Dr David Chivall

Research Profile

I was awarded a PhD in chemistry for research into using the hydrogen stable isotope composition of specific fat molecules preserved in archaeological pottery to better understand what people were eating in the past. This was carried out at the Organic Geochemistry Unit at the University of Bristol with Richard Evershed.

 

I applied similar techniques towards developing a method to determine past ocean salinity as a postdoctoral researcher in the biogeochemistry group at the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), working with Marcel van der Meer.

 

Recently, together with the organisation AVAAZ, I have been using radiocarbon dating to identify fraud in the ivory antiques market. As part of this research I have been awarded a John Fell Fund grant to determine the geographic origin of worked-ivory using a DNA technique.

 

ORCID profile

Google Scholar profile

Publications