History & Archaeology Lab
A collaborative research and learning space dedicated to the study of medieval history and archaeology at St Andrews
Our research lab is currently home to our AHRC-Funded project Word of Mouth: Embodied Stories of Premodern Women at Work. We are currently studying assemblages of human remains from Elstow Abbey (Bedfordshire) and Littlemore Priory (Oxfordshire).
The lab also offers undergraduate and postgraduate students studying medieval history and archaeology at St Andrews the opportunity to learn first-hand about how historians and bio-archaeologists are working together to open new windows on the medieval past. Our students work with a skeletal assemblage from St Leonards Hospital in North Shields (Newcastle) with a focus on learning basic osteology and engaging with research questions surrounding medieval disability. Our students led the way to our recent research exhibit, History in Our Bones: Thinking Together about Medieval Disability at the St Andrews Wardlaw Museum in April and May 2025.
Initially housed in temporary space in the Department of Anatomy at the medical school, the lab has moved to its own dedicated space in the Centre for Archaeology, Technology, & History in St Katherine’s West on the Scores.
Each year we welcome student volunteers who learn basic osteology and work on our St Leonards assemblage. Contact Alison ([email protected]) for more information about how to get involved.
Alison Beach (PI)
Eleanor Farber (Postdoctoral Research Associate for Osteoarchaeology)
Rosa Boano (U Torino, Consulting Osteologist/Palaeopathologist)
Sally Mubarak, PhD Student, Classics (lab director)
2025-2026 Student Lab Team
Greysen Braley, PhD Medieval Studies
Sophie Lemburg, PhD Medieval English
Lab Alumnae/i
2024-2025
Greysen Braley, PhD Medieval Studies
Lucy Hindle, Hon Medieval History
Kennedy Kirsten, Hon Medieval History (2025/26 MSc Archaeology, University of Edinburgh)
Amelie Logue, Hon Medieval History
Roberta Marincich, Erasmus Scholar, University of Torino (2025/26 MSc Forensic Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Dundee)
William McKay Smith, MRes Medieval History
Alison More (University of Toronto, Bullough Fellow)
Willa Stonecipher, Summer Research Intern (MA University of Oxford 2026, PhD Harvard 2025-)
2023-2024
Michael (MAx) Dyer, PhD Student, Classics
Elise Goodwin, MLitt Medieval History
William McKay-Smith, MLitt Medieval History
Esteban Merkt-Navedo, MLitt Medieval History
Enrico Occhini, MLitt Medieval History
Willa Stonecipher, MA Honours Medieval History (MA University of Oxford 2026, PhD Harvard 2025-)
Patsy Wardlaw, MLitt Medieval History, Archival Intern
2022-2023
Micaela Campbell, MLitt Medieval History
Christine Masternak, PhD Medieval History
Eugenia Yatsenko, MLitt Medieval Studies