Holger Schutkowski

Professor of Bioarchaeology, Deputy Dean, School of Applied Sciences

Holger's route through academia in Germany and the UK has seen him emerge at the top of bioarchaeology, in a research field that he feels extremely passionate about.

"Human skeletal remains are the most immediate source material we can interrogate about lifestyle, living conditions and wellbeing in the past. They translate human agency for us. Archaeology without human remains would be like a stage without actors".

He outlines his principal research area as "a bridge between science and humanities". The core of his work "focuses on how the biological outcomes of cultural strategies can be detected in human/environment interaction of past societies through the study of human skeletal remains".

Having recently joined the School of Applied Sciences as Professor of Bioarchaelogy, Holger brings a wealth of academic experience to the role. His academic life began as an undergraduate at the University of Giessen, Germany, where he first studied Biology and Musicology. He then moved to the University of Gottingen, where he received his Masters, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral degrees in Anthropology. Having held positions as Post-Doctoral Fellow funded by the German Research Council and as lecturer in Gottingen, he joined the University of Bradford in 2000 prior to BU.

Holger also takes a "keen interest in skeletal analysis and the development of diagnostic methods, which is one of the most important foundations for bioarchaeological analysis". He was the first academic to propose a comprehensive method for assessing sex in sub-adult skeletons. "This finally enables us to detect and understand differential mortality and morbidity in infancy and childhood in the past. One of the wider implications of this is that it allows us to learn about infanticide or parental neglect, and to interpret it in the social, political and economic context of the time. "This", Holger states, "is a topic which continues to be important in our modern world".

Holger's research is supported by a range of analytical approaches, from molecular to histological and biometric methods. His work on stable isotope and element analyses emphasizes the social and geographic differentiation of subsistence strategies and palaeodiet in past populations. "Social inequality is surprisingly visible in human dietary behaviour. It reflects access to resources and opportunity for choice, something that runs through our history up to the present day and can therefore inform modern nutritional studies."

The nature of Holger's work means he has travelled regularly to support initiatives and studies. He has been part of investigative projects in the Middle East, where he was and continues to be involved in large-scale excavation projects, most recently a British Museum-sponsored collaborative project in Lebanon.

"What I like about my work is that you can bring the people of the past to life. Applying scientific methods helps greatly to come closer to understanding our ancestors. It is just fascinating. One of the challenges, however, is that we increasingly have to argue in favour of retention and scientific study of human remains in the light of claims for reburial from a wide range of interested stakeholders."

In his spare time, Holger enjoys music and, playing the viola, he is a keen musician himself.