Dr Sam Walker
- u_sjwalker at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
- British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
Biography
I am an archaeologist, specialising in zooarchaeology. My research focuses on long-term patterns in fauna across Fennoscandia, particularly Norway. The purpose of my research is to further our understanding of past fauna by investigating both biological and archaeological questions, looking at reasons behind range shifts, population changes, species introductions and extinctions. I work on several Norwegian projects including EvoCave and SaveCave, investigating deposits excavated from caves in northern Norway, to better understand past biodiversity from the last Glacial into the Holocene. I also hold a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship investigating ‘People & Puffins: Developing new scientific methods to investigate how environmental change and exploitation by past communities of Northern Europe has impacted current auk populations.’
Journal Articles
- Boilard, A. et al., 2024. Ancient DNA and osteological analyses of a unique paleo-archive reveal Early Holocene faunal expansion into the Scandinavian Arctic. Science Advances, 10 (13).
- Walker, S.J., Lislevand, T. and Meijer, H.J.M., 2023. A long-term study of size variation in Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis across Scandinavia, with a focus on Norway. Ecology and Evolution, 13 (12).
- Meijer, H.J.M., Walker, S.J., Sutikna, T., Wahyu Saptomo, E. and Tocheri, M.W., 2023. Why did the chicken cross the Wallace Line? Archeological evidence suggests human-mediated dispersal of Gallus to Flores first occurred at least ~2.25 ka cal. BP. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 33 (4), 631-641.
- Meijer, H.J.M. and Walker, S.J., 2023. Songs of the past - papers of the 10th ICAZ Bird Working Group Meeting. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 33 (4), 559-561.
- Walker, S.J. and Meijer, H.J.M., 2021. Size variation in mid-Holocene North Atlantic Puffins indicates a dynamic response to climate change. Plos One, 16 (2 February).
- Walker, S.J. and Meijer, H.J.M., 2020. More than food; evidence for different breeds and cockfighting in Gallus gallus bones from Medieval and Post-Medieval Norway. Quaternary International, 543, 125-134.
- Walker, S.J., Hufthammer, A.K. and Meijer, H.J.M., 2019. Birds in medieval Norway. Open Quaternary, 5 (1).
Theses
- Walker, S.J., 2021. Archaeological bird remains from Norway as a means to identify long-term patterns in a Northern European avifauna. PhD Thesis. University of Bergen, Natural History Department.
Grants
- People & Puffins: Developing new scientific methods to investigate how environmental change and exploitation by past communities of Northern Europe has impacted current auk populations. (British Academy, 01 Jan 2024). In Progress
Public Engagement & Outreach Activities
- Salisbury Cafe Scientifique (07 Jan 2025)
Conference Presentations
- 44th conference of the Association for Environmental Archaeology, People & Puffins: Investigating how environmental change and exploitation by past communities has impacted current auk populations, 12 Dec 2024, Oxford University
- 11th Meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working Group, People & Puffins: Investigating how environmental change and exploitation by past communities has impacted current auk populations, 05 Jun 2024, Copenhagen University
- 5th Nordic Zooarchaeology Meeting, Reconstructing faunal diversity from MIS 5 in northern Norway using zooarchaeology and bulk-bone metabarcoding, 01 Feb 2024, Helsinki
Qualifications
- PhD in Natural History (University of Bergen, 2021)
- MSc in Osteoarchaeology (Bournemouth University, 2014)
- BSc (Hons) in Archaeology (Bournemouth University, 2013)