About CPP
The Centre for Palaeodemography and Palaeoepidemiology (CPP) is led by Dr Clare McFadden (Australian National University) and Prof Marc Oxenham (Australian National University and the University of Aberdeen). We are a small team of biological anthropologists and bioarchaeologists undertaking research into palaeodemographic and palaeoepidemiological methods and applications globally.
For more information or enquiries, contact clare.mcfadden@anu.edu.au
For more information or enquiries, contact clare.mcfadden@anu.edu.au
Research Associates
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Dr Christine Cave was awarded her PhD in Archaeology from the Australian National University in 2018, and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). Her research focuses on the invisible elderly in archaeological settings, their lives and their relationships, identified through cemetery archaeology, but made visible through innovative palaeodemographic research methods. She has largely focussed on the invisible elderly of Early Anglo-Saxon England (AD 450-600) but also has interests in Philippines metal age archaeology. She has actively engaged in media outreach, dispelling the myth that everyone in the distant past was dead by the age of forty.
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Brianna Muir graduated from the Australian National University in 2019, with an Honours Degree in Archaeology. Her research utilises methods from bioarchaeology and mortuary archaeology, and focusses on the lived experiences of ancient women and children. She is keenly interested in how paleodemographical and palaeoepidemiological approaches can be used to investigate questions of childhood, gender, and agency in the past.
Current Research Students
Gina Basile is currently completing undergraduate studies at the Australian National University, undertaking the Bachelor of Archaeological Practice with Honours. Her research interests lie within Bioarchaeology with a focus on transitional and liminal populations and periods. Her Honours thesis focuses on a reassessment of the Neolithic Demographic Model on a global scale under Dr Clare McFadden.
In 2020, Olivia Beatty will be commencing her honours year for her Bachelor of Advanced Science Degree at the Australian National University. She has double majored in biological anthropology and human biology and her interests revolve around the skeletal manifestation of diseases. Olivia is excited to start her honours year alongside her supervisor Dr Clare McFadden, which will focus on differentiating subperiosteal lesions which arise as the result of normal growth as opposed to pathological processes. To achieve this, Olivia will be recording the distribution and expression of subperiosteal lesions in infantile skeletal remains with known ages.
Bonnie Taylor graduated from the Australian National University in 2018 with a double degree in a Bachelor of Archaeological Practice and a Bachelor of Science. Bonnie has recently completed her Honours year in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Marc Oxenham and Dr. Clare McFadden with interests in palaeopathology, particularly oral health and disease, and palaeodemography. Her Honours' research described the oral health and demography of a Metal Period population from the Central Philippines. She then investigated the results from a regional perspective using previously published data from Iron Age Southeast Asian sites and explored the relationship between dental caries and fertility.
Britta Van Tiel is a soon to be Honours student at the Australian National University. She is currently working on a research project with Dr. Clare McFadden, investigating the relationship between stature and maternal mortality in ancient Southeast Asian populations. Her previous research with Prof. Marc Oxenham focused on reassessing the aetiology of cribra orbitalia based on the available literature. These research projects have inspired her passion for palaeopathology and palaeoepidemiology and have provided a strong background for her Honours project. Her thesis will focus on cribra orbitalia in a medieval Scottish population, under the supervision of Dr. Clare McFadden and contributing to Prof. Marc Oxenham's Global Professorship project.
Alexandra Wulff has a Bachelor of Science (2019) from the Australian National University. She majored in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology and minored in Biology and History. Throughout her degrees, Alex developed a passion for bioarchaeology and palaeopathology. In 2020, she will be undertaking honours at the ANU under the supervision of Dr Clare McFadden. Her thesis will examine whether cribra orbitalia is a suitable mechanism through which to evaluate the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease model.