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Student Intern – Sophie Blewitt

Published on by Gillian

Throughout the duration of my internship, I have had the privilege of working on several projects: leather, wool & dye analysis, and recently lace fibre analysis.  All the projects relate to or directly are from the Vindolanda Roman archaeological site.  It’s thrilling to be a part of a team working to uncover a section of untold history, which is right under our noses.

When I first began my role, I was a little overwhelmed but was welcomed by another intern and Gillian, who made me feel like a part of their team.  Initially I started helping the other intern with the leather sample analysis, which helped me to find my feet and was a good introduction to the project.  VSC allowed for visualisation of degraded versus intact structures within archaeological samples.

Over on the Darlington campus, NHC building, I worked on the dye analysis part of the project utilising highly sensitive machines such as HPLC and TQOF.  Another element of the project which I worked on was imaging the wool samples using the VSC machine, these were put onto a PowerPoint document as another aspect.

For anyone unsure of their next steps after undergraduate study, I cannot recommend enough seeking out an internship as it provides good connections and a flavour of the workspace which you would be going into.

Internship – Beth Hinnigan

Published on by Gillian

In April 2025 Beth Hinnigan joined the laboratory for a 5-month internship as part of the Teesside University graduate internship scheme to work as a soil scientist. As an Environmental Science graduate this opportunity will help her to gain valuable laboratory work experience to add to her CV such as using pXRF and NIR analysis of soil samples.

“My responsibilities involve preparing, testing and analysing the results from all the soil samples that I receive from a Roman Archaeological excavation site called Magna at Vindolanda near Hadrians wall in Northumberland. All the fresh soil samples that arrive needs to be dried in an oven to remove the water content and then ground in a mortar and pestle to create a fine powder. This step of soil preparation is essential for the machines to produce accurate data. The samples are then tested using a pXRF machine which uses X-rays to identify the elemental composition of the samples and NIR machine to show the wavelength of each element. I can then analyse this data to calculate the percentage of each element that makes up each sample. Finally, I produce a map showing any hotspots at the site where elements are concentrated and this could help identify how different areas of the land were used.

During this internship I have learnt about new analytical techniques and taken responsibility managing samples and data. It has been a great experience to collaborate with other staff and play an active role in this ongoing project”.

Internship – Ali Hoekstra

Published on by Gillian

During spring, I had the opportunity to do a 10 week research assistant internship at Teesside University. The experience has been both challenging and rewarding, offering a real-world glimpse into the kind of work I would like to pursue with my Forensic Science degree.

My main focus was a research project investigating ancient Roman leather scraps recovered from the Vindolanda archaeological site, which involved the use of a variety of advanced analytical tools. I worked with equipment such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Visual Spectral Comparitor (VSC) as well as a SpecimIQ Hyperspectral Camera. Through this I developed skills in analytical techniques and even created my own protocols for certain parts of the project.

The SEM can be used to see things that are very very small and there is a whole world that you would not expect to see when you are looking so closely.

Zooming into the archaeological leather samples there is a landscape of texture and contours. Deep caverns open up and suddenly what with the naked eye was just a pattern, is a network of pores and skin creases. In the pores you find a collection of debris, presumably from where the samples had been buried,but move in closer and you might find evidence of single celled creatures with a silica cell wall – diatoms.

In the modern leather samples occasionally the roots of hairs were still in place even after going through the tanning processes. In some cases entire networks of mould had started to appear.

One of the biggest challenges was working independently and learning to troubleshoot issues on my own. This pushed me to become more self-reliant and confident in the lab. I also gained a clearer understanding of how scientific research works day-to-day, which has helped shape my thinking about future career paths.

I’m incredibly grateful to my supervisor and the lab technicians for their guidance and support throughout the internship. Their mentorship made a big difference and contributed greatly to what I took away from the experience.

Pint of Science 2025

Published on by Gillian

I really enjoy public outreach and there is no better way than the pint of science events, held in May every year.

This year, I was asked to do a talk for the Darlington Pint of Science event and I dreamt up the title of ‘Leather – the plastic of the roman era’. Firstly, I love archaeological leather and second, I love the romans! I am not quite sure what I was thinking when i dreamt up the title, but I think my thoughts were around the the large amount of leather which still survives today, and thinking about how romans used leather, then linking that to what will people find from us in 2000 years!

We went on a rollercoaster during the talk, from different shoes, to what you would take camping, and then explored how you could differentiate leather species using mass spectrometry.. that is alot in 20 mins!

Pleasure to be on the stage with Dr Caroline Orr and Dr Zoe Bell

Internship – Thenigha

Published on by Gillian

In 2024, the laboratory had the pleasure of hosting Thenigha Suriyakumaran for a 6 month internship. Thenigha was able to develop skills in many different techniques, including chromatography, mass spectrometry, pxrf and elemental analysis, enhancing her CV, however, the most important learning aspect was seeing how an active and busy research laboratory operates.

If you are unsure about where you want to go, have a look at: https://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/stud/   There is loads of support available.

BBC Radio 3: Vindolanda Leather

Published on by Gillian

What I love about my job is the range of people I meet and the interest in my laboratory work.. had a lovely chat with Rose Ferraby who is the creator of the series Earthwork on BBC Radio 3. Rose was interested in our leather research work, this is conducted with Dr Elizabeth Greene, Western Ontaro. The chat was transcribed into a great programme which is part of the Earthworks series.. highly recommended for a 15 minutes break and a cup of tea.

The series of EarthWorks  aired the other week, but still available online

The link to the series is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015v2l/broadcasts/upcoming

The link to your episode is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0026ykc

And the link to previous series of EarthWorks here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015v2l/episodes/player

We all love leather shoes right…

New paper

Published on by Gillian

I know it has been a busy start to the new year.. second paper of the year..

This new paper, marks the last of the thesis paper from Dr C Bisker, Comparative soil bacterial metabarcoding after aboveground vs. subsurface decomposition of Mus musculus

Link: Comparative soil bacterial metabarcoding after aboveground vs. subsurface decomposition of Mus musculus | Scientific Reports

Abstract

Outdoor microcosms, metabarcoding with next-generation sequencing of the 16S rRNA bacterial gene, total body score (TBS) and physicochemical analyses were used to monitor Mus musculus decomposition aboveground (A) and in the subsurface (S), and compared to soil-only controls (C). As determined by MaAsLin2 analysis, significant shifts in bacterial communities at 30 cm depths within the A, S and C treatments distinguished control from experimental soils, and between aboveground and subsurface deposition, demonstrating the potential for gravesoil discrimination during the first 90 days. For example, Dokdonella (p = 0.0002), Edaphobaculum (p = 0.0004) and Lacibacter (p = 0.0034) recorded significant shifts relative to sampling time. Furthermore, Massilia (p = 0.0005), Mycobacterium (p = 0.0006) and Sandaracinus (p = 0.0007) increased in abundance for the aboveground mice treatments. This was confirmed with ANOSIM where p = 0.0082 showed statistically significant difference between the aboveground and subsurface deposition. TBS and physicochemical analyses suggested that nutrient release into the soils occurred during active decay and skin rapture on days 7–13 in the subsurface and days 13–20 aboveground, with a particular increase in soil potassium concentration on day 15. Significant differences in soil temperatures resulted between A and S vs. C microcosms, aligning with atmospheric temperature changes. In summary, complementary application of metabarcoding, total body score, exogenous and physicochemical methods for postmortem interval estimation and clandestine grave location highlighted the feasibility of using temperature records downloaded from meteorological stations and portable X-ray fluorescence as indicators for various phases of decomposition.

New Book published

Published on by Gillian

It is with great pleasure to announce the publication of a book chapter in:

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Experimental Approaches to Roman Archaeology

At the AIA I was able to finally to get my hands on it, as the first print run sold out..
the volume has some amazing chapters, including ‘Chapter 11: Roman Leather Manufacture and the Archaeological Record: An Experimental Approach
Hrafnhildur Helga Halldórsdóttir and Gillian Taylor (Teesside University, UK)’

Out of the lab.. Vindolanda shoes and Lepidina’s Slipper

Published on by Gillian

For two weeks only in January, the Vindolanda museum closes to allow cleaning and scheduled maintenance, but which also allows is in to take a closer look at items on display..

It was an absolute privilege to get a closer look at lepidina  slipper:  Here is a link to more shoes and information: This lady’s slipper was also found in the Cerialis’ house and is sometime affectionally called Lepidina’s slipper. It is the equivalent of a flip flop in design but a very expensive one at that. It was made in Gaul (modern France) by Lucius Aebutius Thales, we know this because he stamped the shoe with a maker’s mark. The shoe is further stamped with vine leaves and two cornucopiea interlocked across an ear of corn. Whether it was Lepindia’s or not it was definitely owned by a women who had money to spend on nice shoes. A simple breakage of the toe thong and she has thrown it away. Many other shoes from the site show evidence of repair but this one was discarded.