Nicola Jane Milner (born 4 September 1973) is a British archaeologist and academic. She is head of the Department of Archaeology at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

. Her research focuses on the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

period, and the transition between the

and

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

. She has worked at the iconic site of

Star Carr Star Carr is a Mesolithic archaeological site in North Yorkshire, England. It is around five miles () south of Scarborough. It is generally regarded as the most important and informative Mesolithic site in Great Britain. It is as important to ...

in the

Vale of Pickering The Vale of Pickering is a low-lying flat area of land in North Yorkshire, England. It is drained by the River Derwent. The landscape is rural with scattered villages and small market towns. It has been inhabited continuously from the Mesolithic ...

for over 15 years, and has directed excavations at the site since 2004. Milner was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA) in 2019 and a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(FSA) in 2009.

Early life and education

Milner was born on 4 September 1973 in

Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...

, Yorkshire, England. She was educated at Hunmanby Hall School, an all-girls

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

Hunmanby Hunmanby is a large village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. It was part of the East Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It is on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, south-west of Filey, south of Scarborough a ...

, East Riding of Yorkshire. She studied archaeology at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1995. She then moved to the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, where she undertook a

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several environmental (mainly geogr ...

funder

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(PhD) degree. Her research developed a method for analysing

seasonality In time series data, seasonality is the presence of variations that occur at specific regular intervals less than a year, such as weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Seasonality may be caused by various factors, such as weather, vacation, and holidays a ...

from the shell of the European oyster, and applied this method to Danish shell midden sites. She completed her doctorate in 1999 with a thesis tiled "Seasonality information from the incremental growth of the European oyster for Ertebølle sites in Denmark".

Academic career

Following her PhD she was awarded a Sir James Knott

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

fellowship at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

in 1999, and was employed as a lecturer at the same institution in 2001. She moved to the

in 2004 and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2009, and made Professor of Archaeology in 2012. She has been head of York's Department of Archaeology since 2019. She is senior editor of Oxford Research Reviews in Archaeology, and has been the editor for Mesolithic Miscellany journal since 2006, and co-author of popular boo
Star Carr: Life in Britain After the Ice Age
linked to a major exhibition at the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...

. She is a member of the AHRC peer college, and a member of the assessment panel for the NERC radiocarbon facility.

Research

Milner is the principal investigator on the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

funded POSTGLACIAL project, investigating the occupation of north-west Europe and how people adapted to climate change during the early post-glacial period. The major case study for this research is

and other sites surrounding palaeo-lake Flixton. Her excavations at Star Carr were featured on a special episode of the UK

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

, and her work in 2013 on the "earliest house in Britain" was featured on several major news outlets worldwide, including the BBC in the UK, CBS in the USA and Sky News Australia. In addition to her work at iconic Star Carr, she has also worked on

shell midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

sites in Ireland, Scotland, Spain and Portugal, and has co-directed excavations as Howick and Baylet. In November 2019 Milner was Highly Commended in the category of 'Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year' at the

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

Awards.

Selected publications

* Conneller, C, Milner, N, Taylor, B & Taylor, M 2012, 'Substantial settlement in the European Early Mesolithic: new research at Star Carr' Antiquity, vol 86, no. 334, pp. 1004–1020 * Milner, N, Conneller, C, Taylor, B & Schadla-Hall, RT 2012, The Story of Star Carr. Council for British Archaeology. * Milner, N, Conneller, C, Elliott, B, Koon, H, Panter, I, Penkman, K, Taylor, B & Taylor, M 2011, 'From Riches to Rags: Organic Deterioration at Star Carr.' Journal of Archaeological Science, vol 38, no. 10, 38, pp. 2818–2832 * Milner, N, Lane, PJ, Taylor, B, Conneller, C & Schadla-Hall, T 2011, 'Star Carr in a Postglacial Lakescape: 60 Years of Research' Journal of Wetland Archaeology, vol 11, no. 1, pp. 1–19 * Milner, N & Craig, OE 2009, 'Mysteries of the middens: change and continuity across the Mesolithic Neolithic transition'. in MJ Allen, N Sharples & T O'Connor (eds), Land and People. Papers in Honour of John G. Evans. Prehistoric Society Research Paper, no. 2, Oxbow, Oxford, pp. 169–180 * Milner, N, Mithen, S & Ralston, I 2009, 'Hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic'. in J Hunter (ed.), The Archaeology of Britain. Routledge, London, pp. 53–77 * Milner, N 2002, Incremental growth of the European Oyster, Ostrea edulis: seasonality information from Danish kitchenmiddens. British Archaeological Reports, Archaeopress, Oxford

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milner, Nicky Living people British archaeologists Alumni of the University of Nottingham Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of York British women archaeologists Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Prehistorians People from Bridlington 1973 births