The Discovery Programme’s Martin Doody Memorial Lecture 2025

The Discovery Programme’s Martin Doody Memorial Lecture for 2025, delivered by Professor Joanna Brück of University College Dublin. The lecture is entitled "Animal Kin, Animal Others in Early Bronze Age Britain." This lecture is based on research Prof Brück is currently carrying out with Dr Anwen Cooper of Oxford Archaeology, examining animal remains from Early Bronze Age mortuary contexts. Previously, these have been interpreted primarily in relation to human strategies and needs, for example as food, wealth or symbols of power. In contrast, this talk will explore what happens when we think of animals as sentient, social beings who engaged in meaningful inter-species relationships requiring mutual acknowledgement, communication and regard. In fact, the deposition of complete and partial animal bodies, as well as objects made from animal materials, demonstrates that animals were active participants in the co-construction of Early Bronze Age worlds. Prof. Joanna Brück is Full Professor of Archaeology at University College Dublin and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. She holds a BA and PhD from University of Cambridge and she was Professor of Archaeology at University of Bristol until 2020. She is a specialist in the Bronze Age of Ireland and Britain and has published extensively on this topic, including her books "Personifying prehistory: relational ontologies in Bronze Age Britain and Ireland" and "The Social Context of Technology: Non-ferrous Metalworking in Later Prehistoric Britain and Ireland". She is currently PI of the ERC-funded project Animals and Society in Bronze Age Europe.