Melie Le Roy

Dr Melie Le Roy

  • mleroy at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
  • Lecturer in Biological Anthropology
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Biography

Melie Le Roy is a specialist in biological anthropology with particular interest in the study of funerary practices related to children.

Melie graduated at the University of Bordeaux in France, her PhD (awarded in 2015) concerned social consideration to children through the study of funerary practices in Neolithic France – a project that involved applying GIS techniques to funerary sites to enable a deeper understanding to be gained in relation to burial practices at both site and regional levels.

She is also a field archaeologist and is currently leading two projects in the South of France, involving the excavation of a cave and a dolmen, both of which date to the Late Neolithic. Her research extends beyond France and she is a member of an international team excavating a Roman necropolis in Egypt.

She joined the Archaeology and Anthropology department in April 2022 as a lecturer in biological anthropology.

As a full-time lecturer, Melie will teach biological anthropology at level 5 and 7 and also supervise undergraduate ad master students in osteoarchaeology, funerary practices and childhood archaeology topics.

Journal Articles

  • Rebiere, J.G.H., de Becdelièvre, C., Sayle, K.L., Granier, G., Yang, D.A., Le Roy, M., Gandelin, M., Rottier, S., Leduc, G. and Goude, G., 2024. Children’s mobility during Prehistory. An attempt at interpretation through ethnological research and isotopic analysis at the Coste Rouge site (Middle Neolithic, Hérault, France). Bulletins et Memoires de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, 36.
  • Rivollat, M., Le Roy, M. et al., 2023. Extensive pedigrees reveal the social organization of a Neolithic community. Nature, 620 (7974), 600-606.
  • Le Roy, M., 2022. Funerary practices and funerary selection: Study of ancient bone collections from megalithic structures in the eastern Languedoc and southern Cevennes at the end of the Neolithic. Anthropologie (France), 126 (5).
  • Le Roy, M., Magniez, P. and Goude, G., 2022. Stable-isotope analysis of collective burial sites in Southern France at late Neolithic/early Bronze Age transition. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 32 (2), 396-407.
  • Le Roy, M., Rivollat, M., Mendisco, F., Pemonge, M.-H., Coutelier, C., Couture, C., Tillier, A.-M., Rottier, S. and Deguilloux, M.-F., 2016. Distinct ancestries for similar funerary practices? A GIS analysis comparing funerary, osteological and aDNA data from the Middle Neolithic necropolis Gurgy "Les Noisats" (Yonne, France). JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 73, 45-54.
  • Le Roy, M., Rottier, S., De Becdelievere, C., Thiol, S., Coutelier, C. and Tillier, A.-M., 2014. FUNERARY BEHAVIOUR OF NEOLITHIC NECROPOLISES AND COLLECTIVE GRAVES IN FRANCE EVIDENCE FROM GURGY" LES NOISATS"(MIDDLE NEOLITHIC) AND PASSY/VERON" LA TRUIE PENDUE"(LATE NEOLITHIC). Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 44 (3), 337-351.

Books

  • Murphy, E. and Le Roy, M., 2023. Normative, Atypical or Deviant? Interpreting Prehistoric and Protohistoric Child Burial Practices.
  • Murphy, E. and Roy, M.L., 2017. Children, Death and Burial Archaeological Discourses. Oxbow Books.

Chapters

  • Murphy, E. and Le Roy, M., 2023. Introduction: Normative, atypical or deviant? Interpreting prehistoric and protohistoric child burial practices. Normative, Atypical or Deviant? Interpreting Prehistoric and Protohistoric Child Burial Practices. 1-9.
  • Le Roy, M., 2023. Where do the children go? Funerary treatments of juveniles within collective burial sites in neolithic Southern France. Normative, Atypical or Deviant? Interpreting Prehistoric and Protohistoric Child Burial Practices. 56-80.
  • Arzelier, A., Partiot, C., Fischer, C.E., Lefort, A., Le Roy, M. and Rottier, S., 2023. Burying children in iron age normandy: The unusual case of the necropolis of urville-nacqueville, second century BC. Normative, Atypical or Deviant? Interpreting Prehistoric and Protohistoric Child Burial Practices. 164-181.
  • Le Roy, M. and Murphy, E., 2019. Archaeothanatology as a tool for interpreting death during pregnancy: A proposed methodology using examples from medieval Ireland. The Mother-Infant Nexus in Anthropology. Springer.
  • Murphy, E. and Le Roy, M., 2017. Introduction: Archaeological children, death and burial. Children, death and burial: archaeological discourses. Oxbow Books, 1.
  • Le Roy, M., 2017. How Were Infants Considered at Death during the Neolithic Period in France? In: Murphy, E., ed. Children, Death and Burial: Archaeological Discourses. Oxbow, 19-34.