SSNS Seminar – Dr Alex Fitzpatrick – Ritual and Funerary Rites in Later Prehistoric Scotland
The SSNS Seminar Series continues on Thursday 5th June 2025 with a talk by Dr Alex Fitzpatrick for her talk titled ‘Ritual and Funerary Rites in Later Prehistoric Scotland: An Analysis of Faunal Assemblages from the Covesea Caves.’
This is a free, ticketed event; please register below.
Abstract: The Covesea Caves are a series of later prehistoric sites that form a complex mortuary landscape. Previous excavations of the caves have provided evidence for the decapitation, disarticulation, and intentional deposition of human remains. Although there has been substantial analysis of the human remains, there has been little consideration of the significant number of faunal remains recovered during numerous excavations. This talk presents the first focused examination of the extensive zooarchaeological record from the Covesea Caves, with an emphasis on investigating characteristics of the faunal bone related to taphonomy and processing in order to provide a proxy for the complex funerary treatments to which the human remains were subject. The results from this research shed more light on past cosmologies and the importance of non-human species to humans in both life and death.
Bio:
Dr Alex Fitzpatrick is a zooarchaeologist and interdisciplinary researcher in heritage and museum studies. In 2021 she received a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Bradford.In 2024 Alex worked on several publications, including a co-authored Toolkit for Hybrid Volunteering with Cultural Collections and the article “Side Quest Added: Video Game Mechanics and the Potential for Pseudoarchaeology” for the Epoiesen Journal. To find a full list of her publications and more information about her research, visit www.animalarchaeology.com
Registration below. Details for the Zoom meeting will be emailed in advance of the seminar.
