Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Staff Profiles

Professor Chantal Conneller

Professor of Early Prehistory

Background

I grew up in London and did my BA and PhD at the University of Cambridge. I held a research fellowship at Queens' College, Cambridge between 2001 and 2004. I have also worked at various periods for the Cambridge Archaeology Unit. In 2005 I was lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Wales, Bangor. Between 2005 and 2017 I was lecturer then senior lecturer in Early Prehistory at the University of Manchester. I joined Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2018.

I am particularly interested in the following areas:

  • The Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of north-west Europe.
  • Technology and materials
  • Lithic studies
  • Settlement and environmental change
  • Human-animal relations
 
Research

I specialise in the European Mesolithic, with interests ranging from technology and materials, human-animal relations, mortuary practices, radiocarbon dating of Mesolithic settlement and human responses to sea-level rise. My doctoral work focused on understanding Mesolithic technologies in the landscape of the Vale of Pickering. My current research has two main foci: The first explores theoretical approaches to technology and materials, which has produced a book An Archaeology of Materials (Routledge 2011); the second focuses on Mesolithic settlement and landscape inhabitation, and as part of this I have published The Mesolithic of Britain (Routledge 2021).


I have excavated on various sites in the Vale of Pickering, and between 2004 and 2015 directed excavations at Star Carr. Between 2010 and 2023 I was a director of the Ice Age Island Project, which is responsible for survey and excavation of a number of Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic sites on Jersey. I am currently co-directing excavations at the Mesolithic-Neolithic site of Cherhill, Wiltshire.

 

Publications

  • Articles

    • Conneller C, Nyland AJ, Little A. . World Archaeology 2025, 56(2), 161-173.
    • Conneller C, Griffiths S. . Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 2025, 90, 319-352.
    • Conneller C, Warren G. . Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature 2025, 125C, 1-24.
    • Bates J, Milner N, Conneller C, Little A. . PLoS ONE 2024, 19(7), e0306908.
    • Conneller C. . Nature: Ecology and Evolution 2022, 6, 1591-1592.
    • Elliott B, Conneller C. . World Archaeology 2022, 52(5), 655-666.
    • Burns A, Woodward J, Conneller C, Reimer P. . Nature Ecology & Evolution 2022, 6, 1553-1563.
    • Bates J, Needham A, Conneller C, Milner N, Pomstra D, Little A. . Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 2022, 43, 103478.
    • Elliott B, Nilsson Stutz L, Conneller C. . World Archaeology 2021, 52(5), 707-723.
    • Bello SM, Blinkhorn E, Needham A, Bates M, Duffy S, Little A, Pope M, Scott B, Shaw A, Welch MD, Kinnaird T, Conneller C. . PLoS ONE 2020, 15(8), e0236875.
    • Blockley S, Candy I, Matthews I, Langdon P, Langdon C, Palmer A, Lincoln P, Abrook A, Taylor B, Conneller C, Bayliss A, MacLeod A, Deeprose L, Darvill C, Beavan N, Kearney R, Staff R, Bamforth M, Taylor M, Milner N. . Nature Ecology & Evolution 2018, 2, 810-818.
    • Needham A, Croft S, Kröger R, Robson H, Rowley C, Taylor B, Gray Jones A, Conneller C. . Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 2018, 17, 650-656.
    • Robson H, Little A, Jones A, Blockley S, Candy I, Matthews I, Palmer A, Schreve D, Tong E, Pomstra D, Fletcher L, Hausmann N, Taylor B, Conneller C, Milner N. . Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 2018, 17, 895-903.
    • Taylor B, Elliott B, Conneller C, Milner N, Bayliss A, Knight B, Bamforth M. . Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 2017, 83, 23-42.
    • Conneller C, Bayliss A, Milner N, Taylor B. . Internet Archaeology 2016, 42.
    • Shaw A, Bates M, Conneller C, Gamble C, Julien MA, McNabb J, Pope M, Scott B. . Antiquity 2016, 90(354), 1437-1453.
    • Little A, Elliott B, Conneller C, Pomstra D, Evans A, Fitton L, Holland A, Davis R, Kershaw R, O'Connor S, O'Connor T, Sparrow T, Wilson A, Jordan P, Collins M, Colonese A, Craig O, Knight R, Lucquin A, Taylor B, Milner N. . PLoS ONE 2016, 11(4), e0152136.
    • Conneller C, Bates M, Bates R, Schadla-Hall T, Blinkhorn E, Cole J, Pope M, Scott B, Shaw A, Underhill D. . Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 2016, 82, 27-71.
    • Albert B, Innes J, Blackford J, Taylor B, Conneller C, Milner N. . Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 2016, 6, 488-495.
    • Milner N, Bamforth M, Beale G, Carty J, Chatzipanagis K, Croft S, Conneller C, Elliot B, Fitton L, Knight B, Kroger R, Little A, Needham A, Robson H, Rowley C, Taylor B. . Internet Archaeology 2016, 40, 8.
    • Candy I, Farry A, Darvill C, Palmer A, Blockley S, Matthews I, MacLeod A, Deeprose L, Farley N, Kearney R, Conneller C, Milner N, Taylor B. . Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 2015, 126(1), 60-71.
    • Palmer A, Matthews I, Candy I, Blockley S, MacLeod A, Darvill C, Milner N, Conneller C, Taylor B. . Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 2015, 126(1), 50-59.
    • Scott B, Bates M, Bates R, Conneller C, Pope M, Shaw A, Smith G. . Antiquity 2014, 88(339), 13-29.
    • Conneller C, Milner N, Taylor B, Taylor M. Substantial settlement in the European Early Mesolithic: new work at Star Carr.. Antiquity 2012, 86, 1-16.
    • Milner N, Conneller C, Taylor B, Schadla-Hall T. Star Carr in a post-glacial lakescape. Journal of Wetland Archaeology 2011, 11(1).
    • Boreham S, Conneller C, Milner N, Taylor B, Needham A, Boreham J, Rolfe C. Geochemical indicators of preservation status and site deterioration at Star Carr. Journal of Archaeological Science 2011, 38(10), 2833-57.
    • Milner N, Conneller C, Elliott B, Koon H, Pantor I, Penkman K, Taylor B, Taylor M. From Riches to Rags: Organic Deterioration at Star Carr. Journal of Archaeological Science 2011, 38(10), 2818-32.
    • Hadley P, Hall A, Taylor M, Needham A, Taylor B, Conneller C, Milner N. To block-lift or not to block-lift? An experiment at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, UK. Internet Archaeology 2010, 28.
    • Conneller C. Investigation of a Final Palaeolithic site at Rookery Farm Cambridgeshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 2009, 75.
    • Conneller C, Ellis C. A Late Upper Palaeolithic site at La Sagesse Convent, Romsey, Hants. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 2008, 73, 191-228.
    • Conneller C. Inhabiting new landscapes: settlement and mobility in Britain after the last glacial maximum. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 2007, 26(3), 1468-92.
    • Conneller C. The Space and Time of the châine opératoire: Technological approaches to past landscapes. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 2006, 21.1.
    • Conneller C. Becoming deer: corporeal transformations at Star Carr. Archaeological Dialogues 2004, 11(1), 37-56.
    • Conneller C, Schadla-Hall T. Beyond Star Carr: the Vale of Pickering in the tenth millennium BP. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 2003, 69, 85-105.
    • Spikins P, Conneller C, Ayestaran H, Scaife B. . Journal of Archaeological Science 2002, 29(11), 1235-1245.

  • Authored Books

    • Conneller C. . London: Routledge, 2022.
    • Milner N, Conneller C, Taylor B. . York: White Rose Press, 2018.
    • Conneller C. An Archaeology of Materials: Substantial transformations in Early Prehistoric Europe. New York: Routledge, 2011. In Preparation.

  • Edited Books

    • Milner N, Conneller C, Taylor B, ed. . York: White Rose Press, 2018.
    • Conneller C, Warren G, ed. Mesolithic Britain and Ireland: New Approaches. Stroud: Tempus, 2006.