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Biography

I am currently working as a Lecturer in Biological Anthropology in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology teaching human evolution.

My journey into the world of human osteology began when I moved from Canada to England to complete an MSc in Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. There are many areas of osteoarchaeology that I find fascinating, but my primary interest is conflict trauma and the study of weapon marks left on human skeletons.

I have always enjoyed learning about anatomy, especially musculoskeletal anatomy, as well as history. When I discovered the existence of the field of osteoarchaeology near the end of my undergraduate degree, I realised there was a way to combine these two interests into one area. My MSc research involved a palaeopathological study of joint health in a late medieval population from Warwickshire which has left me with the habit of always checking skeletons for strange joint conditions.

Between finishing my MSc and beginning my PhD, I worked as a field technician at Wessex Archaeology which helped me grow as an archaeologist and learn a lot about the excavation and post-excavation process, which was invaluable, given my background was in biological sciences rather than archaeology...

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Research

I have recently completed a very exciting PhD project, titled “The Digital Dead: Virtual Modelling of Human Remains Using Photogrammetry for Presentation and Preservation by Record”. This project was jointly funded by Bournemouth University and the Dorset County Museum.

This project investigated the use of Structure-from-Motion Multi-View Stereo (SfM-MVS) photogrammetry for creating 3D digital models of cutmarks on human remains. SfM-MVS models are created using multiple overlapping photographs of an object. This method is more accessible than many alternative forms of 3D digitisation. The capabilities and limitations of MVS-SfM have not been systematically explored in the field of osteology, particularly at close range, until now and therefore was a focus of the project.

The case study collection for this project are known as the “Weymouth Ridgeway Vikings” and were on-loan to BU from the Dorset Museum. They were found, all of them beheaded, in a mass grave in 2009 by Oxford Archaeology. There are approximately 52 individuals present and they display extensive sharp force trauma, especially to the neck. Through radiocarbon dating and isotopic analysis, they were identified as likely being Vikings. They are a fascinating and rare collection because of the levels of trauma that are found on them and because Viking burials are not usually found this far south in the UK. Therefore the new details that were learned about collection and the events surrounding their death through the re-appraisal of the sharp force trauma is highly beneficial for the understanding of the history of Wessex, England, and the Vikings...

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Journal Articles

Theses

  • Tamminen, H., 2022. The Digital Dead: Virtual Modelling of Human Remains using Photogrammetry for Presentation and Preservation by Record. PhD Thesis. Bournemouth University, Faculty of Science and Technology.

Invited Lectures

  • Dorset Museum, 01 Jul 2022 more

Conference Presentations

  • Fields of Conflict, Cutting Edge Technology: Exploring the use of digital methods to record and interpret trauma to the skeleton, 07 May 2022, Online
  • European Association of Archaeologists, Breaking with tradition: Revising the finer points of terminology in trauma analysis, 24 Aug 2020, Online
  • Computer Applications& Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Conference; UK Chapter, Exploring New Dimensions: Investigating the use of Multi-View Stereo Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry in Skeletal Sharp Force Trauma Analysis, 04 Oct 2019, Bournemouth, UK
  • Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, New Dimensions: Exploring the Potential of Photogrammetric Modelling to Enhance Skeletal Trauma Analysis, 04 Sep 2019, Bern, Switzerland

Qualifications

  • MSc in Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology (University of Sheffield, 2016)
  • BHK in Human Kinetics (focus in Movement Science) (University of Windsor, 2011)

Honours

  • Patricia Phillips Prize (highest average, Department of Archaeology) (University of Sheffield, 2016)

Memberships

  • Advance HE, Fellow (2022-),
  • British Association For Forensic Anthropology, Member (2020-),
  • British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, Member,
  • Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (UK Chapter), Member,
  • European Association of Archaeologists, Member,