Karen Stewart

Areas of Interest

Paleoethnobotany/archaeobotany; Historical archaeology; Archaeological practise; Urban archaeology; Food archaeology; Basketry; Wood species identification; Anthracology (wood charcoal); Colonial archaeology; Cultural resource management Archaeology; Commercial archaeology; Roman plant remains; Microbotanical remains

Research

I have primarily worked in commercial archaeology with over ten years experience as a field archaeologist and later as an archaeobotanist. In these roles, I have worked on rural and urban sites from small evaluations to large-scale road projects and deeply stratified urban sites. My primary focus is waterlogged and mineralized macrobotanical remains from the Roman to historical periods in the British Isles. I look forward to applying my skills to new projects in the New England region. 

Projects

Bedlam Burial Ground Liverpool Street Station, Crossrail 

Bloomberg London (Mola) 

ADAPT University of Sheffield

Publications

Miles, A., and Don Walker with Lyn Blackmore, and Karen Stewart. 2017. ‘Pre-Fire burial ground of St Sepulchre without Newgate’ Lond Archaeol, 14 328–35.

Stewart, K. ‘Wood species identification’ in Tomlin, R. 2016. Roman London’s First Voices: Writing tablets from the Bloomberg excavations, 2010–2014. MOLA Monograph 72.

Stewart, K. ‘The plant remains’ in Pfizenmaier, S. 2016. The story of Charterhouse Square: Black Death cemetery and Carthusian monastery, meat market and suburb. Crossrail Monograph.

Halsey, C J., Rob Scaife, J. Whittaker, and Karen Stewart. 2014. ‘Excavations and geoarchaeological investigations at St Michael’s School, John Felton Road, Bermondsey; Part 1 lost islands and early prehistoric landscapes of Southwark’, London Archaeol (13) 12, 319–24.

Stewart, K. ‘The plant remains’ in Pitt, K., with Blackmore, L, Dyson, T., Tyson, R. 2013. Medieval to early post-medieval tenements and Middle Eastern imports: excavations at Plantation Place, City of London, 1997–2003. MOLA Monograph Series 66.

Wroe-Brown, R., Damian Goodburn and Karen Stewart. 2013. ‘Early water management on the Waterworks River in Stratford, London E15’ London Archaeol 13, 231–34.

Kyle, A., Karen Stewart, and Auli Tourunen. 2009. ‘Excavating a meal: a multidisciplinary approach to early medieval food economy.’, in Stanley, M., Danaher, E., and Eogan, J. (eds.) 2009. Dining and Dwelling: Archaeology and the National Roads Authority. Monograph Series No. 6.

Conference Presentations

“Problems and progress in the study of postmedieval archaeobotany in London” Presentation at European Association of Archaeologists Annual Conference, 2016.

“Your place or mine? Eating and drinking practices across Roman London in the 1st century AD” (with Michael Marshall and Amy Thorp) Presentation at Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, 2015.

“From the exotic to the mundane: London and its role in food globalization” (with James Morris) Presentation  at Conference on the Environmental Archaeology of European Cities (CEAEC), 2015.

“How London’s rivers shaped the city and the city shaped its rivers: An archaeology of the Walbrook channel” (with Mary Ruddy) Presentation  at Conference on the Environmental Archaeology of European Cities (CEAEC), 2015.