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School of Archaeology

University of Oxford

  2. Professor Rick Schulting

Professor Rick Schulting

Dr Rick Schulting
Professor of Scientific and Prehistoric Archaeology
+44 (0)1865 278309
rick.schulting@arch.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests

Mesolithic and Neolithic of western Europe; North American Northwest Coast and Plateau archaeology and ethnography; Siberian steppe hunter-gatherers and pastoralists; Caribbean prehistory; Japanese prehistory; complex hunter-gatherers; transition to agriculture; mortuary analysis; stable isotope analysis and dietary reconstruction; strontium isotopes and provenance/mobility; skeletal evidence of interpersonal violence; radiocarbon dating; Bayesian modelling; marine and freshwater radiocarbon reservoir corrections, especially in Europe, Siberia, the Caribbean and northern Chile. 

Research Profile

Research Activities

I have had a long-standing interest in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Western Europe, both in themselves, and in terms of the transition to farming. Recent and ongoing research is focussed on improving our understanding of chronology, through the use of AMS 14C dating, and of palaeodiet, through the use of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. Another current research strand involves a re-assessment of extant Neolithic skeletal collections from various regions of western Europe, from the point of view of evidence for interpersonal violence. Most recently, I have extended my interests to Eurasian steppe pastoralists, and to the hunter-gatherers of Siberia and northern Japan, as a member of the Baikal-Hokkaido Archaeological Project (http://bhap.arts.ualberta.ca/).

An edited volume titled 'Sticks, Stones & Broken Bones: Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective' (OUP), published in 2012, presents overviews of violent injuries on skeletons from various regions of Europe. 

Co-Investigator - Cultivating Societies: assessing the evidence for agriculture in Neolithic Ireland: http://www.chrono.qub.ac.uk/instar

Links

Publications

  • A snapshot of subsistence in Iron Age Iberia: The case of La Hoya village

    Fernández-Crespo, T, Ordoño, J, Bogaard, A, Llanos, A, Schulting, R
    2019
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    Journal article
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    Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
    © 2019 Elsevier Ltd Excavations at the Iron Age settlement of La Hoya in north-central Iberia, which was attacked between the mid-4th and the late 3rd centuries BC, provided fossilized scenes of devastation and death but also an extraordinary opportunity to analyze lifeways. Here, we conduct stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human, animal and plant remains to reconstruct aspects of subsistence. The results indicate a mainly C3-based subsistence economy, focused on the cultivation of cereals and the herding of domestic animals, particularly pigs, as the archaeological data support. Although C4 plants are less abundant, they may have played a key role in infant and child feeding practices. Inferred differences in livestock management, as well as in manuring intensity and management in relation to water resources between crops, suggest a well-established farming economy. Inter-household variability in crop-cultivation and land-use suggests household production and subsistence autonomy, and suggests the existence of socio-economic inequalities within the community.

  • Isotopic evidence of strong reliance on animal foods and dietary heterogeneity among Early-Middle Neolithic communities of Iberia

    Fernández-Crespo, T, Schulting, RJ, Ordoño, J, Rojo-Guerra, MA, Sesma-Sesma, J, García-Gazólaz, J, Altuna, J, Mariezkurrena, K, Arias, P
    2019
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    Journal article
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    Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

  • Avelines’s Hole: an unexpected twist in the tale

    SCHULTING, R, Booth, T, Brace, S, Diekmann, Y, Thomas, MG, Barnes, I, Meiklejohn, C, Babb, J, Budd, C, van der Plicht, J, Mullan, G, WIlson, L
    2019
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    Journal article
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    Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society

  • Author Correction: Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain.

    Brace, S, Diekmann, Y, Booth, TJ, van Dorp, L, Faltyskova, Z, Rohland, N, Mallick, S, Olalde, I, Ferry, M, Michel, M, Oppenheimer, J, Broomandkhoshbacht, N
    ,
    et al
    2019
    |
    Journal article
    |
    Nat Ecol Evol
    In the version of this Article originally published, there were errors in the colour ordering of the legend in Fig. 5b, and in the positions of the target and surrogate populations in Fig. 5c. This has now been corrected. The conclusions of the study are in no way affected. The errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

  • Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain.

    Brace, S, Diekmann, Y, Booth, TJ, van Dorp, L, Faltyskova, Z, Rohland, N, Mallick, S, Olalde, I, Ferry, M, Michel, M, Oppenheimer, J, Broomandkhoshbacht, N
    ,
    et al
    2019
    |
    Journal article
    |
    Nat Ecol Evol
    The roles of migration, admixture and acculturation in the European transition to farming have been debated for over 100 years. Genome-wide ancient DNA studies indicate predominantly Aegean ancestry for continental Neolithic farmers, but also variable admixture with local Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Neolithic cultures first appear in Britain circa 4000 BC, a millennium after they appeared in adjacent areas of continental Europe. The pattern and process of this delayed British Neolithic transition remain unclear. We assembled genome-wide data from 6 Mesolithic and 67 Neolithic individuals found in Britain, dating 8500-2500 BC. Our analyses reveal persistent genetic affinities between Mesolithic British and Western European hunter-gatherers. We find overwhelming support for agriculture being introduced to Britain by incoming continental farmers, with small, geographically structured levels of hunter-gatherer ancestry. Unlike other European Neolithic populations, we detect no resurgence of hunter-gatherer ancestry at any time during the Neolithic in Britain. Genetic affinities with Iberian Neolithic individuals indicate that British Neolithic people were mostly descended from Aegean farmers who followed the Mediterranean route of dispersal. We also infer considerable variation in pigmentation levels in Europe by circa 6000 BC.
    DNA, Ancient, Europe, Genome, Humans, Population Dynamics, United Kingdom
    • More
Teaching

Undergraduate teaching

Undergraduate course convenor for:

  • FHS core paper 3: Landscape and Ecology
  • FHS option paper: Physical Anthropology & Human Osteoarchaeology

Undergraduate lecturer for:

  • Honour Moderations paper 1: Introduction to World Archaeology
  • Honour Moderations paper 3:  Perspectives on Human Evolution

Postgraduate teaching

Postgraduate taught course options in: 

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