Dr Alistair W.G. Pike

BSc. (Bradford), D.Phil. (Oxon)

Reader in Archaeological Sciences Department of Archaeology and Anthropology University of Bristol 43 Woodland Road BRISTOL BS8 1UU, UK Tel: +44 (0) 117 954 6078 Fax: +44 (0) 117 954 6001 E-mail: alistair.pike@bristol.ac.uk

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Examples of current research interests

Development of dating methods for bone beyond the range of radiocarbon. Bone diagenesis and burial geochemistry. Current research focuses on uranium-series disequilibrium dating and the chronology of modern human evolution. Laser ablation multi-collector mass spectrometry and applications to strontium isotope human migration studies and provenance studies using lead isotopes. Dating Palaeolithic cave art using Uranium series. I am a member of the Bristol Isotope Group (BIG)

Current research projects and collaborations

• Dating the Palaeolithic cave art of the Iberian Peninsular by uranium series (NERC funded), with Joao Zilhao, Dirk Hoffman (Geographical Sciences, Bristol), Paul Pettitt (Sheffield University)
• The late survival of the Middle Paleolithic and Neanderthals in the Iberian Peninsula (NERC NSS funded, with Joao Zilhao)
• The History, Archaeology and New Genetics of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (EUROTAST). Marie Curie initial training network.
• Mobility and diet in the prehistoric western Eurasian steppes in the light of stable isotope analysis. TOPOI, Free University of Berlin
• Excavations at Church Hole, Creswell Crags with  Paul Pettitt (Sheffield University), Mark White (Durham University)
• Human mobility in the 3rd Millennium BC (with Volker Heyd and the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany)

Past research projects and collaborations

• U-series dating of Pleistocene bone (NERC funded, with Universities of Oxford and Bristol)
• Human dispersals and environmental controls during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene in Mexico: implications for the peopling of the Americas (NERC - EFCHED, with Liverpool John Moores University, Universitiy of Oxford)
• Environmental factors in human evolution and dispersals in the Upper Pleistocene of the western Mediterranean (NERC - EFCHED, with University of Oxford)
• Ancient Human Origins in Britain (Leverhulme funded, with the Natural History Museum)

Recent News

• EUROTAST training network launched
• Bones confirmed as those of Saxon Princess Eadgyth
• Early humans caused extinction of Australia's giant animals
• Research makes TIME magazine's top 10
• World's earliest nuclear family found

Recent publications

Zilhao, J., Cardoso, J.L., Pike, A.W.G., and Wenninger, B. (2011)  Gruta Nova da Columbeira (Bombarral, Portugal): Site stratigraphy, age of the Mousterian sequence, and implications for the timing of Neandertal extinction in Iberia. Quartär.58: 93-112

De Jong, H., Foster, G., Heyd, V., Pike, A.W.G. (2010) Further Sr isotopic studies on the Eulau multiple graves  using laser ablation ICP-MS. In H. Meller and K. Alt (eds.) Antrhopologie, Isotopie und DNA – biografische Annaherung an namenlose vorgesshichtliche Skelette? Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle, Band 3, 63-70

Haak, W., Brandt, G., Meyer, C., de Jong, H., Ganselmeier, R., Pike, A.W.G., Meller, H., Alt, K., (2010) Die schnurkeramischen Familiengraber von Eulau – ein außergewohnlicher Fund und seine interdisziplinare Bewertung. In H. Meller and K. Alt (eds.) Antrhopologie, Isotopie und DNA – biografische Annaherung an namenlose vorgesshichtliche Skelette? Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle, Band 3, 53-62

Daura, J.; Sanz, M.; Zilhao, J.; Pike, A.W.G..; Subirà, E.; Fornós, F.; Fullola, J. M.; Julià, R. (2010) Precise chronological dating of the Neanderthal Mandible of Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona, Spain). Jounal of Human Evolution 59(1), 109-122

Grün, R., Eggins, S., Aubert, M., Spooner, N., Pike, A.W.G. and Müller, W. (2010) ESR and U-series analysis of faunal material from Cuddie springs, NSW, Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 29:596-610.

Pettitt, P.B., Jacobi, R.M., Chamberlain, A.T., Pike, A.W.G., Schreve, S., Wall, I., Dinnis, R. and Wragg Sykes. R. (2009) Excavations outside Church Hole, Creswell Crags: The first three seasons (2006-2008), Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire 113, 35-53

Pike, A.W.G., Gilmour, M. and Pettitt (2009) Verification of the age of the Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags using uranium-series disequilibrium dating. In P. Bahn and P. Pettitt (ed) Britain’s Oldest Art. Swindon, English Heritage

Haak, W., Brandt, G., de Jong, H., Meyer, C., Ganslmeier, R., Heyd, V., Hawkesworth, C., Pike, A., Meller, H., and Alt, K. (2008). Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, 18226-18231

Pinhasi, R., Gasparian, B., Wilkinson, K., Bailey, R., Bar-Oz, G., Bruch, A., Chataigner, C., Hoffmann, D., Hovsepyan, R., Nahapetyan, S., Pike A.W.G., Schreve, D. and Stephens, M. (2008) Hovk 1 and the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of Armenia. Journal of Human Evolution 55, 803-816

Walker, M.J., Gilbert, J., Lopez, M.V., Lombardi, A.V., Pérex-Pérez, A., Zapata, J., Ortega, J., Higham, T., Pike, A., Schwenninger, J-L., Zihão, J., Trinkaus, E. (2008) Late Neanderthals in Southeastern Iberia: Sima de las Palomas del Cabexo Gordo, Murcia, Spain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, 20631-20636

Pike, A.W.G., Gilmour, M, and Pettitt, P. (2007) Verification of the age of the Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags. In P. Pettitt, P. Bahn and S. Ripoll (eds.) Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context. Oxford University Press pp.34-45. 

Pettitt, P.B. and Pike, A.W.G. (2007) Dating European Palaeolithic rock art: progress, prospects, problems. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 14(1) 27-47

Grine, F.E., Bailey, R.M., Havarti, K. Nathan, R.P., Morris, A.G., Henderson,G.M., Ribot, I. and Pike, A.W.G. (2007) Late Pleistocene human skull from Hofmeyr, South Africa, and Modern Human origins. Science 315, 226-229.

Barker, G., Barton, H., Bird, M., Daly, P., Datan, I., Dykes, A.,Farr, L., Gilbertson, D., Harrisson, B., Hunt, C., Higham, T., Kealhofer, L., Krigbaum, J.,Lewis, H., McLaren, S., Paz, V., Pike, A., Piper, P., Pyatt, B., Rabett, R., Reynolds, T., Rose, J., Rushworth, G., Stephens, M., Stringer, C., Thompson, J., Turney, C. (2007) The ‘human revolution’ in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behaviour of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo), Journal Of  Human Evolution 52, 243-261

Pike, A.W.G. & Pettitt, P.B (2006) Other Laboratory Dating Methods. In H. D. Maschner and C. Chippendale (eds.) A Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Oxford Altimira Press

Lewis, S.G., Maddy, D., Buckingham, C., Coope, G.R., Field, M.H., Keen, D.H., Pike, A.W.G., Roe, D.A., Scaife, R.G. and Scott, K. (2006). Pleistocene fluvial sediments, palaeontology and archaeology of the upper River Thames at Latton, Wiltshire, England. Journal of Quaternary Science, 21, 181-205.

Eggins, S.M., Grün, R., McCulloch, M.T., Pike, A.W.G., Chappell, J., Kinsley, L., Mortimer, G., Shelley, M., Murray-Wallace, C.V., Spötl, C. & Taylor, L. (2005) In situ U-series dating by laser ablation multi-collector ICPMS: new prospects for Quaternary geochronology. Quaternary Science Reviews 24(23-24), 2523-2538.

O'Connell, T.C. & A.W.G. Pike (2005) 'Mass spectrometry: Archaeological Applications' in Encyclopaedia of Analytical Science (2nd Edn.), eds. P.J. Worsfold, A. Townshend & C.F. Poole, Elseveir Science. pp.450-456.

Pike, A.W.G., Gilmour, M., Pettitt, P., Jacobi, R., Ripoll, S., Bahn, P., and Muñoz, F. (2005) Verification of the age of the Palaeolithic rock art at Creswell. Journal of Archaeological Science. 32, 1649-1655.

Pike, A.W.G., Eggins, S., Grün, R., Hedges, R.E.M. & Jacobi, R.M. (2005) U-series dating of the Late Pleistocene fauna from Wood Quarry (Steetley), Notinghamshire, UK. Journal of Quaternary Science 20(1):59-65.

Pike, A.W.G., Eggins, S, Grün, R. & Thackeray, F (2004) U-series dating of TP1, an almost complete human skeleton from Tuinplaas (Springbok Flats), South Africa. South African Journal of Science 100, 381-383.

Eggins, S. Grün, R., Pike, A., Shelley, M. and Taylor, L. (2003) U and Th profiling and U-series isotope analysis of teeth by laser ablation-ICPMS. Quaternary Science Reviews 22:1373-1382.

Pike, A.W.G and Pettitt, P.B. (2003) U-series dating and human evolution. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry. 52:607-629.

Bronk Ramsey, C. Higham, T.F.G. Owen, D.C., Pike, A.W.G. and Hedges, R.E.M. (2002) Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 31. Archaeometry 44(3) Supplement 1:1-149.

Curtis, J., Kruszynski, M., Pike, A.W.G. and Searight, A. (2002) Ancient Caucasian and Related Materials in the British Museum. British Museum Occasional Paper 121. The British Museum, London.

Pike, A.W.G, Hedges, R.E.M. and Van Calsteren, P. (2002) U-series dating of bone using the diffusion-adsorption model. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 66(24):4273-4286

Pike, A.W.G. and Richards, M.P. (2002), Diagenetic Arsenic Uptake in Archaeological Bone. Can we Really Identify Copper Smelters? Journal of Archaeological Science.29(6):607-611

Pike, A.W.G., Nielsen-Marsh, C.M., and Hedges, R.E.M. (2001), Modelling bone dissolution under different hydrological regimes. Archaeological Sciences '97, Proceedings of the conference held at Durham. Oxford, BAR International series 939: 127-132.

Pettitt, P.B. and Pike, A.W.G. (2001). Blind in a cloud of data: problems with the chronology of Neanderthal extinction and anatomically modern human expansion. Antiquity 75: 415-420.

Pike, A.W.G. and Hedges, R.E.M. (2001). Sample geometry and U-uptake in archaeological teeth: implications for U-series and ESR dating. Quaternary Science Reviews 20(5-9): 1021-1025.

Cowell, M. Craddock, P.T., Pike, A.W.G., and Burnett, A.M. (2000), An analytical survey of Roman Provincial copper-alloy coins and the continuity of brass manufacture in Asia Minor. In B. Kluge and B. Weisser (eds.) Akten XII Internationaler Numismatischer Kongress, Berlin 1997 Berlin, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin--Preussischer Kulturbesitz: 670-677.

Nielsen-Marsh, C., Gernaey, A., Turner-Walker, G., Hedges, R., Pike, A. and Collins, M. (2000). The chemical degradation of bone. In M. Cox and S. Mays (eds.), Human osteology in archaeology and forensic science. GMM: 439-454.

Millard A.R. and Pike A.W.G. (1999) Uranium-series dating of the Tabun Neanderthal: a cautionary note. Journal of Human Evolution 36: 581-585.

Pike, A.W.G. and Cowell, M. (1997), Scientific analysis of the Snettisham jeweller's hoard. In K. Johns (ed.) The Snettisham Jewellers Hoard. British Museum Publications, London.

Pike, A.W.G., Cowell, M. and Curtis, J. (1996), The use of antimony bronze in the Koban culture. Journal of Historical Metallurgy 30(1):11-16.

Hedges, R.E.M., Millard A. and Pike, A.W.G. (1995), Measurements and relationships of diagenetic alteration of bone from three archaeological sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 22:201-209.