Julia Lee-Thorp: Difference between revisions

Julia Anne Lee-Thorp, FBA (born 20 April 1951) is a South African archaeologist and academic. She is Head of the Stable Light Isotope Laboratory and Professor of Archaeological Science and Bioarchaeology at the University of Oxford.^[1] Lee-Thorp is most well known for her work on dietary ecology and human origins, using stable isotope chemistry to study fossil bones and teeth.^[2]

Lee-Thorp was born on 20 April 1951 in Cape Town, South Africa.^[3] Studying at the University of Cape Town, she graduated with Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BSc) with a major in chemistry, and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees.^[3][4] Her doctoral thesis, titled "Stable carbon isotopes in deep time: the diets of fossil fauna and hominids," was completed in 1989 and demonstrated a method by which to significantly increase the applicable time-span of carbon isotopic analysis by using the mineral form of calcified animal tissue (apatite) as the sample material instead of traditionally used collagen.^[5]

Lee-Thorp remained at her alma mater, working as a senior research officer at the University of Cape Town's Archaeometry Research Unit (1991 to 1997). She was a senior lecturer in its Faculty of Science from 1998 to 2000 and an associate professor from 2001 to 2004. She was appointed Professor of Archaeology in 2005.^[3]

In 2005, she moved to the United Kingdom to take up the post of research director of Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Bradford.^[3] She joined the University of Oxford in 2010 as Professor of Archaeological Science and a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford.^[4][6] She has served as Vice-Head of the School of Archaeology from 2014 to 2016,^[6] and has been its Head since 2016.^[3]

Lee-Thorp has been involved in a number of projects in Africa, South America, and Europe.^[7] In addition to diet, her more recent research has focused on the role of changing environment, climate, and farming techniques on ancient human societies.^[8] Currently, she is involved in the Paleodeserts Project,^[9] The Agricultural Origins of Urban Civilization (AGRICURB),^[10] and Building a Better Eggtimer.^[11]

In 2013, Lee-Thorp was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.^[6]

She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa^[12]

• Lee-Thorp, Julia A.; Sealy, Judith C.; van der Merwe, Nikolaas J. (November 1989). "Stable carbon isotope ratio differences between bone collagen and bone apatite, and their relationship to diet". Journal of Archaeological Science. 16 (6): 585–599. doi:10.1016/0305-4403(89)90024-1.
• Lee-Thorp, Julia A.; van der Merwe, Nikolaas J. (May 1991). "Aspects of the chemistry of modern and fossil biological apatites". Journal of Archaeological Science. 18 (3): 343–354. doi:10.1016/0305-4403(91)90070-6.
• Lee-Thorpe, J. A. (December 2008). "On isotopes and old bones". Archaeometry. 50 (6): 925–950. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2008.00441.x.
• Sponhiemer, Matthew; Lee-Thorp, Julia A.; Reed, Kaye E.; Ungar, Peter, eds. (2013). Early Hominin Paleoecology. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-1607322245.
• Mayewski, Paul A.; Rohling, Eelco E.; Curt Stager, J.; Karlén, Wibjörn; Maasch, Kirk A.; Meeker, L. David; Meyerson, Eric A.; Gasse, Francoise; van Kreveld, Shirley; Holmgren, Karin; Lee-Thorp, Julia; Rosqvist, Gunhild; Rack, Frank; Staubwasser, Michael; Schneider, Ralph R.; Steig, Eric J. (20 January 2017). "Holocene Climate Variability". Quaternary Research. 62 (03): 243–255. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2004.07.001.