Dr Jonny Geber (MA MA PhD)

Senior Lecturer; funerary archaeology; historical archaeology; social bioarchaeology; palaeopathology

Biography

Background

Originally from Sweden, I moved to Ireland in 2003 and worked for Irish and British archaeological consultancies as an osteoarchaeologist and zooarchaeologist before moving into academia. I completed my PhD at Queen's University Belfast in 2012, and I was appointed as Docent (UK equivalent of Reader) in Archaeology at Uppsala University, Sweden in April 2018.

I have received funding from the Leverhulme Trust, Irish Research Council, the Royal Irish Academy, the Johan and Jakob Söderberg's Foundation, the Gunvor and Josef Anér Foundation, the Magnus Bergvall's Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the University of Otago, the Emily Sarah Montgomery Scholarship (Queen's University Belfast), Kilkenny County Council, MacDonagh Junction Developments, and Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.

Useful Links

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6113-1950

Responsibilities & affiliations

Affiliated Docent (Associate Professor/Reader) in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Sweden

Associate Editor, Bioarchaeology International (ISSN: 2472-8349)

Undergraduate teaching

ARCA10099 Ancient Bodies: Archaeological Human Remains in their Social and Cultural Context [course organiser]

ARCA08004 Archaeology 1A [contributor]

ARCA08005 Archaeology 1B [contributor]

ARCA08012 Archaeology 2B: Archaeology in Action [contributor]

ARCA10083 Here Comes the War: Conflict Archaeology and the Human Past [contributor]

ARCA08014 The Human Skeleton in Archaeology and Forensic Science: Investigating Death and the Dead [contributor]

Postgraduate teaching

PGHC11464 Analytical Methods in Human Osteoarchaeology [course organiser]

PGHC11448 Conflict Archaeology: Materialities of Violence [contributor]

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Current PhD students supervised

  • Emma Spencer, PhD candidate, Maternal Care and Mortality in Medieval Scotland, Primary
  • Laura-Kate Girdwood, PhD candidate, Dental pathology as a proxy for sociocultural change in archaeological skeletal populations, Primary
  • Gulcin Coskun, PhD candidate, Facial muscle approximation from CT-scans, Joint Primary, Profile
  • Sha Nevin, PhD candidate, Human-Animal Relationships in Late Medieval and Early Post-Medieval Urban Scotland, Secondary

Past PhD students supervised

  • Dr Lauren Meckel (via Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, New Zealand), PhD, Incorporating Histological Methods to Examine Frailty and the Effects of Structural Violence in Victims of the Great Irish Famine, Primary, 2021
  • Dr Courtney Astrom, PhD, Comparative Projectile Trauma: An Examination of the Differences in Skeletal Trauma Inflicted by Multiple Classifications of Projectile Weapons, Secondary, 2021

Research summary

Places: 

  • Britain & Ireland
  • Europe

Themes: 

  • Bioarchaeology & Human Origins
  • Culture
  • Economic History
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Imperialism
  • Medicine, Science & Technology
  • Migration
  • Society

Periods: 

  • Prehistory
  • Medieval
  • Nineteenth Century

Research projects

Principal Investigator (PI):

  • 'Harvested Bodies': Biocultural Linkages of Structural Violence, Social Identity and Health in Late Modern Anatomical Collections (collaborators: Jenny Bergman, Lund University Historical Museum; Professor Emerita Elisabeth Iregren, Lund University; Professor Niels Hammer, Graz Medical University). Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and the Anér Foundation (Anérstiftelsen) and the Magnus Bergvall Foundation (Magnus Bergvalls Stiftelse).
  • The Bioarchaeology of the Great Irish Famine: The Kilkenny Union Workhouse Mass Burials (collaborators: Dr Julia Beaumont, University of Bradford; Dr Lauren Meckel, Louisiana State University).
  • Merging Cultures: Population Dynamics and Social Diversity in Early Medieval and Viking Period Dublin (collaborators: Edmond O'Donovan, Edmond O'Donovan & Associates; Laureen Buckley, Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland).

Associate Investigator (AI):

  • Passage Tomb People: Investigating the Social Drivers of Passage Tomb Construction (collaborator: Dr Jessica Smyth (PI), University College Dublin; Professor Emeritus Muiris O'Sullivan, University College Dublin). Funded by the Irish Research Council, and the Royal Irish Academy via the National Monuments Service. 
  • Trevelyan's Corn: Bone Chemistry and Famine Relief Aid in 19th Century Ireland (collaborators: Dr Barra Ó Donnabháin (PI), University College Cork; Dr Julia Beaumont, University of Bradford).

Current research interests

My research involves broad biocultural and contextual approaches to the study of life in the past from archaeological and historical human remains. I have a particular interest in social bioarchaeology focusing on the experience of poverty and social marginalisation, health and disease, and conflict in the past. In recent years, my research has focused on the bioarchaeology of the Great Irish Famine (1845–52), based on nearly 1,000 skeletons of victims from a mass burial ground discovered in Kilkenny City, Ireland, in 2005. Other research interests involve the bioarchaeology of prehistoric funerary practices and mortuary rites; the study of cremated human remains; weapon trauma and violence; palaeopathology and the experience of disease in the past; burial taphonomy and thanatology.

Knowledge exchange

Research featured in the radio documentary We Had Names, KCLR96FM, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland

https://kclr96fm.com/documentary/we-had-names/

The list below is a subset of the information held on the University of Edinburgh PURE system, and includes Books, Chapters, Articles and Conference contributions. For a full list, including details of other publication types (e.g. reviews), please see the Edinburgh Research Explorer page for Dr Jonny Geber.

Books - Authored

Holbrook, N., Wright, J., McSloy, E. and Geber, J. (2017) The Western Cemetery of Roman Cirencester: Excavations at the former Bridges Garage, Tetbury Road, Cirencester, 2011-2015. Cotswold Archaeology

Geber, J. (2015) Victims of Ireland’s Great Famine: The Bioarchaeology of Mass Burials at Kilkenny Union Workhouse.Gainesville: University Press of FloridaDOI: https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813061177.001.0001

Articles

Geber, J. and Nilsson Stutz, L. (2022) "Att återlämna kvarlevor kan berika forskningen". Forskning och Framsteg

Geber, J., Tromp, M., Scott, A., Bouwman, A., Nanni, P., Grossmann, J., Hendy, J. and Warinner, C. (2019) Relief food subsistence revealed by microparticle and proteomic analyses of dental calculus from victims of the Great Irish Famine. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 116(39), pp. 19380-19385DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1908839116

Geber, J. and Murphy, E. (2018) Dental markers of poverty: Biocultural deliberations on oral health of the poor in mid-nineteenth-century Ireland. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 167(4), pp. 840-855DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23717

Geber, J. and Hammer, N. (2018) Ossification of the ligamentum flavum in a nineteenth-century skeletal population sample from Ireland: Using bioarchaeology to reveal a neglected spine pathology. Scientific Reports, 8(1), pp. 1-13DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27522-x

Geber, J. and Clarke, A. (2017) Animal bone: [contribution to the article 'Iron Age and Roman settlement to the north-west of Crick' by A. Mudd, N. Powell, and D. Stone]. Northamptonshire Archaeology, 39, pp. 85-100

Geber, J., Hensey, R., Meehan, P., Moore, S. and Kador, T. (2017) Facilitating transitions: Postmortem processing of the dead at the Carrowkeel passage tomb complex, Ireland (3500–3000 cal. B.C.). Bioarchaeology International, 1(1–2), pp. 35-51DOI: https://doi.org/10.5744/bi.2017.1001

Geber, J. (2017) Animal bone: [contribution to the article 'An Iron Age and Early Roman farmstead at Calvestone Road, Cawston, near Rugby: excavations in 2012' by N. Powell, and A. Mudd]. Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society, 119, pp. 13-49

Geber, J. (2017) Cremated bone: [contribution to the article 'An Iron Age and Early Roman farmstead at Calvestone Road, Cawston, near Rugby: excavations in 2012' by N. Powell, and A. Mudd]. Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society, 119, pp. 13-49

Carlyle, S., Geber, J. and Armitage, P. (2017) Medieval and later activity in the former precinct of St John's Hospital. Northamptonshire Archaeology, 39, pp. 181-196

Geber, J. (2016) Mortality among institutionalised children during the Great Famine in Ireland: Bioarchaeological contextualisation ofnon-adult mortality rates in the KilkennyUnion Workhouse, 1846–1851. Continuity and Change, 31(1), pp. 101-126DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416016000096

Hart, J., Geber, J. and Holbrook, N. (2016) Iron Age Settlement and a Romano-British Cemetery at the Cotswold School, Bourton-on-the-Water: Excavations in 2011. Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 134, pp. 77-111

Geber, J. (2015) Animal bone: [contribution to the article 'Investigations at Hetty Pegler's Tump Neolithic Long Barrow, Uley, 2011' by A. Barber, and A. Mudd]. Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 133, pp. 19-48

Geber, J. (2015) Animal bone: [contribution to the article 'Roman settlement evidence at Tewkesbury hospital: Excavations in 2012-14' by T. Havard, and M. Alexander]. Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 133, pp. 49-78

Geber, J. and Warman, S. (2015) Animal bone: [contribution to the article 'Romano-British and medieval occupation at Sudbrook road, Portskewett, Monmouthshire: Excavations in 2009' by M. Brett, N. Holbrook, and E.R. McSloy]. Monmouthshire Antiquary: Proceedings of the Monmouthshire Antiquarian Association, 31, pp. 3-43

Geber, J. (2015) Comparative study of perimortem weapon trauma in two early medieval populations (AD 400-1200) from Ireland. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 25(3), pp. 253-264DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2281

Geber, J. (2015) Human bone: [contribution to the article 'Investigations at Hetty Pegler's Tump Neolithic Long Barrow, Uley, 2011' by A. Barber, and A. Mudd]. Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 133, pp. 19-48

Geber, J. (2015) Human bone: [contribution to the article 'Roman settlement evidence at Tewkesbury hospital: Excavations in 2012-14' by T. Havard, and M. Alexander]. Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 133, pp. 49-78

Kador, T., Geber, J., Hensey, R., Meehan, P. and Moore, S. (2015) New dates from Carrowkeel. PAST, 79, pp. 12-14

Geber, J. (2014) Skeletal manifestations of stress in child victims of the Great Irish Famine (1845-1852): Prevalence of enamel hypoplasia, Harris lines, and growth retardation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 155(1), pp. 149-161DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.v155.1

Geber, J. (2014) Animal bone. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, 107, pp. 118-145

Geber, J. (2014) Animal bones. Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society, 72, pp. 1-56

Geber, J. and Clarke, A. (2014) Faunal remains: [contribution to the article 'Excavation of a late medieval hearth at No. 31 High street, Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, 2013' by S. Cox]. Bristol and Avon Archaeology, pp. 21-28

Geber, J. (2014) Human bone. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, 107, pp. 118-145

Warman, S. and Geber, J. (2013) Animal bones: [contribution to the article 'Prehistoric, Roman and post-Roman discoveries in South Somerset: The archaeology of the Ilchester to Barrington Gas Pipeline 2005-6' by M Brett, and A. Mudd]. Somerset Archaeology and Natural History: The Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, pp. 74-104

Holt, R., Geber, J. and McSloy, E. (2013) Excavations of a multi-period site at Barnes Coaches Depot, Aldbourne, Wiltshire. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, 106, pp. 89-100

Beaumont, J., Geber, J., Powers, N., Wilson, A., Lee-Thorp, J. and Montgomery, J. (2013) Victims and survivors: Stable isotopes used to identify migrants from the Great Irish Famine to 19th century London. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 150(1), pp. 87-98DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22179

Geber, J. and Murphy, E. (2012) Scurvy in the Great Irish Famine: Evidence of vitamin C deficiency from a mid-19th-century skeletal population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 148(4), pp. 512-524DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22066

Mudd, A., Brett, M., Anderson-Whymark, H., Black, S., Cobain, S., Geber, J., Healy, F., Marini, N., McSloy, E., Morris, E., Price, K., Warman, S., Warren, G., Watson, N., Wilkinson, K. and Young, T. (2012) A Neolithic and Bronze Age monument complex and its Early Medieval reuse: Excavations at Netherfield Farm, South Petherton, Somerset, 2006. The Archaeological Journal, 169(1), pp. 3-86DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2012.11020911

Geber, J. (2011) Osteoarchaeological and archaeological insights into the deaths and intramural mass burials at the Kilkenny Union Workhouse between 1847-51 during the Great Famine. Old Kilkenny Review, 63, pp. 64-75

Burrow, A., Mudd, A., Armitage, P., Chapman, A., Clough, S., Fawcett, A., Gale, R., Geber, J., Grinter, P. and Hylton, T. (2010) Early Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman pit deposits at Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire. Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 99, pp. 61-74DOI: https://doi.org/10.5284/1034398

Geber, J. and Loe, L. (2009) Human remains: [contribution to the article 'A late Neolithic/early Bronze Age enclosure and Iron Age and Romano-British settlement at Latton Lands, Wiltshire' by L. Brown, G. Laws, and K. Powell]. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, 102, pp. 22-113

Geber, J. (2008) Cremated human remains: [contribution to the article 'Prehistoric activity at Westwood, Broadstairs' by K. Poole, and L. Webley]. Archaeologia Cantiana, 128, pp. 75-106

Geber, J. (2007) An early medieval population in Swords, Co. Dublin. Paleopathology Association Irish Section News, 10, pp. 3-6

Geber, J. (2006) Appendix 2: Summary report on osteological analysis of burnt bones from Knockhouse Lower (03E1879). Decies, 62, pp. 21-48

Geber, J. (2003) En allvarlig knäfraktur hos en man under tidig medeltid på Irland. Benbiten, 17, pp. 11-12

Geber, J. (2003) Fragment och tolkning: En osteologisk studie av kremationer från förromersk järnålder på Seltorp 1:1, Vist socken. Benbiten, 16, pp. 4-5

Chapters

Geber, J. (2019) Human bone. In: Harvard, T., Alexander, M. and Holt, R. (eds.) Iron Age Fortification Beside the Liver Lark: Excavations at Mildenhall Suffolk. Cotswold Archaeology, pp. 99-103

Geber, J. (2018) "Wretched in the Extreme": Investigating child experiences of the Great Hunger through bioarchaeology. In: Kinealy, C., King, J. and Moran, G. (eds.) Children and the Great Hunger in Ireland. Cork University Press, pp. 75-94

Geber, J. (2017) Interring the 'Deserving' child: The archaeology of deaths and burials of children at the Kilkenny union workhouse during the Great Famine in Ireland, 1845-52. In: Murphy, E. and Le Roy, M. (eds.) Children, Death and Burial: Archaeological Discourses. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 249-262

Clough, S. and Geber, J. (2016) Bronze age human remains. In: Mudd, A., McSloy, E., Brett, M. and Hart, J. (eds.) Living Near the Edge: Archaeological Investigations in the Western Cotswolds Along the Route of the Wormington to Sapperton Gas Pipeline, 2006-2010. Cirencester: Cotswold Archaeology, pp. 34-36

Clough, S. and Geber, J. (2016) Late Bronze Age human remains. In: Hart, J., Mudd, A., McSloy, E. and Brett, M. (eds.) Living Near the Edge: Archaeological Investigations in the Western Cotswolds Along the Route of the Wormington to Sapperton Gas Pipeline, 2006-2010. Cirencester: Cotswold Archaeology, pp. 76

Clough, S. and Geber, J. (2016) Late Iron Age, Roman and Saxon human remains. In: Hart, J., Mudd, A., McSloy, E. and Brett, M. (eds.) Living Near the Edge: Archaeological Investigations in the Western Cotswolds Along the Route of the Wormington to Sapperton Gas Pipeline, 2006-2010. Cirencester: Cotswold Archaeology, pp. 133-137

Geber, J. (2014) Reconstructing realities: Exploring the human experience of the Great Irish Famine through archaeology. In: Corporaal, M., Cusack, C., Janssen, L. and van den Beuken, R. (eds.) Global Legacies of the Great Irish Famine: Transnational and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Peter Lang, pp. 139-156DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0353-0650-7

Geber, J. (2013) Painful ailments, trauma and violent deaths at Owenbristy, Co. Galway: Physical pain interpreted from human skeletal remains. In: Kelly, B., Roycroft, N. and Stanley, M. (eds.) Futures and Pasts: Proceedings of a Public Seminar on Archaeological Discoveries on National Road Schemes, August 2012. Dublin: National Roads Authority, pp. 51-61

OCarroll, E. and Geber, J. (2012) An Iron Age ring-ditch at Coolbeg townland, Ballynagran, Co. Wicklow. In: Corlett, C. and Potterton, M. (eds.) Life and Death in Iron Age Ireland in Light of Recent Archaeological Excavations. Dublin: Wordwell, pp. 213-222

Geber, J. (2012) Burying the famine dead: Kilkenny Union Workhouse. In: Crowley, J., Smyth, W. and Murphy, M. (eds.) Atlas of the Great Irish Famine 1845-52. Cork University Press, pp. 341-348

Geber, J. (2011) Human remains from Owenbristy. In: Delaney, F. and Tierney, J. (eds.) In the Lowlands of South Galway: Archaeological Excavations on the N18 Oranmoer to Gort National Road Scheme. National Roads Authority, pp. 88-97

O'Donovan, E. and Geber, J. (2010) Excavations on Mount Gamble Hill, Swords, Co. Dublin. In: Corlett, C. and Potterton, M. (eds.) Death and Burial in Early Medieval Ireland in the Light of Recent Excavations. Wordwell, pp. 227-238

O'Donovan, E. and Geber, J. (2009) Archaeological excavations at Mount Gamble Hill: Stories from the First Christians in Swords. In: Baker, C. (ed.) Axes, Warriors and Windmills: Recent Archaeological Discoveries in North Fingal. Dublin: Fingal County Council, pp. 64-74

Geber, J. (2009) Human skeletal remains. In: Baker, C. (ed.) The Archaeology of Killeen Castle, Co. Meath. Dublin: Wordwell, pp. 129-130

Geber, J. (2009) The animal bones. In: McQuade, M., Molloy, B. and Moriarty, C. (eds.) In the Shadow of the Galtees: Archaeological Excavations Along the N8 Cashel to Mitchelstown Road Scheme. National Roads Authority, pp. 276-286

Geber, J. (2009) The faunal remains. In: Baker, C. (ed.) The Archaeology of Killeen Castle, Co. Meath. Dublin: Wordwell, pp. 131-156

Geber, J. (2009) The human remains. In: McQuade, M., Molloy, B. and Moriarty, C. (eds.) In the shadow of the Galtees: Archaeological excavations along the N8 Cashel to Mitchelstown road scheme. National Roads Authority, pp. 209-240

Loe, L., Márguez-Grant, N. and Geber, J. (2008) Discussion on the unburnt human remains. In: Simmons, A., Márquez-Grant, N. and Loe, L. (eds.) Life and Death in a Roman City: Excavations of a Roman Cemetery with a Mass Grave at 120-122 London Road, Gloucester. Oxford: Oxford Archaeology, pp. 67-72

Geber, J. (2007) The human remains. In: Timby, J., Brown, R., Hardy, A., Leech, S., Poole, C. and Webley, L. (eds.) Settlement on the Bedfordshire Claylands: Archaeology Along the A421 Great Barford Bypass. Oxford: Oxford Archaeology, pp. 303-328

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