Emma Jenkins

Professor Emma Jenkins

  • Professor
  • Christchurch House C119, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
UN SDGs:
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Biography

I am Professor of Archaeology and Director for the Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions (IMSET). My research specialisms lay in environmental archaeology and I have a focus on how societies in the past interacted with their environment; how they responded to past climate and environmental change; and what we can learn from this that can inform on adaptation strategies to our current climate change crisis. I have worked extensively in the Neolithic of southwest Asia, exploring how and why people made the transition from mobile hunter-gatherers to sedentary farmers. I am interested in the impact that this change in lifestyle had on the environment-particularly in relation to landscape change and biodiversity loss-and also how this transition altered our societal structure and relationship with material culture.

I have an undergraduate degree in Archaeology from the University of Bristol and an M. Phil and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person's work contributes towards the following SDGs:

Clean water and sanitation

"Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all"

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Sustainable cities and communities

"Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable"

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Climate action

"Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts"

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Life on land

"Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss"

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Journal Articles

  • Newton, A.C., Coward, F., Elliott, S., Jenkins, E., Linden, M.V., Riris, P. and Silva, F., 2024. Understanding long-term human ecodynamics through the lens of ecosystem collapse. Holocene, 34 (10), 1439-1453.
  • Roushannafas,, T., Baker, P., Campbell, G., Jenkins, E., Parker Wooding, J., Pelling, R., Vander Linden, M., Worley, F. and Cooper, A., 2024. Digitally Enlightened or Still in the Dark? Establishing a Sector-Wide Approach to Enhancing Data Synthesis and Research Potential in British Environmental Archaeology and Beyond. Internet Archaeology.
  • Whitehouse, N., Jenkins, E. and Barratt, P., 2023. Rewilding, the historic environment and moving beyond ‘wilderness’. Archaeology Scotland, 47, 14-17.
  • Allcock, S.L., Elliott, S., Jenkins, E.L., Palmer, C., Rollefson, G., Grattan, J. and Finlayson, B., 2023. Using Phytolith, Geochemical and Ethnographic Analysis to Inform on Site Construction and Activities in the Neolithic of Southwest Asia: Case Studies from Wadi Faynan 16 and ‘Ain Ghazal, Jordan. Environmental Archaeology.
  • Silva, F. et al., 2022. Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14 (16).
  • Vos, D., Stafford, R., Jenkins, E.L. and Garrard, A., 2021. A model based on Bayesian confirmation and machine learning algorithms to aid archaeological interpretation by integrating incompatible data. PLoS ONE, 16 (3 March 2021).
  • Cucchi, T., Jenkins, E. et al., 2020. Tracking the Near Eastern origins and European dispersal of the western house mouse. Scientific Reports, 10 (1).
  • Jenkins, E.L., Predanich, L., Al Nuimat, S.A.M.Y., Jamjoum, K.I. and Stafford, R., 2020. Assessing past water availability using phytoliths from the C4 plant Sorghum bicolor: An experimental approach. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 33.
  • Asouti, E., Baird, D., Kabukcu, C., Swinson, K., Martin, L., Garcia-Suarez, A., Jenkins, E. and Rasheed, K., 2020. The Zagros Epipalaeolithic revisited: New excavations and 14C dates from Palegawra cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. PLoS ONE, 15 (9 September).
  • Birch-Chapman, S. and Jenkins, E., 2019. A Bayesian approach to calculating Pre-Pottery Neolithic structural contemporaneity for reconstructing population size. Journal of Archaeological Science, 112.
  • Jenkins, E., Jamjoum, K., Nuimat, S., Stafford, R., Nortcliff, S. and Mithen, S., 2019. Corrigendum to “Identifying ancient water availability through phytolith analysis: An experimental approach” (Identifying ancient water availability through phytolith analysis: An experimental approach (2016) 73 (82–93), (S0305440316300930), (10.1016/j.jas.2016.07.006)). Journal of Archaeological Science, 110.
  • Flohr, P., Jenkins, E., Williams, H.R.S., Jamjoum, K., Nuimat, S. and Müldner, G., 2019. What can crop stable isotopes ever do for us? An experimental perspective on using cereal carbon stable isotope values for reconstructing water availability in semi-arid and arid environments. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 28 (5), 497-512.
  • Elliott, S., Palmer, C., Samantha Lee, A. and Jenkins, E., 2019. Examining Neolithic Building and Activity Areas through Historic Cultural Heritage in Jordan: A Combined Ethnographic, Phytolith and Geochemical Investigation. Bulletin of the Council for British Research in the Levant : CBRL.
  • Vos, D., Jenkins, E. and Palmer, C., 2018. A dual geochemical-phytolith methodology for studying activity areas in ephemeral sites: Insights from an ethnographic case study from Jordan. Geoarchaeology, 33 (6), 680-694.
  • Baird, D., Jenkins, E., Elliott, S. et al., 2018. Agricultural origins on the Anatolian plateau. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115 (14), E3077-E3086.
  • Jenkins, E.L., Allcock, S.L., Elliott, S., Palmer, C. and Grattan, J., 2017. Ethno-geochemical and Phytolith Studies of Activity Related Patterns: A Case Study from Al Ma’tan, Jordan. Environmental Archaeology, 22 (4), 412-433.
  • Birch-Chapman, S., Jenkins, E., Coward, F. and Maltby, M., 2017. Estimating population size, density and dynamics of Pre-Pottery Neolithic villages in the central and southern Levant: an analysis of Beidha, southern Jordan. Levant, 49 (1), 1-23.
  • Wicks, K., Finlayson, B., Maričević, D., Smith, S., Jenkins, E. and Mithen, S., 2016. Dating WF16: Exploring the Chronology of a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Settlement in the Southern Levant. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 82, 73-123.
  • Jenkins, E., Jamjoum, K., Nuimat, S., Stafford, R., Nortcliff, S. and Mithen, S., 2016. Identifying ancient water availability through phytolith analysis: An experimental approach. Journal of Archaeological Science, 73, 82-93.
  • Fairbairn, A., Jenkins, E., Baird, D. and Jacobsen, G., 2014. 9th millennium plant subsistence in the central Anatolian highlands: new evidence from Pınarbaşı, Karaman Province, central Anatolia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 41, 801-812.
  • Baird, D., Jenkins, E. et al., 2013. Juniper smoke, skulls and wolves' tails. The Epipalaeolithic of the Anatolian plateau in its South-west Asian context; insights from Pinarbaşi. Levant, 45 (2), 175-209.
  • Jenkins, E., 2012. Mice, scats and burials: unusual concentrations of microfauna found in human burials at the Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk, Central Anatolia. Journal of Social Archaeology, 12 (3), 380-403.
  • Mithen, S.J., Finlayson, B., Smith, S., Jenkins, E.L., Najjar, M. and Maricevic, D., 2011. An 11 600 year-old communal structure from the Neolithic of southern Jordan. Antiquity, 85, 350-364.
  • Flohr, P., Muldner, G. and Jenkins, E.L., 2011. Carbon stable isotope analysis of cereal remains as a way to reconstruct water availability: preliminary results. Water History.
  • Turner, R., Roberts, N., Eastwood, W.J., Jenkins, E.L. and Rosen, A.M., 2010. Fire, climate and the origins of agriculture: micro-charcoal records of biomass burning during the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition in Southwest Asia. Journal of Quaternary Science, 25, 371-386.
  • Jenkins, E.L., 2009. Phytolith taphonomy: a comparison of dry ashing and acid extraction on the breakdown of conjoined phytoliths formed in Triticum durum. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 2402-2407.
  • Finlayson, B., Mithen, S.J., Jenkins, E.L., Smith, S.J., Helmsley, S., Maricevic, D., Pankhurst, N., Yeomans, L. and al-Amarat, H., 2009. Excavations at the PPNA site WF16: A Preliminary Report on the 2008 season. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 53, 115-126.
  • Finlayson, B., Mithen, S.J., Najjar, M., Jenkins, E.L. and Smith, S., 2009. Excavations at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A WF16, Southern Jordan. Antiquity (Project gallery), 83.
  • Deckers, K., Riehl, S., Jenkins, E.L., Rosen, A.M., Dodonov, A., Simokava, A.N. and Conard, N.J., 2009. Vegetation Development and Human Occupation in the Damascus Region of Southwestern Syria from Pleistocene to Holocene. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 18, 329-340.
  • Mithen, S.J., Jenkins, E.L., Jamjoum, K., Nuimat, S. and Finlayson, B., 2008. Experimental Crop Growing in Jordan to Develop A Methodology for the Identification of Ancient Crop Irrigation. World Archaeology, 40, 7-25.
  • Finlayson, B., Mithen, S.J., Najjar, M., Smith, S.J. and Jenkins, E.L., 2008. New Excavations at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site of Wadi Faynan 16. Bulletin of the Council for British Research in the Levant, 3, 60-61.

Books

Chapters

  • Jenkins, E. and Feider, M.C., 2021. The Catalhoyuk Microfauna. In: Hodder, I., ed. Peopling the Landscape of Catalhoyuk. London: British Institute at Ankara, 199-216.
  • Mithen, S., Finlayson, B., Maricevic, D., Smith, S., Jenkins, E. and Najjar, M., 2015. Death and Architecture: The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Burials at WF16, Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan. In: Renfrew, C., Boyd, M.J. and Morley, I., eds. Death Rituals, Social Order and the Archaeology of Immortality in the Ancient World "Death Shall Have No Dominion". Cambridge University Press, 82-110.
  • Jenkins, E. and Yeomans, L., 2013. The Çatalhöyük microfauna. Humans and Landscapes of Çatalhöyük: reports from the 2000-2008 seasons. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, 253-264.
  • Jenkins, E., Rosen, A.M. and Otsaku, M., 2012. The Phytoliths of the BACH Area. In: Tringham, R. and Stevanović, M., eds. Last House on the Hill: BACH Area Reports from Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Los Angeles, CA, USA: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, 261-267.
  • Jenkins, E., 2012. The Microfauna of the BACH Area. In: Tringhham, R. and Stevanović, M., eds. Last House on the Hill: BACH Area Reports from Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Los Angeles, CA, USA: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, 253-260.
  • Jenkins, E.L., Jamjoum, K. and Nuimat, S., 2011. Irrigation and phytolith formation:an experimental study. In: Mithen, S.J. and Black, E., eds. Water, life and civilisation: climate, environment and society in the Jordan Valley. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press/UNESCO, 347-372.
  • Jenkins, E.L., Baker, A. and Elliott, S., 2011. Past plant use in Jordan as revealed by archaeological and ethnoarchaeological phytolith signatures. In: Mithen, S.J. and Black, E., eds. Water, life and civilisation: climate, environment and society in the Jordan Valley. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press/UNESCO, 381-399.
  • Stokes, H., Muldner, G. and Jenkins, E.L., 2011. An investigation into the archaeological application of carbon stable isotope analysis used to establish crop water availability: solutions and ways forward. In: Mithen, S. and Black, E., eds. Water, life and civilisation: climate, environment and society in the Jordan Valley. Cambridge, England/ New York: Cambridge University Press/UNESCO, 373-380.
  • Jenkins, E.L. and Rosen, A.M., 2007. The Phytoliths. In: Finlayson, B. and Mithen, S., eds. The Early Prehistory of Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan: Archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and Evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Settlement of WF16. Oxford, England: Oxbow Books, 429-436.
  • Jenkins, E.L., 2005. The Çatalhöyük microfauna: preliminary results and interpretations. In: Hodder, I., ed. Inhabiting Çatalhöyük: reports from the 1995-1999 seasons. Cambridge/London: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and British Institute at Ankara, 111-116.
  • Andrews, P. and Jenkins, E.L., 2000. The Taphonomy of the Small Mammal Faunas. In: Barham, L., ed. The Middle Stone Age of Zambia, South Central Africa. Bristol, England: Western Academic & Specialist Press, 57-62.

Films

PhD Students

  • Pascal Flohr, 2012. Reconstructing past water availability using plant carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios: refining the method using modern and archaeological cereal grains from Jordan, (Completed)
  • Daniella Vos, 2016. Out of sight, but not out of mind – exploring how phytolith and geochemical analysis can contribute to understanding the Neolithic in Jordan, (Completed)
  • Shannon Birch, 2017. Population growth and social change in the earliest village societies of southwest Asia, (Completed)
  • Michelle Feider, 2022. Scourge or Sustenance: Using Microfauna to Explore the Palaeoenvironment and Palaeoeconomics of Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic Communities in Anatolia, (Completed)
  • Paul Clarkson

Profile of Teaching PG

  • Unit Leader Level 7 Applications of Zooarchaeological Science

Profile of Teaching UG

  • Unit Leader for Environmental Archaeology

Invited Lectures

  • 2021-Traces of Life-Keynote Talk, Kiel, Germany, 09 Sep 2021 more
  • British Academy, London, 15 Mar 2017 more

Grants

  • Identifying activity areas in Neolithic sites through ethnographic analysis of phytoliths and geochemical residues (AHRC, 01 Jan 2014). Awarded

External Responsibilities

Internal Responsibilities

  • Committee Member, URPPMC
  • Steering Group Member, Sustainability, Low-carbon Technology & Materials Science Strategic Investment Area Committee
  • REF Outputs Champion, Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Sciences REF Team

Public Engagement & Outreach Activities

  • Jane Goodall-Roots & Shoots activity-St Luke's School pond (01 Jan 2022-01 Jul 2022)
  • 2021 Owl Pellet Workshop (13 Jul 2021)
  • Microplastic workshop (12 Jul 2021)
  • Reasons for Hope (29 Apr 2021)
  • Mini BU Archaeologists: Skull Workshop (02 Dec 2016)
  • Human Evolution (08 Nov 2016)
  • 2016 BU Mini Archaeologists:sand-pit digging activity. Talbot Woods Pre-School, BU, Poole (21 Oct 2016)
  • Primary School Visit (23 Jun 2016)
  • Talk to Archaeological Community Group (01 Feb 2016)
  • Archaeology talk and Osteoarchaeology Practical (28 Jan 2016)
  • Archaeology talk and practical-Luton Sixth Form College (11 Nov 2015)
  • School in house visit (15 Oct 2015)
  • Career Fair-Glenmoor and Winton Aacedemies (08 Oct 2015)
  • Bournemouth University Webinar (18 Feb 2015)
  • Talk-Luton Sixth Form College (03 Dec 2014)
  • Archaeology Talk-Strode College, Somerset (01 Dec 2014)
  • Archaeology Talk and Practical (11 Nov 2014)
  • 2014 Archaeology talk and activity-Hillside First School, Verwood (04 Nov 2014)
  • Bournemouth School Career Fair (23 Oct 2014)
  • Particpant in Meet the Scientist Day (20 Mar 2014)
  • CPD Course (05 Feb 2014)
  • Archaeology talk-Ringwwod Waldorf Steiner School (04 Feb 2014)
  • Archaeology Day for Brockenhurst College (05 Dec 2013)
  • CPD course (03 Dec 2013)
  • Bournemouth School Careers Fair (24 Oct 2013)
  • Talk-Bishop of Wordworth School, Salisbury (01 Oct 2013)
  • Archaeology Workshop-Brockenhurst College (03 Jul 2013)
  • Talk-Bournemouth School for Boys (11 Jun 2013)
  • Talk-St Brendan's Sixth For College, Bristol (24 Apr 2013)
  • Ongoing-STEM Ambassador and Outreach Coordinator for Archaeology and Anthropology (27 Feb 2013-18 Feb 2026)
  • Talk (10 Jan 2013)

Conference Presentations

  • 42nd Conference of the Association of Environmental Archaeology (AEA), The Impact of the Anthropogenic Niche on Microfaunal Species Diversity in the Epi-Paleolithic and Neolithic of Anatolia., 02 Dec 2022, Glasgow
  • 42nd Conference of the Association of Environmental Archaeology (AEA), Tracking human activity through microfauna: the rise and fall of commensals in early Neolithic Ganj Dareh., 02 Dec 2022, Glasgow
  • 42nd Conference of the Association of Environmental Archaeology (AEA), Awakening a sleeping giant: unwilding and rewilding a Neolithic cursus monument at Drumadoon, Arran, 02 Dec 2022, AEA and the University of Glasgow
  • Professional Zooarchaeology working group, Social Lives of Small Mammals, 05 Jul 2022, Bournemouth
  • 3rd SEAMEO SPAFA International conference on Southeast Asian Archaeology, Phytolith Analysis of Đa Bút and Phùng Nguyên Cave Sites in Tràng An, Northern Vietnam, 17 Jun 2019, Bangkok
  • British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology (BANEA), Understanding construction and activity areas at Neolithic sites through combined ethnographic, phytolith and geochemical investigation, 22 Feb 2019, Liverpool
  • International Conference on the History and Archaeology of Jordan, Understanding construction and activity areas at Neolithic sites through combined ethnographic, phytolith and geochemical investigation, 21 Jan 2019, Florence
  • Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, An Integrated phytolith and geochemical approach to understanding activity areas and the choice of building materials in Neolithic sites using ethnographic analysis, 29 Mar 2017, Vancouver
  • Association of Environmental Archaeology, Combining phytolith analysis and geochemistry to study ephemeral sites in dynamic environments, 29 Sep 2016, Rome
  • International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Exploring methods for site characterisation in ephemeral Neolithic and ethnographic sites in Jordan, 25 Apr 2016, Vienna
  • International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, . Estimating Population Parameters of Early Village Societies in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Central and Southern Levant, 25 Apr 2016, Vienna
  • 13th Synchroton-Light For Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) User Meeting User Meeting, Synthesis of a range of analytical techniques used in archaeological projects in Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Turkey: X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, portable X-ray fluorescence, environmental scanni, 25 Nov 2015, Amman
  • European Association of Archaeologists, A Tale of Two methods: Applying Phytolith and Geochemical Analysis to Study the Use of Space at Ethnographic and Neolithic Ephemeral Sites in Jordan, 02 Sep 2015, Glasgow
  • 1st Petra International Conference on Cultural Tourism, New Research on the Old Village of Al-Ma’tan: Futures for the recent past, 17 May 2015, Ma'an, Jordan
  • Society for American Archaeology, An Integrated phytolith and geochemical approach to understanding activity areas and the choice of building materials in Neolithic sites using ethnographic analysis, 15 Apr 2015, San Francisco
  • British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology, A new integrated approach to understanding household activity areas using phytolith and geochemical signatures from ethnographic and archaeological sites in Jordan, 07 Jan 2015, London
  • British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology, Rural Settlement, House Forms and Oral Histories in Southern Jordan, 07 Jan 2015, London
  • British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology, Studying Phytolith and Geochemical Soil Signatures in Bedouin Campsites at Wadi Faynan, Jordan, 07 Jan 2015, London
  • Association for Environmental Archaeology, An integrated approach to understanding activity areas using phytolith and geochemical signatures from ethnographic and archaeological sites in Jordan, 07 Nov 2014, Plymouth
  • -British Association for Near eastern Archaeology, Reconstructing past water management with plant stable isotopes: possibilities and applications of a novel technique, 09 Jan 2014, Reading
  • World Archaeological Congress, Plant carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios for the reconstruction of past water availability: new insights, 13 Jan 2013, Dead Sea Region, Jordan
  • Experimental Archaeology Conference, Reconstructing past water availability with plant stable isotope ratios: re-assessing a method by using experimental archaeology, 06 Jan 2012, York
  • Experimental Archaeology Conference, Phytoliths as indicators of past water availability and palaeoeconomic practices, 08 Jan 2011, Reading
  • Experimental Archaeology Conference, Stable isotope analyses of ancient cereal grains for environmental reconstruction: using experimental archaeology to improve existing methodology, 08 Jan 2011, Reading
  • British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology, Changes in Plant Exploitation from the PPNA to the PPNB in Wadi Faynan: Analysis of Phytoliths from WF16 to Ghuwayr 1, 07 Jan 2009, Durham
  • Society for American Archaeology, The Ecological Footprint of Early Levantine Cereal Exploitation, 24 Apr 2007, Austin, Texas
  • British Association of Near Eastern Archaeology, Water, Life and Civilisation: Experimental Crop Growing for Phytolith Analysis, 01 Apr 2007, Birmingham
  • International Meeting on Phytolith Research, Phytoliths as Indicators of Irrigation: An Outline of On-going Crop Growing Experiments and their Implications for Phytolith Research, 05 Sep 2006, Barcelona
  • Society for American Archaeology, Serial Collectors of the 12th to 11th Millennium BP: A Possible Case Against Cultivation in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A in the Jordan Valley, 24 Apr 2006, Puerto Rico
  • Society for American Archaeology, Phytoliths as Indicators of Plant Use at Çatalhöyük, 24 Apr 2006, Puerto Rico

Qualifications

  • PhD in Archaeology (University of Cambridge, 2004)
  • MPhil in Archaeology (University of Cambridge, 1999)
  • BA (Hons) in Archaeology (University of Bristol, 1997)

Memberships

  • British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology, Steering Commitee (2016-), http://banealcane.org/banea/
  • WISE (Women in SCience technology and Engineering), Member (2016-), https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/
  • Council for British Research in the Levant, Member (2014-),
  • Higher Education Academy, Fellow (2014-),
  • STEMNET (Science, Technology, Engineeering and Mathematcis Network), Member (2013-), http://www.stemnet.org.uk/
  • Association for Environmental Archaeology, Ordinary Committee Member, http://envarch.net/
  • European Association for Archaeology, Member,
  • International Phytolith Society, Member,