Profile

Biography

My passion has been in trying to explain this interest to the general public. I completed my doctorate in the biology department at York, working on fish remains from an archaeological site. I first experienced a dig when I was in the sixth form, and again when I was at university. A history lecturer was working on an excavation and asked some zoology people along to help measure bones. Archaeology grabbed me as a fusion of practical activity and thinking about the meaning of your finds. And then there's the great joy of discovery.Introducing archaeology to children has been a big part of my life. It's too interesting just to leave it to academics! Everyone can relate to a find like a shoe or a sock - it brings the past to life. At the York Archaeological Trust we have an experiential, hands-on approach to education. At the Jorvik Viking Centre and the DIG we have selected some museum objects that won't be damaged by handling so kids can get their hands on the past as I did. 

Career

The man behind the Lloyd's Bank Turd

Research

Overview

• Fish remains from archaeological sites
  
• Intestinal parasites
  
• Presentation of archaeology to the public
  

I'm not a historian. I take a scientific, evidence-based approach to the past, the bits that historians miss out - the ordinary people, what they made, what they dropped, what they left behind.  My interest has therefore always been in the fine fraction of sediments, and I have specialised in both methods for extraction and in the types of material that arise from this fraction; fish, parasite eggs and mollusc shell.  I have always been interested in the taphonomy of these accumulations, the methods by which we can recover information, and the range of information that this can reveal.

Publications

Selected publications

• Orton, D. C., Makowiecki, D.,Orton, D. C., Makowiecki, D., de Roo, T., Johnstone, C., Harland, J., Jonsson, L., Heinrich, D., Enghoff, I. B., Lõugas, L., Van Neer, W., Ervynck, A., Hufthammer, A. K., Amundsen, C., Jones, A. K. G., Locker, A., Hamilton-Dyer, S., Pope, P., MacKenzie, B. R., Richards, M., O'Connell, T. C., and Barrett, J. H. (2011) PloS one 6, e27568
• Barrett, J., Johnstone, C., Harland, J., Van Neer, W., Ervynck, A., Makowiecki, D., Heinrich, D., Hufthammer, A. K., Enghoff, I. B., Amundsen, C., Christiansen, J. S., Jones, A. K. G., Locker, A., Hamilton-Dyer, S., Jonsson, L., Lõugas, L., Roberts, C., and Richards, M. (2008) Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 850-861
• Hodgson, G. W. I., Smith, C., Jones, A., Fraser, M., Jones, A. K. G., Heppel, D., Ceron-Carrasco, R., and Clarke, A. (2011) Perth High Street Archaeological Excavation 1975-1977. Living and working in a medieval Scottish burgh. Environmental remains and miscellaneous finds.  

Full publications list

• JONES, A. K. G. 1990. Experiments with fish bones and otoliths: implications for the reconstruction of past diet and economy. Experimentation and reconstruction in environmental archaeology, 143-6-143-6.
• JONES, A. K. G., FIELLER, R. J., GILBERTSON, D. D. & RALPH, N. Year. Paleobiological Investigations: Research Design, Methods and Data Analysis1985. 
• JONES, A. K. G., HALL, A. R. & KENWARDS, H. K. 1982. Environmental archaeology in the urban context. Sci & Archaeol, 22, 
• JONES, A. K. G., MORRIS, C. D. & RACKHAM, D. J. 1995. Environmental sampling: methods and materials. Freswick Links, Caithness: Excavation and Survey of a Norse Settlement. North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation, Inverness.
• JONES, A. K. G., MORRIS, C. D. & RACKHAM, D. J. 1996. The fish remains. In Morris, CD, Batey, C, Jones, AKG et al Freswick Links Caithness: Excavation and Survey of a Norse Settlement. Inverness (Highland Regional Council monogr 1).
• JONES, A. K. G., STEAD, I. M., BOURKE, J. B. & BROTHWELL, D. 1986. Lindow Man: The Body in the Bog.
• KENWARD, H. K., ALLISON, E. P., MORGAN, L. M., JONES, A. K. G. & HUTCHISON, A. R. 2000. The insect and parasite remains, 145-147-145-147.
• KENWARD, H. K., HALL, A. R. & JONES, A. K. G. 1980. A tested set of techniques for the extraction of animal and plant macrofossils from waterlogged archaeological deposits'. Sci & Archaeol, 22, 3-15-3-15.
  

Teaching

Undergraduate

External activities

Memberships

Education Officer, YAT