Dr Lou Matthews

lou matthews
Research Associate, Rewilding project

Lou is an established professional archaeologist with an academic background in Environmental Archaeology (pollen analysis) and, latterly, palaeolimnology. Lou ran Historic Environment Records in both South Yorkshire (2003-2010) and North Yorkshire (2010-2015), before a working for the Archaeology Data Service as Collections Development Manager (2015-2018). In 2023, she completed her PhD in Physical Geography ‘Iron Age Palaeoenvironments of Northwest Scotland’ which involved a multi-proxy analysis (pollen, carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis and X-ray florescence) of loch sediment records.

Research Interests: Late glacial and Holocene environment and landscape change in Britain, with a focus on human/environment/landscape interactions from prehistory until the early medieval period. Pollen, bulk sediment and isotope geochemistry.

Geographic Areas: Britain and NW Europe

Selected Publications

Du, M., Jones, V.J., van Hardenbroek, M., Matthews, L. & Ji, K. (2023) ‘How much organic carbon have UK lakes stored in the Holocene? A preliminary estimate’, Holocene (Sevenoaks), 33(6), pp. 746–755.

Matthews, L. (2022) The Environmental History of the Broch, in Cavers G., Barber J., Heald A., Johnstone N., McLaren D., and Robertson, J (eds). Clachtoll Broch: An Iron Age Settlement in Assynt, Northwest Scotland. Oxford: Oxbow Books