Dr Martin Smith
- Associate Professor in Forensic and Biological Anthropology
- Christchurch House C134, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
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Biography
Dr Martin Smith is Associate Professor of Biological Anthropology at Bournemouth University, UK. He has over 20 years experience training Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral students to excavate, analyse and interpret human remains from archaeological and forensic contexts. His research has involved analysis of human remains dating from the dawn of agriculture (c.4000 BC), through to the Bronze Age and Iron Ages and Roman through to the post-medieval period. His research focuses on the ways past peoples treated their dead, created social worlds for the living and engaged in conflict, as well as considerations of ethical treatments of human remains. He has authored over 60 publications including two books People of the Long Barrows: Life, Death and Burial in the Earlier Neolithic and Mortal Wounds: the Human Skeleton as Evidence for Conflict in the Past. He also co-edited The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict with Christopher Knüsel (University of Bordeaux). He is a member of APABE (Advisory Panel on Burials in England) and a former member of the Board of Trustees of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute... He has assisted various police services and HM Coroner in cases involving modern and ancient human remains since 2005 and is a Member of the Chartered Society for Forensic Sciences.
moreResearch
Martin’s research has focused on remains dating from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, through historic periods to modern forensic contexts dealing with individuals who by rights should still be alive. He has led projects involving conventional osteology, experimentation, excavation of funerary contexts, three-dimensional modelling, microscopy, radiography and chemical analysis. Martin has interests in addressing questions using datasets generated at different scales, varying from Europe wide considerations of prehistoric conflict to detailed osteobiographical approaches focusing on the lives and experiences of single individuals.
Journal Articles
- Cassidy, L.M. et al., 2025. Continental influx and pervasive matrilocality in Iron Age Britain. Nature, 637 (8048), 1136-1142.
- Cassidy, L.M. et al., 2025. Correction to: Continental influx and pervasive matrilocality in Iron Age Britain (Nature, (2025), 637, 8048, (1136-1142), 10.1038/s41586-024-08409-6). Nature.
- Coiffard, L., Rottier, S., Smith, M., Delbarre, G. and Roy, M.L., 2025. Ships’ boys, nippers and powder monkies: skeletal evidence for life at sea at an early age from Stray Park British Naval Cemetery (Plymouth). Bulletins et Memoires de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, 37.
- Russell, M., Smith, M., Hambleton, E., Cheetham, P. and Tamminen, H., 2024. BRUTALISED, BOUND and BLED: A CASE of LATER IRON AGE HUMAN SACRIFICE from WINTERBORNE KINGSTON, DORSET. Antiquaries Journal, 104, 40-66.
- Tamminen, H.M., Smith, M.J., Welham, K. and Ford, A.L.J., 2023. 3D printed control for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) close-range photogrammetric reconstruction. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 30.
- Strack, J. and Smith, M.J., 2023. Predicted changes to the rate of human decomposition due to climate change during the 21st century. Forensic Science International: Reports, 7.
- Tamminen, H.M., Ford, A.L.J., Welham, K., Loe, L., Webb, H., Boyle, A. and Smith, M.J., 2023. Residual energy dispersal fracturing: A newly proposed term for fractures propagating from sharp-force trauma. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 181 (1), 96-106.
- Fibiger, L., Ahlström, T., Meyer, C. and Smith, M., 2023. Conflict, violence, and warfare among early farmers in Northwestern Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120 (4).
- Mikulski, R.N.R., Schutkowski, H., Smith, M.J., Doumet-Serhal, C. and Mitchell, P.D., 2021. Weapon injuries in the crusader mass graves from a 13th century attack on the port city of Sidon (Lebanon). PLoS ONE, 16 (8 August).
- Smith, M.J., Starkie, A., Slater, R. and Manley, H., 2021. A life less ordinary: analysis of the uniquely preserved tattooed dermal remains of an individual from 19th century France. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 13 (3).
- Mercinelli, M. and Smith, M., 2019. Fallen comrades? Anthropological analysis of human remains from the siege of Turin, 1706. Human Remains and Violence, 5 (2), 34-55.
- Russell, M., Smith, M., Cheetham, P., Evans, D. and Manley, H., 2019. The girl with the chariot medallion: a well-furnished, Late Iron Age Durotrigian burial from Langton Herring, Dorset. Archaeological journal, 176 (2), 196-230.
- Morgan, B., Ford, A.L.J. and Smith, M.J., 2019. Standard methods for creating digital skeletal models using structure-from-motion photogrammetry. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 169 (1), 152-160.
- Carroll, E.L. and Smith, M., 2018. Burning questions: Investigations using field experimentation of different patterns of change to bone in accidental vs deliberate burning scenarios. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 20, 952-963.
- Boucherie, A., Marie, M.L. and Smith, M., 2017. Wounded to the bone: Digital microscopic analysis of traumas in a medieval mass grave assemblage (Sandbjerget, Denmark, AD 1300–1350). International Journal of Paleopathology, 19, 66-79.
- Dussault, M.C., Hanson, I. and Smith, M.J., 2017. Blast injury prevalence in skeletal remains: Are there differences between Bosnian war samples and documented combat-related deaths? Science and Justice, 57 (6), 439-447.
- Smith, M., Atkin, A. and Cutler, C., 2017. An Age Old Problem? Estimating the Impact of Dementia on Past Human Populations. Journal of Aging and Health, 29 (1), 68-98.
- Forsom, E. and Smith, M.J., 2017. Getting to the point: An experimental approach to improving the identification of penetrating projectile trauma to bone caused by medieval arrows. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 11, 274-286.
- Smith, M.J., Allen, M.J., Delbarre, G., Booth, T., Cheetham, P., Bailey, L., O'Malley, F., Pearson, M.P. and Green, M., 2016. Holding on to the past: Southern British evidence for mummification and retention of the dead in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 10, 744-756.
- Dussault, M.C., Smith, M. and Hanson, I., 2016. Evaluation of trauma patterns in blast injuries using multiple correspondence analysis. Forensic Science International, 267, 66-72.
- Smith, M. and Rayner, J., 2016. Utilizing Human Remains for Science: Ethical, Legal, and Scientific Issues in Croatia, United Kingdom and the United States. Beijing Law Review, 12 (1), 161-176.
- Young, A., Stillman, R., Smith, M.J. and Korstjens, A.H., 2016. Applying Knowledge of Species-Typical Scavenging Behavior to the Search and Recovery of Mammalian Skeletal Remains. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 61 (2), 458-466.
- Smith, M.J., James, S., Pover, T., Ball, N., Barnetson, V., Foster, B., Guy, C., Rickman, J. and Walton, V., 2015. Fantastic plastic? Experimental evaluation of polyurethane bone substitutes as proxies for human bone in trauma simulations. Legal Medicine, 17 (5), 427-435.
- Hess, C.A., Smith, M.J., Trueman, C. and Schutkowski, H., 2015. Longitudinal and contemporaneous manganese exposure in apartheid-era South Africa: Implications for the past and future. International Journal of Paleopathology, 8, 1-9.
- Young, A., Márquez-Grant, N., Stillman, R., Smith, M.J. and Korstjens, A.H., 2015. An Investigation of Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and Eurasian Badger (Meles meles) Scavenging, Scattering, and Removal of Deer Remains: Forensic Implications and Applications. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 60 (s1), S39-S55.
- Russell, M., Cheetham, P., Evans, D., Gerdau-Radonic, K., Hambleton, E., Hewitt, I., Manley, H., Speith, N. and Smith, M., 2015. The Durotriges Project, Phase Two: an interim statement. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society, 136, 157-161.
- Parker Pearson, M., Welham, K., Smith, M. et al., 2015. Craig Rhos-y-felin: A Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge. Antiquity, 89 (348), 1331-1352.
- Young, A., Stillman, R., Smith, M.J. and Korstjens, A.H., 2015. Scavenger Species-typical Alteration to Bone: Using Bite Mark Dimensions to Identify Scavengers. Journal of Forensic Sciences.
- Russell, M., Cheetham, P., Evans, D., Gerdau-Radonic, K., Hambleton, E., Hewitt, I., Manley, H., Speith, N. and Smith, M., 2015. Bronze Age to Late Roman settlement at Winterborne Kingston (The 'Big Dig') - Second Interim Report. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society, 136, 157-161.
- Rickman, J.M. and Smith, M.J., 2014. Scanning electron microscope analysis of gunshot defects to bone: An underutilized source of information on ballistic trauma. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 59 (6), 1473-1486.
- Young, Stillman, R., Smith, M. and Korstjens, A., 2014. Scavenging in Northwestern Europe: A Survey of UK Police Specialist Search Officers. Policing (Oxford): a journal of policy and practice, 8 (2), 156-164.
- Dussault, M.C., Smith, M. and Osselton, D., 2014. Blast injury and the human skeleton: An important emerging aspect of conflict related trauma. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 59, 606-612.
- Rickman, J.M. and Smith, M.J., 2014. Scanning Electron Microscope Analysis of Gunshot Defects to Bone: An Underutilized Source of Information on Ballistic Trauma. Journal of Forensic Sciences.
- Russell, M., Cheetham, P., Evans, D., Hambleton, E., Hewitt, I., Manley, H. and Smith, M., 2014. The Durotriges Project, Phase one: an interim statement. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 135, 217-221.
- Young, A., Stillman, R., Smith, M.J. and Korstjens, A.H., 2014. An experimental study of vertebrate scavenging behavior in a northwest European woodland context. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 59 (5), 1333-1342.
- Cheetham, P., Hambleton, E., Russell, M. and Smith, M., 2013. Digging the Durotriges - life and death in late Iron Age Dorset. , 36-41.
- Hess, C., Cooper, M.J., Smith, M.J., Trueman, C. and Schutkowski, H., 2013. Lead exposure in adult males in urban Transvaal Province, South Africa during the apartheid era. PLoS One, 8 (3), e58146.
- Dussault, M.C., Smith, M.J. and Osselton, M., 2013. Blast injury and the Human skeleton: An important emerging aspect of conflict related trauma. Journal of Forensic Sciences, in press.
- Smith, M., Knüsel, C., Chamberlain, A. and Mitchell, P.D., 2012. We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it. BMJ (Online), 344 (7841).
- Smith, M., Knüsel, C.J., Chamberlain, A.T. and Mitchell, P.D., 2012. We cannot change the past –but we can learn from it. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 344.
- Smith, M., Kneller, P., Elliott, D., Young, C., Manley, H. and Osselton, D., 2012. Multidisciplinary analysis of a mummified cranium claimed to be that of a medieval execution victim. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 4, 75-89.
- Smith, M., Howard, A.J. and Hodder, M., 2011. Birmingham’s earliest inhabitants? A newly discovered Palaeolithic axe from Sutton Coldfield. PAST the newsletter of the Prehistoric Society, 66, 6-7.
- Faulkner, N., Smith, M.J. and Mays, S., 2008. Whose Death is it Anyway? The controversy surrounding the treatment of human remains is becoming more intense by the day. Current Archaeology, 214, 40-44.
- Bacon-Martin, H., Woodward, A. and Smith, M.J., 2008. "Cremated Bone": In Prehistoric and Roman Derby: Excavations at Littleover, Derby, 2003-4. Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, 128, 19-39.
- Smith, M.J., Brickley, M.B. and Leach, S.L., 2007. Experimental Evidence for Lithic Projectile Injuries: Improving Identification of an Under-Recognised Phenomenon. Journal of Archaeological Science, 34, 540-553.
- Smith, M.J. and Brickley, M.B., 2007. Boles Barrow: Witness to Ancient Violence? British Archaeology, 93, 22-27.
- Smith, M.J. and Mays, S., 2007. Ancestors of Us All. Museums Journal, 107, 18.
- Smith, M.J. and Brickley, M.B., 2006. The Date and Sequence of Use of Neolithic Funerary Monuments: New AMS Dating Evidence From the Cotswold-Severn Region. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 25, 335-355.
- Smith, M.J., 2006. Bones Chewed by Canids as Evidence of Human Excarnation: A British Case Study. Antiquity, 80, 671-685.
- Brickley, M.B. and Smith, M.J., 2006. Culturally Determined Patterns of Violence: Biological Anthropological Investigations at a Historic Urban Cemetery. American Anthropologist, 108, 163-177.
- Smith, M.J. and Brickley, M.B., 2006. Metacarpal Fractures as a Key to Understanding Culturally Patterned Violence in a Historic Urban Cemetery Sample. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 167.
- Smith, M.J. and Brickley, M.B., 2004. Analysis and Interpretation of Flint Toolmarks Found on Bones from West Tump Long Barrow, Gloucestershire. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 14, 18-33.
Books
- Smith, M., 2017. Mortal Wounds: The Human Skeleton as Evidence for Conflict in the Past. Pen & Sword Books.
- The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict. Routledge.
- Smith, M.J. and Brickley, M.B., 2009. People of the Long Barrows: Life, Death and Burial in the Earlier Neolithic. Stroud, England: The History Press.
- Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Chapters
- Gerdau-Radonić, K., Sperrevik, J., Smith, M., Cheetham, P.N. and Russell, M., 2022. Deathways of the durotriges: Reconstructing identity through archaeothanatology in later Iron Age southern Britain. The Routledge Handbook of Archaeothanatology: Bioarchaeology of Mortuary Behaviour. 243-262.
- Smith, M.J., Schulting, R.J. and Fibiger, L., 2020. Settled lives, unsettled times: Neolithic violence in Europe. The Cambridge World History of Violence. 79-98.
- McKinley, J. and Smith, M., 2017. Compiling a skeletal inventory: disarticulated and commingled remains. In: Mitchell, P.D. and Brickley, M.B., eds. Updated Guidelines to the Standards for Recording Human Remains. London: BABAO/CIfA, 20-24.
- Knüsel, C. and Smith, M.J., 2013. Introduction: The bioarchaeology of conflict. The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict. 3-24.
- Smith, M.J., 2013. The war to begin all wars? Contextualizing violence in Neolithic Britain. The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict. 109-126.
- Knüsel, C. and Smith, M.J., 2013. The osteology of conflict: What does it all mean? The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict. 656-694.
- Slater, R.J. and Smith, M., 2012. A Study of Interobserver Variation in Cranial Measurements and the Resulting Consequences when Analysed using CranID. In: Mitchell, P.D. and Buckberry, J., eds. Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. Oxford: Archaeopress.
- Smith, M.J., Brickley, M.B. and Leach, S.L., 2011. A Shot in the Dark: Interpreting Evidence for Prehistoric Conflict. In: Saville, A., ed. Flint and Stone in the Neolithic Period. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
- Smith, M.J., Brickley, M.B., Adams, J. and Mould, Q., 2009. Death and Burial. In: Forster, M., ed. Life, Work and Death in Birmingham City Centre. London: English Heritage and Birmingham City Council.
- Mays, S. and Smith, M., 2009. Ethical dimensions of reburial, retention and repatriation of archaeological human remains: a British perspective. In: Clegg, M. and Lewis, M., eds. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. Oxford: Archaeopress, 107-117.
- Jones, L., Woodward, A., Buteux, S. and Smith, M.J., 2006. Human Remains. Iron age, Roman and Saxon occupation at Grange Park: excavations at Courteenhall, Northamptonshire, 1999. Oxford: Archaeopress, 173.
Conferences
- Mikulski, R., Schutkowski, H., Smith, M.J. and Mitchell, P.D., 2018. Urban warfare in the Crusades: Weapon injuries in 13th century mass grave deposits at the fortified town of Sidon (Lebanon). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 165, 177-178.
- Smith, M., Fibiger, L. and Schulting, R., 2017. Settled Lives –Unsettled Times: Violence in the Neolithic. In: The Cambridge World History of Violence 20-22 June 2016 University of Notre Dame, Rome.
- Smith, M., Allen, M.J., Booth, T., Madgwick, R., Bailey, L., O'Malley, F., Delbarre, G., Cheetham, P. and Green, M., 2014. Keeping the Family Together: Curation, Imitation and Veneration of the Dead in a British Prehistoric Landscape. In: European Association of Archaeologists 20th Annual Meeting 11-13 September 2014 Istanbul Turkey.
- Gerdau Radonic, K., Smith, M., Russell, M., Cheetham, P., Hambleton, E., Manley, H. and Evans, D., 2014. Death Ways of the Durotriges: Dealing with the Dead in Late Iron Age and Early Roman Dorset. In: European Association of Archaeologists 20th Annual Meeting 11 September-13 October 2014 Istanbul University, Turkey.
- Gerdau-Radonic, K., Smith, M., Russell, M., Cheetham, P., Hambleton, E., Manley, H. and Evans, D., 2014. Death Ways of the Durotriges: Dealing with the Dead in Late Iron Age and Early Roman Dorset. In: European Association of Archaeologists 10-14 September 2014 Istanbul, Tukey.
- Smith, M.J., 2014. Fantastic Plastic? Investigating the potential of polyurethane bone substitutes in ballistic experiments. In: 8th Experimental Archaeology Conference UK 10-11 January 2014 Oxford University.
- Smith, M., 2013. Context isn’t Quite Everything: Interpreting complex prehistoric mortuary rituals at Cranborne Chase, Dorset, England. In: Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference (TAG on Sea 2013) 16-18 December 2013 Bournemouth University.
- Smith, M.J. and Allen, M., 2013. Bones of Unknown and Hoary Antiquity: re-assessment of the Neolithic primary burials at Wor Barrow, Cranborne Chase, Dorset. In: 15th Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Ostearchaeology 13-15 September 2013 York University.
- Starkie, A., 2013. Mort aux Commissaires! Analysis of the preserved, tattooed skin of an adult male from 19th century France. In: 15th Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology 13 December-15 September 2013 York University.
- Smith, M., 2013. CSI Egypt? Assessing the potential of computerised tomography of mummified remains for developing forensic techniques. In: 15th Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology 13-15 September 2013 York University.
- Smith, M.J., Petford, N. and Xiao, L., 2006. Planetary remote sensing and GIS: the convergence of software techniques and data. In: 37th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 13-17 March 2006 League City, Texas. Lunar and Planetary Institute.
Reports
- Smith, M., Allen, M.J., Jay, M., Montgomery, J., Bronk Ramsey, C., Cook, G. and Marshall, P., 2016. Wor Barrow, Cranborne Chase, Dorset: Chronological Modelling. Portsmouth: Historic England.
Others
- Smith, M.J., 2007. Book Review: The Archaeology of Warfare: Prehistories of Raiding and Conquest (Eds. E. Arkush & M.W. Allen) Florida University Press,2006. Published.
PhD Students
- Alexandria Young, 2013. An Investigation of patterns of mammalian scavenging in relation to vertebrate skeletal remains in a Northwestern European context: forensic applications
- Heather Tamminen, 2021. Virtual modelling of human remains using photogrammetry for presentation and preservation by record
External Responsibilities
- University of Reading, External Examiner MSc Prof Human Osteoarchaeology (2020-)
- Advisory Panel on the Archaeology of Burials in England, Consultative Forum member (2020-), https://www.archaeologyuk.org/apabe/
Qualifications
- PhD in Archaeology (University of Birmingham, 2005)
- BA (Hons) in Archaeology (University of Birmingham, 2001)
Memberships
- Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences, Member (2016-), http://www.csofs.org/
- Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences, Member (2016-), http://www.csofs.org/
- American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Member,
- The Palaeopathology Association, Member,
- The Prehistoric Society, Member,
- The Royal Anthropological Institute, Fellow,
