Profile

Biography

My first love was botany - I took a BA degree in it for the Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge (1974). Through teaching by staff of the former Sub-Department of Quaternary Research in the Botany School there, I developed an interest in matters Pleistocene and undertook a PhD (completed 1977) with Prof. Richard West on the geology and palaeobotany of a Last Interglacial site in the East Midlands of England. That gave me a grounding in the principles and practice of pollen analysis and the study of plant macrofossils. I then took up a one-year contract at the Environmental Archaeology Unit in the Department of Biology of the University of York... where I remained until 2003, when I transferred to the Department of Archaeology. I was funded (fully, then latterly half-time) through the period 1.10.77 to 30.9.08 by English Heritage (and their predecessors), to whom grateful thanks are due.

Departmental roles

I am the Departmental Library Representative, acting as a link between the Department and the University Libraries and Archive Service. I am always happy to receive suggestions of books or other resourceshttp://www.york.ac.uk/library/subjectresources/archaeology/ which we might profitably add to our collections - simply e-mail me at allan.hall@york.ac.uk. Day-to-day enquiries about using the library should be directed to the Department's Academic Liaison Librarian, Olivia Else (with cover for Olivia's part-time working from Ned Potter).

Research

Overview

My research has focused primarily on the study and interpretation of archaeological plant macrofossil assemblages preserved in various ways in archaeological occupation deposits. For the most part these are collections of remains such as fruits and seeds—the usual stuff of archaeobotany—but I have also tried where possible to encompass vegetative material such as fragments of moss, tree buds and bud-scales and a wide variety of other plant parts.

I have been fortunate to work for nearly three decades in York where the deeply stratified and often highly organic deposits of Roman, Viking and medieval date have provided a wealth of material for study. From the analyses of plant macrofossils, we now have a good idea about past use in the city of plants for food and in craft and industry (especially in textile dyeing), as well as exploitation of resources from the hinterland of the city and further afield, though many questions remain unanswered. Working closely with other environmental archaeologists, but especially my palaeo-entomological colleague Harry Kenward, has provided excellent opportunities for integrating data from different lines of evidence.

For some time now I have been exploring the past use of turves through their archaeobotanical signature, using data from a wide variety of sites in the region, and some practical experiments in burning samples of turves, to find out what kinds of material survives.

Another interest is the collection and analysis of published data on plant macrofossils—I maintain the Archaeobotanical Computer Database (ABCD (MS Word , 26kb)), created by Dr Philippa Tomlinson in the former Environmental Archaeology Unit, and this will form the basis of a forthcoming Archaeobotanical Flora of the British Isles. The ABCD also provided the basis for Philippa's English Heritage-sponsored Environmental Archaeology Bibliography (EAB), now available through the Archaeology Data Service and currently curated by me (contact me direct for specific queries).

As an inveterate cataloguer and hoarder, it's probably no surprise that I am also the Departmental Library Representative! Staff and students can forward suggestions for additions to the University's collection to me at any time.

One further small-scale departure in recent years has been into the realms of forensic science. Using techniques from archaeobotany, I have been involved with analysis of plant food remains from stomach contents in connection with two murder enquiries carried out by the Metropolitan Police, and since then with the analysis (for an immunologist at a hospital in Manchester) of stomach contents of two people who died as a result of anaphylactic shock after consuming—in one case—a snack bar containing sesame seeds and—in the other—a meal containing prawns or shrimps (yes, I know they're crustaceans not plants!).

Current PhD students

Anita Radini

Isabella von Holstein (jointly with Prof Matthew Collins)

Current projects

Apart from ongoing work to collect published records of plant remains from the British Isles for my 'Archaeological Flora', I am involved in various projects within the Department: investigating Early Mesolthic environments in the Vale of Pickering at the Star Carr site (with Dr Nicky Milner), plant use at a 1st millennium CE site at Mothecombe in Devon (with Steve Roskams), and plant materials from burials as part of the InterArchive Project (with Prof. Don Brothwell and Dr Mari-Raimonda Usai).

Publications

Full publications list

Forthcoming

• Hall, A. and Kenward, H. (2012?). Sewers, cess pits and middens: a survey of the evidence for 2,000 years of waste disposal in York, UK, in Mitchell, P. D. (ed) Sanitation, Latrines and Intestinal Parasites in Past Populations. Studies in Early Medicine Series no.3. Oxford: Archaeopress.

2012

• Kenward, H. and Hall, A. (2012). Chapter 6. Dung and stable manure on waterlogged archaeological occupation sites: some ruminations on the evidence from plant and invertebrate remains, pp. 79-95 in Jones, R. (ed.) Manure Matters. Historical, Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives. Aldershot: Ashgate.

2011

• Hall, A. and Kenward, H. (2011). Plant and invertebrate indicators of leather production: From fresh skin to leather offcuts, pp. 9-32 in Thomson, R. and Mould, Q. (eds), Leather Tanneries: The Archaeological Evidence. London: Archetype Books.
• Kenward, H., Hall, A., Allison, E. and Carrott, J. (2011). Ch. 28. Environment, Activity and Living Conditions at Deer Park Farms: Evidence from Plant and Invertebrate Remains, pp. 497-547 in C. J. Lynn and J.A. McDowell, Deer Park Farms: the Excavation of a Raised Rath in the G lenarm Valley, Co. Antrim. Northern Ireland Archaeological Monographs 9. Antrim: Stationery Office/Environment and Heritage Service.

2010

• Cappellini, E., Gilbert, M. T. P., Geuna, F., Fiorentino, G., Hall, A., Thomas-Oates, J., Ashton, P. D.; Ashford, D. A., Arthur, P., Campos, P. F., Kool, J., Willerslev, E. and Collins, M. J. (2010). A multidisciplinary study of archaeological grape seeds. Naturwissenschaften 97(2), 205–17 (http://www.springerlink.com/content/u658u31104160433/).
• Carruthers W (with contribtions by van der Veen M., Hall A., Dyer C., Southey J., Perry R. and Wrathmell S.). 2010. The plant remains, pp. 287-313 in Clark E. A. (ed.) The Environmental Evidence, pp. 287-340 in Harding C, Marlow-Mann, E and Wrathmell S. The post-medieval farm and vicarage sites. Wharram. A study of settlement on the Yorkshire Wolds XII.York University Department of Archaeology.
• Gearey, B., Allison, E., Carrott, J., Hall, A., Proctor, J. and Schmidl, A. (2010). Palaeoenvironmental evidence from deposits at Bedale, North Yorkshire. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 82, 1-29.
  
• Hadley, P., Milner, N., Hall, A., Taylor, M., Needham, A., Taylor, B. and Conneller, C. (2010). To block lift or not to block lift? An experiment at the Early Mesolithic Site of Star Carr, North-East Yorkshire, UK. Internet Archaeology 28(2) (http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue28/2/index.html)

2009

• Allen, J. R. M., Scourse, J. D., Hall, A. R. and Coope, G. R. (2009). Palaeoenvironmental context of the Late-glacial woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) discoveries at Condover, Shropshire, UK. Geological Journal 44, 414-46.
• Hall, A., Jaques, D. and Carrott, J. (2009). Biological remains, pp. 167-8 in Robinson, G., A Romano-British settlement at Millfield Farm, Wheldrake, near York. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 81, 139-77.
• Walton Rogers, P. [and Hall, A.]. Appendix 2. Caulking materials used in the Mary Rose, pp. 404-7 in Marsden, P. (ed.), Mary Rose: Your Noblest Shippe. Anatomy of a Tudor Warship. The Archaeology of the Mary Rose 2. Mary Rose Trust.
  

2008

• Hall, A. (2008). Book Review: Denis J. Murphy. People, Plants & Genes: the Story of Crops and Humanity. xxiv+402 pages, 54 figures, 12 tables. 2007. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 978-0-19-920714-5 paperback £32.50. Antiquity 82, 505-6.
• Hall, A. (2008). Book Review: Branch, N., Canti, M., Clark, P. and Turney, C. 2005. Environmental Archaeology. Theoretical and Practical Approaches. London: Hodder Arnold. 240pp. ISBN 0340808713. £22.99 (paperback). Environmental Archaeology 13, 96-7.
• Hall, A. 2008. The carbonised grain, p. 11 in Spall, C. A. and Toop, N. J. Before Eoforwic: new light on York in the 6th-7th centuries. Medieval Archaeology 52, 1-25.
• Jaques, D., Hall, A., Kenward, H. and Carrott, J. (2008). Plant, invertebrate and fish remains, pp. 381-406 in D. Garner D, Excavations at Chester. 25 Bridge Street 2001. Two thousand years of urban life in microcosm. Chester City Council: Archaeological Service Excavation and Survey Report 14.
• Kenward, H. and Hall, A. (2008). Urban organic archaeology: an irreplaceable palaeoecological archive at risk. World Archaeology 40, 584-96.
• Kenward H., Hall, A. and Matthiesen, H. (2008). Patterns of early-stage taphonomy in plant and insect macrofossils: Testing hypotheses in relation to post-depositional mass decay of organic-rich archaeological deposits, pp. 29-36 in Kars, H. and Van Heeringen, R. M. (eds), Preserving archaeological remains in situ. Proceedings of the 3rd conference 7-9 December 2006, Amsterdam (=Geoarchaeological and Bioarchaeological Studies 10). Amsterdam: Institute for Geo- and Bioarchaeology, Vrij Universiteit.
• Williamson, M., Stout, J. C., Dehnen-Schmutz, K., Milbau, A. and Hall, A. R. (2008). A provisional list of Irish archaeophytes. Irish Naturalists' Journal 28, 30-5.

2007

• Barrett, J., Hall, A., Johnstone, C., Kenward, H., O'Connor, T. and Ashby, S. (2007). Interpreting the plant and animal remains from Viking-age Kaupang, pp. 283-319 in Skre, D. (ed.), Kaupang in Skiringssal. Kaupang Excavation Project. Publication Series 1. Norkse Oldfunn 22.
• Hall, A. (2007). Plant macrofossils, pp, 170-1 in Toolis, R. and Sproat, D., The transformation of an early post-medieval town into a major modern city: excavation and survey of the Waverley Vaults, New Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. Post-Medieval Archaeology 41, 155-79.
• Hall, A. (2007). Appendix 3. Assessment of the samples rich in moss, pp. 443-5 in McErlean, T. and Crothers, N. Harnessing the Tides. The Early Medieval Tide Mills at Nendrum Monastery, Strangford Lough. N. Ireland Archaeol. Monogr. 7.
• Hall, A. R. and Huntley, J. P. (2007). A review of the evidence for macrofossil plant remains from archaeological deposits in Northern England. (English Heritage) Research Department Report Series 87/2007. 450pp.
  
• Hall, A. and Kenward, H. (2007). [Methodologies: Fieldwork:] Insects and plant macrofossils. 41; [Methodologies: Analyses:] Insects and plant macrofossils. 50-1; [The marsh-fort: the defences:] Insects and plant macrofossils. 104 & 105-9 and Appendix 1 Tables, pp. 186-210; and [The marsh-fort - the interior structures:] Plant macrofossils and insects. 126-30 & Appendix 1 Tables, pp. 186-210. In: van de Noort R, Chapman H and Collis J (eds). Sutton Common. The excavation of an Iron Age 'marsh-fort'. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 154. York.
• Kenward, H. and Hall, A. (2007). Biological remains trodden underfoot in excavation regime. British Archaeology May-June 2007, 51.

Co-authorship of chapters

• Dobney, K., Jaques, D., Barrett, J. and Johnstone, C. (2007). Farmer, Monks and Aristocrats: the Environmental Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Flixborough. (Excavations at Flixborough 3). Oxford: Oxbow.
  • Loveluck, C., Dobney, K., Jaques, D., Barrett, J., Johnstone, C., Carrott, J., Hall, A., Bretman, A. and Haynes, S. (2007). Ch. 3. Chronology, Residuality, Taphonomy and Preservation. 19-35.
  • Jaques, D., Dobney, K., Barrett, J., Johnstone, C., Carrott, J. and Hall, A. (2007). Ch. 4. The Nature of the Bioarchaeological Assemblages. 36-58.
  • Slater, D., Dobney, K., Jaques, D., Barrett, J., Johnstone, C., Carrott, J. and Hall, A. (2007). Ch. 5. Landscape and Environment. 59-69.
  • Dobney, K., Jaques, D., Barrett, J., Johnstone, C., Carrott, J. and Hall, A. (2007). Ch. 6. Patterns of Disposal and Processing. 70-115.
  • Dobney, K., Jaques, D., Johnstone, C., Hall, A., La Ferla, B. and Haynes, S. (2007). Ch. 7. The Agricultural Economy. 116-89.
  • Dobney, K., Jaques, D., Barrett, J., Johnstone, C., Carrott, J., Hall, A., Herman, J., Nichols, C., Muldner, G. and Grimes, V. (2007). Ch. 8. Exploitation of Resources and Procurement. 190-212.

2006

• Hall, A. R, and Kenward, H. K. (2006). Development-driven archaeology: bane or boon for bioarchaeology? Oxford Journal of Archaeology 25, 213-24.
• Kenward, H. K. and Hall, A. R. (2006). Easily decayed organic remains in urban archaeological deposits: value, threats, research directions and conservation, pp. 181-96 in Brinkkemper, O., Deeben, J., van Doesburg, J., Hallewas, D. Theunissen, E. M. and Verlinde, A. D. (eds), Vakken in vlakken. Archeologische kennis in lagen. Nederlandse Archeologische Rapporten 32. Amersfoort.

2005

• Gearey, B. R., Hall, A. R., Kenward, H., Bunting, M. J., Lillie, M. C. and Carrott, J. (2005). Recent palaeoenvironmental evidence for the processing of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in eastern England during the medieval period. Medieval Archaeology 49, 317-22.
• Hall, A. 2005. Environmental remains. 61-4 in Ronan, D. and Higgins, J. (2005). Bronze Age settlement at Ross Bay, Kirkcudbright. Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 79, 47-70.

2004

• Hall, A. R. and Kenward, H. K. (2004). Setting people in their environment: plant and animal remains from Anglo-Scandinavian York, pp. 372-426 + references 507-521 in Hall, R. A., Rollason, D. W., Blackburn, M., Parsons, D. N., Fellows-Jensen, G., Hall, A. R., Kenward, H. K., O'Connor, T. P., Tweddle, D., Mainman, A. J. and Rogers, N. S. H., Aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian York. The Archaeology of York 8 (4), pp. 293-521 + xiv + separate map. York: Council for British Archaeology and York Archaeological Trust.
• Kenward, H. and Hall, A. (2004). Actively decaying or just poorly preserved? Can we tell when plant and invertebrate remains in urban archaeological deposits decayed? pp. 4-10 in Nixon, T. (ed.), Preserving archaeological remains in situ? Proceedings of the 2nd [PARIS] conference 12-14th September 2001. London: Museum of London Archaeology Service.
• Kenward, H. K., Hall, A. R. and McComish, J. M. (2004). Archaeological implications of plant and invertebrate remains from fills of a massive post-medieval cut at Low Fisher Gate, Doncaster, UK. Environmental Archaeology 9, 61-74.
• Kenward, H. and Hall, A. (2004). Beyond the foundations: decay of organic remains in archaeological deposits associated with timber buildings at Bryggen, pp. 138-41 in Christensson, A., Paszkowski, Z., Spriggs, J. and Verhoef, L. (eds), Safeguarding historic waterfront sites. Bryggen in Bergen as a case. Szczecin: Stiftelsen Bryggen.
• Kenward, H., Hughes, P. and Hall, A. (2004). Plant and invertebrate macrofossils, pp. 132-138, and bibliography pp. 177-84, in Heawood, R., Howard-Davis, C., Drury, D. and Krupa, M. (eds.), Old Abbey Farm, Risley. Building survey and excavation at a medieval moated site. Lancaster: Oxford Archaeology North.
• McCobb, L. M. E., Briggs, D. E. G., Hall, A. R. and Kenward, H. K. (2004). Preservation of invertebrates in 16th century cesspits at St Saviourgate, York. Archaeometry. 46, 157-69.
• Preston, C. D., Pearman, D. A. and Hall, A. R. (2004). Archaeophytes in Britain. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 145, 257-94.

2003

• Hall, A. (2003). Weaving a thread or spinning a yarn? Towards an archaeological indicator package for textile working, pp. 37-44 in Groenman-van Waateringe, W., van Beek, B. and Metz, W. (eds), Het Instituut. Vijftig jaar IPP/AAC. [Amsterdam]
• Hall, A. (2003). Recognition and characterisation of turves in archaeological occupation deposits by means of macrofossil plant remains. Centre for Archaeology Report 16/2003. [available at http://research.english-heritage.org.uk/report/?8799]
• Hall, A. R. (2003). Investigating Anglo-Saxon plant life and plant use: the archaeobotanical angle, pp. 101-8 in Biggam, C. P. (ed.), From earth to art. The many aspects of the plant-world in Anglo-Saxon England. Proceedings of the First ASPNS Symposium, University of Glasgow, 5-7 April 2000. Amsterdam/New York.: Rodopi.
• Hall, A. and Kenward, H. (2003). Can we identify biological indicator groups for craft, industry and other activities?, pp. 114-30 in Murphy, P. and Wiltshire, P. E. J. (eds.), The Environmental Archaeology of Industry. Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology 20. Oxford: Oxbow.
• Hall, A. and Kenward, H. (2003). Evidence for tanning from plant and insect remains, pp. 3230-1 in Mould, Q., Carlisle, I. and Cameron, E., Craft, industry and everyday life: leather and leatherworking in Anglo Scandinavian and medieval York. Archaeology of York 17 (16). York: York Archaeological Trust and Council for British Archaeology. (The whole fascicule may be downloaded at http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/resources/pubs_archive.htm)
• Hall, A. R., Kenward, H. K. and McComish, J. M. (2003). Pattern in thinly-distributed plant and invertebrate macrofossils revealed by extensive analysis of occupation deposits at Low Fisher Gate, Doncaster, U. K. Environmental Archaeology 8, 129-44.

2000-2

• Davis, M., Hall, A., Kenward, H. and Oxley, J. (2002). Preservation of urban archaeological deposits: monitoring and characterisation of archaeological deposits at Marks & Spencer, 44-45 Parliament Street, York. Internet Archaeology 11, 30,968 words + 32 images.
• Dobney, K., Hall, A. and Kenward, H. K. (2000). The bioarchaeology of Anglian Yorkshire: present and future perspectives, pp. 133-40 in Geake, H. and Kenny, J. (eds.), Early Deira. Archaeological studies of the East Riding in the fourth to ninth centuries AD. Oxford: Oxbow.
• Hall, A. R. (2000). A brief history of plant foods in the City of York: what the cesspits tell us, pp. 22-41 in White, E. (ed.), Feeding a city: York. The provision of food from Roman times to the beginning of the twentieth century. Blackawton, Devon: Prospect Books.
• Hall, A. R. and Huntley, J. P. (2002). Chapter 14: Environmental archaeology: the post-Roman period, pp. 155-9 in Brooks, C., Daniels, R. and Harding, A.(eds), Past, present and future. The archaeology of Northern England. Proceedings of a Conference held in Durham in 1996. Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland Research Report.
• Hughes, P. D. M., Kenward, H. K., Hall, A. R. and Large, F. D. (2000). A high-resolution record of mire development and climatic change spanning the Late glacial-Holocene boundary at Church Moss, Davenham (Cheshire, England). Journal of Quaternary Science 15, 697-724.
• Kenward, H. and Hall, A. (2000). Decay of delicate organic remains in shallow urban deposits: are we at a watershed? Antiquity 74, 519-25.
• Kenward, H. and Hall, A. (2001). Plants, intestinal parasites and insects, pp. 280-97 in Cameron, A. S. and Stones J. A. (eds), Aberdeen: an in-depth view of the city's past. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series 19. Edinburgh.
• McCobb, L. M. E., Briggs, D. E. G., Evershed, R. P., Hall, A. R. and Hall, R. A. (2001). Preservation of fossil seeds from a 10th Century AD cess pit at Coppergate, York. Journal of Archaeological Science 28, 929-40.

For earlier publications see: Reports from the former Environmental Archaeology Unit (which includes reports prepared for Palaeoecology Research Services). Some reports written since 2003 appear in the series Reports from the Centre for Human Palaeoecology

Teaching

Undergraduate

I am involved in teaching Year 1 Archaeological Science and Field School sessions, and one of the Year 2 research skills modules.

Students (especially!) please note: my post is part-time. During term-time I have 'office hours' when I guarantee to be here to meet with supervisees, and if I am not in the office (K/253) or lab. (KG/027) I am generally working at home where I can access e-mail and respond quickly to messages.

External activities

Memberships

I am currently a member of the Council for British Archaeology's Publications Committee.