorodnia used the collection for research ranging from prehistoric Greek faunal remains to Bronze Age bone tools from Wales.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Stories Written in Bone 🦴 A quick update on our buzzard. As it dried we had one of those real “wow” moments. Just look at that humerus: a transverse break, with traces of healing. Amazing attempt by the vet to repair the wing but, unfortunatelly, the bird died before it could fully heal.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

🌟 Volunteer spotlight (part 2)! Big thanks to Louise & Molly for helping with checking our bird reference collection after the move 🐦📚 First-year Zoology students and absolute stars—see you back in the lab soon!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Shoutout to one of our brilliant undergraduate volunteers 👏 Yesterday Ellis helped accession a new specimen into our zooarchaeology reference collection, a vital step in keeping our research materials organised and accessible 🦴

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Lab update 🐾 ⚠️ May include images of dead animals. Latest additions to our skeletal reference collection! It’s always a strange mix of respect, curiosity, and “wow, that’s fascinating” when we do this kind of work—but every specimen helps us learn more, teach better, and support future research.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

🐾 Sparking curiosity with bones! At the Zooarch Lab in Sheffield, we love what we do and love sharing it! 🦴✨ We recently visited Silverdale School to introduce sixth formers to zooarchaeology. The talks got them thinking, but the hands-on session really sparked some great conversations!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Meet our newest tiny teaching legends 🐹🦴 Bubbles and Hector are being skeletonised to join our zooarchaeology reference collection, helping students and researchers identify small mammal bones. Another guinea pig will be joining them soon… stay tuned! ⚠️ Photos include deceased pets.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

On the 25th of February we celebrated the Sheffield BIOARCH RICHeS launch 🎉 with visitors from partners, our governing body and potential users. Tours of the collections 🦴🌿 and chats about research and collaborations 🤝 made the day inspiring! Here are some pictures of the event!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

In the Zooarch Lab in Sheffield, we’re giving our bird skeletons a glow-up! 🦴🪶 Adding names and photos—because bones tell a story, but feathers & colors matter too. Thanks to RICHeS for helping us! Today’s focus: Accipitriformes.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Mr Badger update! 🦡✨ Fresh from his Zooarch spa day, Mr Badger is clean, preened, and almost ready to join his forever home in our reference collection. His bones tell their own story, with fractured ribs and femur, injury from a car encounter. Next up: guinea pigs.. so stay tuned! 🐹

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Lovely to welcome former Osteoarchaeology student Suzanne Gee back to the lab during our RICHeS Open Day! Now working as a freelance osteoarchaeologist, she visited to refresh her zooarchaeology skills. Always proud to see our alumni thriving. Come back soon, Suzanne!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

A bittersweet farewell to our brilliant colleague Stephanie Baron, forced out of our team by the University’s assault on archaeology. We’ll miss her hugely — her work keeping our collections alive has been invaluable — but we’re glad she’s found a new role in the Library. They’re lucky to have her.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

🦜📚 A&K no. 25 celebrates the bird-focused books of Dale Serjeantson—essential reading for anyone studying bird bones from archaeological sites. A few years ago we were proud to honour Dale’s work with a conference in Sheffield. The proceedings will appear in a future issue of Alive & Kicking.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

📸 New kit alert! 📸 Thanks to RICHeS funding, we have added a new Leica camera and 3D analysis software to our Bioarchaeology collections 🙌 Perfect for archaeobotany imaging 🌾 but also incredibly valuable for zooarchaeological research, particularly for exploring taphonomic factors.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Really nice first day of the Mediterranean Zooarchaeology Symposium www.artuklu.edu.tr/medzooarch/a...

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Back to hands-on work after our move and reunited with a long-time freezer resident: Mr Badger 🦡 Once alive, now honoured for the contribution he’ll make to science. After a well-earned hot bath, Mr Badger will soon join our Zooarchaeology Research Collection. CW: images show a deceased animal

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

🐎 Excited to share a new project led by friend and colleague Maaike Groot at Freie Universität Berlin: “Management, supply and mobility of equids in the northwestern Roman Empire” (DFG-funded). The project explores how horses and mules supported the Roman army. Congratulations Maaike!!!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Yesterday, as part of our RICHeS open day, we were delighted to welcome Dr Liz Quinlan from the University of Exeter 🐟 Liz’s project explores medieval to early modern freshwater and migratory fisheries, and our fish bone collection provides a valuable resource to support this exciting research.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Great to welcome a former MSc student back to the Zooarch collection today 🦴 Alex Waterman completed his MSc with us a few years ago and now works as a field archaeologist at PCAS Archaeology. He made the most of the RICHeS open days to refresh his zooarch skills. Bravo, Alex!

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Our own Phoebe Liu has presented a poster based on her PhD research at the conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. Well done Phoebe! Photos by @snakesandbones.bsky.social. @umbertoalbarella.bsky.social @zig-saa.bsky.social @zooarch.bsky.social

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Very proud of our PhD students - Marina Chorro Giner, Ruth Irovec and Benjamin Wimmer - for giving excellent talks at the School of Biosciences postgraduate research conference @zooarch.bsky.social

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

A&K #7 - This week we're moving outside of Europe to highlight this remarkable compendium of Neotropical Zooarchaeology, edited by our wonderful Argentinian colleagues Mariana Mondini, Sebastián Muñoz and Pablo Fernández link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

A&K #6 - This week we turn our attention again to the Sheffield team to highlight this paper which reviews the evidence for animal use at Roman roadside settlements in Britain. To get your very own copy visit Lizzie Wright or Umberto Albarella's pages on researchgate.net or academia.edu

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Our reference collection needs constant upkeep so this week we're having a spring clean of our key reference bones! Specifically we're retouching and improving the labelling to make sure the collection is as accessible as possible for everyone, no matter their experience level.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

A&K #3 - Our latest instalment discusses the introduction of the domestic horse to Ireland, using modern technology (radiocarbon measurements) to tackle an age old question - when did the horse first appear? Find it here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... @icaz-news.bsky.social

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

A new addition to our fabulous bird reference collection, Accipiter nisus aka a Eurasian Sparrowhawk. This beautiful bird was very kindly donated by our friends at The Raptor Foundation, because conservation doesn't have to end at death.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

This week our MSc students have been using our #zooarchaeology teaching and reference collections to tackle the ever challenging task of identifying closely related species like sheep and goat

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

These tiny little teeth belong to the latest addition to our zooarchaeology reference collection - a baby Panthera tigris (Bengal tiger) very kindly donated to us by our friends at The Alfred Denny Museum.

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Zooarchaeology Lab Sheffield @zooarchlabsheff.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

We've made the move from twitter to BlueSky! Follow us for updates on our activities, interesting #zooarchaeology related things, and pictures of items from our collection. We're starting off with this rather nice comparison of a domestic dog and a wolf.

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