Dr. Karen Beatrice Milek

Department of Archaeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen St. Mary’s, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen, AB24 3UF, Scotland, UK Tel: +44 (0)1224 273693; Email: [email protected]

POSITIONS HELD

2007-present Lecturer in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom 2009-present Adjunct Research Professor, Department of Anthropology, City University of New York, USA 2005-2007 Senior Project Manager and Director of the Field School in North Atlantic Archaeology at the site of Vatnsfjörður, northwest Iceland, for Fornleifastofnun Íslands (summer employment) 2000-2002 Excavation Supervisor and Geoarchaeologist for the site of Sveigakot, northeast Iceland, for Fornleifastofnun Íslands (summer employment) 1999-2004 Teaching Assistant, Department of Archaeology and Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (part-time)

EDUCATION 1997-2006 PhD, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Dissertation: Houses and Households in Early Icelandic Society: Geoarchaeology and the Interpretation of Social Space. Funded by a SSHRCC Doctoral Fellowship, Overseas Research Studentship, Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, Pelham Roberts Research Studentship (Newnham College), Muriel Onslow Research Studentship (Newnham College), and two Canadian High Commission Centennial Scholarships 1995-1996 MPhil in World Archaeology (Early Historic Europe), University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Dissertation: The Micromorphology of Medieval Occupation Sequences: Natural and Cultural Contributions to Site Formation at Forehill, Ely, Cambridgeshire. Funded by a Prof D. Robson Graduate Scholarship from Victoria College, Toronto, and a Friends of Peterhouse Bursary 1991-1995 BA (Hons) in Anthropology and Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Toronto, Canada. Funded by an Arbor Scholarship and Victoria College scholarships

RESEARCH GRANTS 2011 Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland: £2500 for field work in Iceland for the project Boat Shelters in Viking Age and Medieval Iceland: A Pilot Study of Archaeological Potential. 2011 University of Iceland: £2912 for the project Archaeological Soil Micromorphology at Viking Age Sveigakot, Iceland.

2011 University of Cardiff: £2127 for the project Assessment of Soil Micromorphology Samples from Bornais, South Uist. 2010 Royal Society of Edinburgh International Exchange Programme: £1500 for a bilateral exchange with Dr. Lenka Lisá, Institute of Geology at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic to attend research meetings in the Czech Republic on a collaborative project on Slavic and Icelandic pit houses. 2010 Caledonian Research Foundation European Visiting Research Fellowship: £2500 for a research trip to Iceland to conduct research for the project Social Spaces and Social Structures in Viking Age Iceland. 2009 Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland: £2500 for field work in Iceland for the project Materiality of Mass Migration: Archaeology’s Potential Contribution to the Study of European Emigration to Canada. 2008 Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland: £2500 for field work in Iceland for the project Houses and Homefields in Viking Age Iceland: Characterising and Sourcing of Fertilizing Materials.

PUBLICATIONS

Milek, K. (submitted, under review) Floor formation processes and the interpretation of activity areas: an ethnoarchaeological study of turf buildings at Thverá, northeast Iceland. Submitted to Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.

Milek, K. (submitted, under review) Micromorphology of sediments in the late Iron Age structure. In N. Sharples (ed.), Bornais Mound 1. Oxbow. French, C. and Milek, K. (submitted, under review) The geoarchaeological evidence. In J. Tipper (ed.), Experimental Archaeology and Fire: The Investigation of a Burnt Reconstruction at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village. East Anglian Archaeology Monograph.

Milek, K. (accepted for publication in 2012) Gendered space and the role of the pit house on Viking Age farmsteads in Iceland. Medieval Archaeology 56. Bertini, M., Shortland, A., Milek, K. and Krupp, E. (2011) Investigation of Iron Age north- eastern Scottish beads using element analysis with LA-ICP-MS. Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 2750-2766. Forbes, V., Bain, A., Gísladóttir, G.A. and Milek, K. (2010) Reconstructing aspects of daily life in late 19th and early 20th-century Iceland: archaeoentomological analysis of the Vatnsfjörður Farm, NW Iceland. Archaeologia Islandica 8, 77-110. French, C. and Milek, K. (2009) DIG 2007: Catena special issue preface. Catena 78(3), 179- 180.

2 Lawson, I.T., Milek, K., et al. (2009) The palaeoenvironment of Mývatnssveit during the Viking Age and Early Medieval Period. In G. Lucas (ed.) Hofstaðir: Excavations of a Viking Age Feasting Hall. Reykjavik: Fornleifastofnun Islands, 26-54. Milek, K. (2009) Micromorphological analysis. In S. Lucy, J. Tipper and A. Dickens (eds), The Anglo-Saxon Settlement and Cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill, Carlton Colville, Suffolk. Cambridge: Cambridge Archaeological Unit (East Anglian Archaeology Monograph), 152-161. Sveinbjarnardóttir, G., Erlendsson, E., Vickers, K., McGovern, T., Milek, K., Edwards, K., Simpson, I. A. and Cook, G. (2007) Reykholt: the palaeoecology of a high status Icelandic farm. Environmental Archaeology 12(2),187-206. Milek, K. and French, C. (2007) Soils and sediments in the settlement and harbour at Kaupang. In D. Skre (ed.), Kaupang in Skiringssal. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 321-360 Milek, K. (2005) Trench F: soil micromorphology. In N. Sharples (ed.), A Norse Farmstead in the Outer Hebrides: Excavations at Mound 3, Bornais, South Uist. Oxford: Oxbow, 98-104. Milek, K., Sharples, N. and Smith, H. (2005) Trench F: discussion. In N. Sharples (ed.), A Norse Farmstead in the Outer Hebrides: Excavations at Mound 3, Bornais, South Uist. Oxford: Oxbow, 115-116. Simpson, I., Barrett, J. and Milek, K. (2005) Interpreting the Viking Age to Medieval period transition in Norse Orkney through cultural sediment analyses. Geoarchaeology 20, 355-377. Milek, K. (2003) Sediments and sagas: illuminating spatial order in Viking Age Scandinavian houses. In G. Boschian (ed.), Second International Conference on Soils and Archaeology: Extended Abstracts. Pisa: Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche, Università di Pisa, 67-70. Milek, K. (2001) Environmental archaeology and the interpretation of social space. In U. Albarella (ed.), Environmental Archaeology: Meaning and Purpose. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 271-281.

RECENT INTERIM ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORTS Milek, K. (ed.) (2011) Vatnsfjörður 2010: Framvinduskýrslur/Interim reports. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands (FS461-030910).

Milek, K. (ed.) (2010) Vatnsfjörður 2009: Framvinduskýrslur/Interim reports. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands (FS449-03099). Milek, K. (ed.) (2009) Vatnsfjörður 2008: Framvinduskýrslur/Interim reports. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands (FS426-03098). Milek, K. (ed.) (2008) Vatnsfjörður 2007: Framvinduskýrslur/Interim reports. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands (FS383-03097). Milek, K. (ed.) (2007) Vatnsfjörður 2006: Framvinduskýrslur/Interim reports. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands (FS356-003096).

3 Milek, K. (2005) Vatnsfjörður 2005: Area 2 Report. In A. Friðriksson, T. H. Tulinius and G. Guðmundsson (eds), Vatnsfjörður 2005: Fornleifarannsóknir/ Fieldwork at Vatnsfjörður, NW-Iceland 2005. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands (FS301-03095), 41-62.

RECENT PAPERS PRESENTED Milek, K., 2011. Micromorphology of lost causes: rescuing valuable archaeological information from bioturbated and decomposed floor sediments at the chieftain's house at Hrísbrú, SW Iceland. Paper presented at the Annual Working Meeting on Archaeological Soil Micromorphology, University of Pisa, May 18-21, 2011. Milek, K. (2011) Geoarchaeology and its contribution to the understanding of Viking Age society. Invited lecture at the University of Hokkaido, Japan, Feb 5, 2011. Milek, K. (2010) The integration of archaeological sediment micromorphology and geochemical analyses: lessons from case studies in Orkney and Iceland. Paper presented at the International Working Meeting on Archaeological Soil Micromorphology, Brno, Czech Republic, May 17-21, 2010. Milek, K., Lísa, L. and Kuna, M. (2010) Comparative geoarchaeology of Slavic and Icelandic pit houses: a contribution to the debate on the ethnicity of Iceland’s settlers. Paper presented at the Environmental Archaeology of the North Conference, Association for Environmental Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, March 30-April 1, 2010. Milek, K. (2009) The uses and limitations of multi-element soil analyses for the interpretation of site activity areas. Paper presented at the Developing International Geoarchaeology Conference, McMaster University, Canada, May 27-29, 2009. Milek, K. (2009) Gender roles and gender relations in the Viking diaspora. Invited lecture for the Viking Identities Network seminar, ‘Language, Texts, and Gender in the Viking Diaspora’, University of Leicester, March 30-31, 2009.

Milek, K., Guðmundsson, G., Gísladóttir, G.A., Aevarsson, U. and Aldred, O. (2008) Recent Research at Vatnsfjörður, Northwest Iceland. Paper presented at Archaeological Futures: A Research Agenda for the North Atlantic, a conference of the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization, University of Bradford, 29 August-1 September 2008. Milek, K. (2008) Sediment studies and social space in Viking Age houses. Invited lecture presented to the Research Seminar Series, Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, 12 February 2008. Milek, K. (2007) Floor formation processes in houses and byres: ethno-geoarchaeological research in recently abandoned turf buildings in Iceland. Paper presented at the Developing International Geoarchaeology Conference, University of Cambridge, 19- 21 April 2007.

RECENT EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES AND INDICATORS OF ESTEEM 2009-present Co-chair of Scottish Archaeological Research Frameworks Science panel

4 2008-present Committee for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (Northeast section) 2002-present Reviewer for the journals Environmental Archaeology, Antiquity, Viking Medieval Scandinavia, and Microscopy Research and Technique 2007-2008 Steering committee for the Scottish Centre of Excellence for Northern Cultural Environments