Professor Karen Hardy

Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology (Archaeology)

Biography

I completed my PhD in 1993 at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL.

I spent the following 12 years working on projects to recover evidence for Mesolithic occupation in the north west coast of Scotland. During this time, I also took care of my 5 small children.

In 2005, I was awarded an EU Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship at the University of Sydney, with the return phase at the University of York.

This was completed in 2008 and I was offered a position as an ICREA Research Professor. ICREA is the acronym for the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies. I remained at ICREA until October 2022.

In 2022, I was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of €2.5m and offered my current position in Glasgow. Sadly, the UK government did not sign the collaboration agreement that was required for the ERC to continue to allow their projects to be based in the UK. I therefore had to resign my ERC project in order to return home. Fortunately, the UKRI has provided matched funding for all 2022 ERC grantees who wished to be based in the UK, so that we can keep our projects. I will be based in Glasgow for the duration of this project, until 2027.

Research interests

My research is focused on early prehistoric periods before the emergence of farming. Specifically, I study the use of plants as food and medicine in pre-agrarian and non-agrarian populations as well as twisted fibre technology for string and rope making.

I also study pioneer populations, human adaptations, use of land and seascapes – including intertidal and submerged landscapes – and the paleoenvironment of the north-west European Atlantic coastline from the Late Pleistocene to to the mid Holocene. At this time, sea levels were lower than today, and north-west Scotland represented part of the north-westerly limit of the European continental landmass.

Publications

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Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Number of items: 75.

2025

Longo, L. et al. (2025) Direct evidence for processing Isatis tinctoria L., a non-nutritional plant, 32–34,000 years ago. PLoS ONE, 20(5), e0321262. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321262) (PMID:40343940)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Barlow, Natasha L.M., Taylor, Edward, Bradley, Sarah L., McCarthy, John and Rush, Graham (2025) At the far end of everything: a likely Ahrensburgian presence in the far north of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science, (doi: 10.1002/jqs.3718) (Early Online Publication)

2024

Baumann, Chris, Larbey, Cynthia, Ebner, Martin, Bocherens, Hervé and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2024) The effect of plant food treatment on stable isotopes and their relevance for archaeological studies: a methodological pilot study. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 32, 14. (doi: 10.1007/s10816-024-09690-5)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Ballin, Torben (2024) South Cuidrach: a new Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic site on the Isle of Skye, western Scotland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 153, pp. 13-41. (doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1367)

2023

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Buckley, Stephen (2023) People in Europe ate seaweed for thousands of years before it largely disappeared from their diets – new research. Conversation, 25 Oct.

Buckley, Stephen, Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Hallgren, Fredrik, Kubiak Martens, Lucy, Miliauskienė, Žydrūnė, Sheridan, Alison, Sobkowiak-Tabaka, Iwona and Subirà, Maria Eulalia (2023) Human consumption of seaweed and freshwater aquatic plants in ancient Europe. Nature Communications, 14, 6192. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41671-2) (PMID:37848451) (PMCID:PMC10582258)

Mannermaa, Kristiina, Arppe, Laura, Batanina, Olga, Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Eckelmann, Rebecca, Kirkinen, Tuija, Macane, Aija, Roiha, Johanna and Treuillot, Julien (2023) A life history of a female hunter from Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov (Karelia, Russia). In: Lahelma, A., Lavento, M.I., Mannermaa, K., Ahola, M., Holmqvist, E. and Nordqvist, K. (eds.) Moving northward. Professor Volker Heyd´s Festschrift as he turns 60. Series: Monographs of the Archaeological Society of Finland. Archaeological Society of Finland: Helsinki, pp. 265-281. ISBN 9789526994239

2022

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2022) The use of plants by Neanderthals as food, medicine, and raw materials. In: Romagnoli, Francesca, Rivals, Florent and Benazzi, Stefano (eds.) Updating Neanderthals: Understanding Behavioural Complexity in the Late Middle Palaeolithic. Academic Press: London, UK ; San Diego, CA, pp. 145-161. ISBN 9780128214282 (doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-821428-2.00004-4)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Bocherens, Hervé, Miller, Jennie Brand and Copeland, Les (2022) Reconstructing Neanderthal diet: the case for carbohydrates. Journal of Human Evolution, 162, 103105. (doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103105) (PMID:34923240)

2021

Dunne, J. et al. (2021) Holocene resource exploitation along the Nile: diet and subsistence strategies of Mesolithic and Neolithic societies at Khor Shambat 1, Sudan. Antiquity, 95(384), pp. 1426-1445. (doi: 10.15184/aqy.2021.141)

Bailey, Geoff and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (Eds.) (2021) Coastal Prehistory and Submerged Landscapes: Molluscan Resources, Shell-Midden Formation and Underwater Investigations. Quaternary International. 584 [Edited Journal]

Bailey, Geoff and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2021) Coastal Prehistory and Submerged Landscapes: Molluscan Resources, Shell-Middens and Underwater Investigations [Guest Editors]. Quaternary International, 584,

Bailey, Geoff and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2021) Introduction. Coastal prehistory and submerged landscapes: Molluscan resources, shell-middens and underwater investigations. Quaternary International, 584, pp. 1-8. (doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2021.03.020)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Ballin, Torben and Bicket, Andrew (2021) Rapidly changing worlds. Finding the earliest human occupations on Scotland's north-west coastline. Quaternary International, 584, pp. 106-115. (doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2020.10.060)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2021) Paleomedicine and the evolutionary context of medicinal plant use. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia, 31(1), pp. 1-15. (doi: 10.1007/s43450-020-00107-4) (PMID:33071384) (PMCID:PMC7546135)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2021) Shape shifting. Academia, motherhood and new perspectives on some very old questions. In: Díaz-Andreu, Margarita and Portillo, Marta (eds.) Arqueología e interdisciplinariedad. La microhistoria de una revolución en la arqueología española (1970-2020). Universitat de Barcelona, Edicions: Barcelona, pp. 207-214. ISBN 9788491683865

2020

Bailey, Geoff, Momber, Garry, Bell, Martin, Tizzard, Louise, Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Bicket, Andrew, Tidbury, Lauren, Benjamin, Jonathan and Hale, Alex (2020) Great Britain: the intertidal and underwater archaeology of Britain’s submerged landscapes. In: Bailey, Geoff, Galanidou, Nena, Peeters, Hans, Jöns, Hauke and Mennenga, Moritz (eds.) The Archaeology of Europe’s Drowned Landscapes. Series: Coastal Research Library (35). Springer: Cham, Switzerland, pp. 189-219. ISBN 9783030373672 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-37367-2_10)

2019

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2019) Paleomedicine and the use of plant secondary compounds in the Paleolithic and Early Neolithic. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 28(2), pp. 60-71. (doi: 10.1002/evan.21763) (PMID:30771227)

2018

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2018) Plant use in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic: food, medicine and raw materials. Quaternary Science Reviews, 191, pp. 393-405. (doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.04.028)

Copeland, Les and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2018) Archaeological starch. Agronomy, 8(1), 4. (doi: 10.3390/agronomy8010004)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Buckley, Stephen and Copeland, Les (2018) Pleistocene dental calculus: Recovering information on Paleolithic food items, medicines, paleoenvironment and microbes. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 27(5), pp. 234-246. (doi: 10.1002/evan.21718) (PMID:30326183)

2017

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Buckley, Stephen (2017) Earliest evidence of bitumen from Homo sp. teeth is from El Sidrón. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 164(1), pp. 212-213. (doi: 10.1002/ajpa.23255) (PMID:28567860)

Camara, Abdoulaye, Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Dioh, Edmond, Gueye, Mathieu, Piqué, Raquel, Carré, Matthieu, Sall, Moustapha and Diouf, Michel Waly (2017) Amas et sites coquilliers du delta du Saloum (Sénégal) : Passé et présent = Shellfish and Shell Midden Sites in the Saloum Delta (Senegal): Past and Present. Anthropologie, 121(1-2), pp. 204-214. (doi: 10.1016/j.anthro.2017.03.018)

Weyrich, L. S. et al. (2017) Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus. Nature, 544(7650), pp. 357-361. (doi: 10.1038/nature21674) (PMID:28273061)

Radini, Anita, Nikita, Efthymia, Buckley, Stephen, Copeland, Les and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2017) Beyond food: The multiple pathways for inclusion of materials into ancient dental calculus. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 162(S63), pp. 71-83. (doi: 10.1002/ajpa.23147) (PMID:28105717)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2017) Shell middens. In: Allen, Michael J. (ed.) Molluscs in Archaeology: Methods, Approaches and Applications. Series: Studying scientific archaeology (3). Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 259-272. ISBN 9781785706080

2016

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Radini, Anita, Buckley, Stephen, Blasco, Ruth, Copeland, Les, Burjachs, Francesc, Girbal, Josep, Yll, Riker, Carbonell, Eudald and Bermúdez de Castro, Jose María (2016) Diet and environment 1.2 million years ago revealed through analysis of dental calculus from Europe’s oldest hominin at Sima del Elefante, Spain. Science of Nature, 104(1-2), (doi: 10.1007/s00114-016-1420-x) (PMID:27981368)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Benjamin, Jonathan, Bicket, Andrew, McCarthy, John and Ballin, Torben (2016) Scotland's intertidal prehistory: Lub Dubh Aird, a raw material and knapping site in Upper Loch Torridon. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 145, pp. 17-39. (doi: 10.9750/PSAS.145.17.39)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Buckley, Stephen and Huffman, Michael (2016) Doctors, chefs or hominin animals? Non-edible plants and Neanderthals. Antiquity, 90(353), pp. 1373-1379. (doi: 10.15184/aqy.2016.134)

Radini, Anita, Buckley, Stephen, Rosas, Antonio, Estalrrich, Almudena, de la Rasilla, Marco and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2016) Neanderthals, trees and dental calculus: new evidence from El Sidrón. Antiquity, 90(350), pp. 290-301. (doi: 10.15184/aqy.2016.21)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Radini, Anita, Buckley, Stephen, Sarig, Rachel, Copeland, Les, Gopher, Avi and Barkai, Ran (2016) Dental calculus reveals potential respiratory irritants and ingestion of essential plant-based nutrients at Lower Palaeolithic Qesem Cave Israel. Quaternary International, 398(4), pp. 129-135. (doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.04.033)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Camara, Abdoulaye, Piqué, Raquel, Dioh, Edmond, Guèye, Mathieu, Diadhiou, Hamet Diaw, Faye, Mandiémé and Carré, Matthieu (2016) Shellfishing and shell midden construction in the Saloum Delta, Senegal. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 41, pp. 19-32. (doi: 10.1016/j.jaa.2015.11.001)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Kubiak-Martens, Lucy (Eds.) (2016) Wild Harvest: Plants in the Hominin and Pre-Agrarian Human Worlds. Series: Studying scientific archaeology 2. Oxbow Books: Oxford. ISBN 9781785701238

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2016) Plants as raw materials. In: Hardy, K. and Kubiak-Martens, L. (eds.) Wild Harvest: Plants in the Hominin and Pre-Agrarian Human Worlds. Series: Studying scientific archaeology (2). Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 71-90. ISBN 9781785701245

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2016) Variable use of coastal resources in prehistoric and historic periods in Western Scotland. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 11(2), pp. 264-284. (doi: 10.1080/15564894.2015.1103336)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Buckley, S. (2016) Stable isotopes and mass spectrometry. In: Hardy, K. and Kubiak-Martens, L. (eds.) Wild Harvest: Plants in the Hominin and Pre-Agrarian Human Worlds. Series: Studying scientific archaeology (2). Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 241-250. ISBN 9781785701245

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Kubiak Martens, L. (2016) Introduction. In: Hardy, K. and Kubiak-Martens, L. (eds.) Wild Harvest: Plants in the Hominin and Pre-Agrarian Human Worlds. Series: Studying scientific archaeology (2). Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 1-16. ISBN 9781785701245

Piqué, R., Gueye, M., Hardy, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Camara, A. and Dioh, E. (2016) Not just fuel: food and technology from trees and shrubs in Falia, Saloum Delta (Senegal). In: Biagetti, S. and Lugli, F. (eds.) The Intangible Elements of Culture in Ethnoarchaeological Research. Springer: Cham, Switzerland. ISBN 9783319231525 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-23153-2_17)

2015

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Brand-Miller, Jennie, Brown, Katherine D., Thomas, Mark G., Copeland, Les and Handling Editor Daniel E. Dykhuizen (2015) The importance of dietary carbohydrate in human evolution. Quarterly Review of Biology, 90(3), pp. 251-268. (doi: 10.1086/682587) (PMID:26591850)

2014

Estévez, Jordi, Villagran, Ximena S., Balbo, Andrea L. and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2014) Microtaphonomy in archaeological sites: The use of soil micromorphology to better understand bone taphonomy in archaeological contexts. Quaternary International, 330, pp. 3-9. (doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2013.08.007)

Guatelli-Steinberg, Debbie, Buckley, Stephen, Usai, Donatella, Jakob, Tina, Radini, Anita and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2014) Dental calculus reveals unique insights into food items, cooking and plant processing in prehistoric Central Sudan. PLoS ONE, 9(7), e100808. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100808) (PMID:25028938) (PMCID:PMC4100759)

2013

Bailey, Geoffrey N., Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Camara, Abdoulaye (Eds.) (2013) Shell Energy. Mollusc shells as coastal resources. Oxbow Books: Oxford. ISBN 9781842177655

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2013) The shell middens of Scotland’s Inner Sound. In: Bailey, G., Hardy, K. and Camara, A. (eds.) Shell Energy: Mollusc shells as coastal resources. Oxbow Books: Oxford. ISBN 9781842177655

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Buckley, Stephen and Huffman, Michael (2013) Neanderthal self-medication in context. Antiquity, 87(337), pp. 873-878. (doi: 10.1017/S0003598X00049528)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, van de Locht, R., Wilson, J. and Tugay, O. (2013) Starch granules and complex carbohydrates at Çatalhöyük. In: Hodder, I. (ed.) Humans and Landscapes of Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2000-2008 seasons. Series: Monumenta archaeologica (30). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: Cambridge, UK, pp. 191-211. ISBN 9781898249306

Terradas, X., Ibañez, J.J., Braemer, F., Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Iriarte, E., Madella, M., Ortega, D., Radini, A. and Teira, L.C. (2013) Natufian bedrock mortars at Qarassa 3: preliminary results from an interdisciplinary methodology. In: Borrell, F., Ibáñez, J.J. and Molist, M. (eds.) Stone Tools in Transition: From Hunter-Gatherers to Farming Societies in the Near East. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona: Barcelona, pp. 441-456.

Verdún Castelló, E., Colonese, A., Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Estévez, J. (2013) Distribution and abundance of intertidal rocky shore molluscs in Southern Skye (Scotland): implications for prehistoric coastal economy in North Atlantic. In: Daire, M.Y., Dupont, C., Baudry, A., Billard, C., Large, J.M., Lespez, L., Normand, E. and Scarre, C. (eds.) Anciens peuplements littoraux et relations Homme/Milieu sur les côtes de l'Europe atlantique. Series: BAR International Series (2570). BAR Publishing, pp. 561-570. ISBN 9781407311913

2012

Clarke, Ann, Vila, Assumpcio, Estevez, Jordi and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2012) The tie that binds? An incised Mesolithic bevelled pebble from Camas Daraich, Skye. Mesolithic Miscellany, 22(1), pp. 3-9.

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2012) Not just meat: the role of plants in paleonutritional reassessment. European Archaeologist(38), pp. 89-95.

Hardy, K. et al. (2012) Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus. Naturwissenschaften, 99(8), pp. 617-626. (doi: 10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0) (PMID:22806252)

2011

Mansur, M. E., Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Pique, Raquel (2011) Landscape and human settlement dynamics in insular environments. An archaeological approach. Arctic and Antarctic. International Journal of Circumpolar Sociocultural Issues, 5, pp. 63-84.

2010

Wilson, Julie, Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Allen, Richard, Copeland, Les, Wrangham, Richard and Collins, Matthew (2010) Automated classification of starch granules using supervised pattern recognition of morphological properties. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(3), pp. 594-604. (doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2009.10.024)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (Ed.) (2010) Archaeological Invisibility and Forgotten Knowledge. Series: BAR International Series. BAR Publishing. ISBN 9781407307336

Chapman, J., Gillings, M., Biró, K. and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2010) Interpretation of prehistoric field survey data. In: Chapman, J., Gillings, M., Shiel, R., Magyari, E., Gaydarska, D. and Bond, C. (eds.) The Upper Tisza Project. Studies in Hungarian Landscape Archaeology. Book 3: Settlement Patterns in the Zemplén Block. Series: BAR international series, 3 (2088). BAR.

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2010) Use of shells as raw material for tools and jewellery in Mesolithic Scotland. Munibe, 31, pp. 128-137.

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Stowe, L., Telford, D. and Chapman, J. (2010) Lithics. In: Chapman, J., Gillings, M., Shiel, R., Magyari, E., Gaydarska, B. and Bond, C. (eds.) The Upper Tisza Project. Studies in Hungarian Landscape Archaeology. Book 4: Lowland Settlement in North East Hungary: Excavations at the Neolithic Settlement Site of Polgár-10. Series: BAR international series (2089). BAR Publishing. ISBN 9781407305653

2009

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Blakeney, Tony, Copeland, Les, Kirkham, Jennifer, Wrangham, Richard and Collins, Matthew (2009) Starch granules, dental calculus and new perspectives on ancient diet. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36(2), pp. 248-255. (doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.015)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2009) Recent stone tool use and material culture of the Wola, Papua New Guinea. In: McCartan, S., Schulting, R., Warren, G. and Woodman, P. (eds.) Mesolithic Horizons : papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005. Vol. 2. Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 838-844. ISBN 9781842173114

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397, Birch, S. and Shiel, R. (2009) Bevel-ended bone tools from Scottish Mesolithic sites. In: McCartan, S., Schulting, R., Warren, G. and Woodman, P. (eds.) Mesolithic Horizons : papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005. Vol. 2. Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 766-771. ISBN 9781842173114

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Pique, Raquel (2009) Hunters and gatherers on the edge: foraging for the past at continental limits. Antiquity, 83(320), f1-f6. (doi: 10.1017/S0003598X00500362)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Wickham-Jones, Caroline (2009) Mesolithic and later sites around the Inner Sound, Scotland: the Scotland's First Settlers project 1998 – 2004. Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports, 31, (doi: 10.9750/issn.2056-7421.2009.31)

2008

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2008) Prehistoric string theory. How twisted fibres helped to shape the world. Antiquity, 82(316), pp. 271-280. (doi: 10.1017/S0003598X00096794)

2007

Hardy, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2007) Where would we be without string? Evidence for the use, manufacture and role of string in the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of northern Europe. In: Beugnier, V. and Crombé, P. (eds.) Plant Processing from a Prehistoric andEethnographic Perspective =Préhistoire et ethnographie du travail des plantes Actes de la Table ronde de l’Université de Gandt (Belgique). Series: BAR International series (1718). Archaeopress: Oxford, pp. 9-22. ISBN 9781407302010

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2007) Food for thought: starch in Mesolithic diet. Mesolithic Miscellany, 18(2),

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2007) Survival, extraction and identification of starch granules at Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey. Kaman-kalehöyük, 16, pp. 189-194.

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Shiel, Robert (2007) Residue and use-wear analysis of stone tools. In: Waddington, Clive (ed.) Mesolithic Settlement in the North Sea Basin. A Case Study from Howick. Oxbow Books: Oxford. ISBN 9781782974628

2006

Chapman, J., Gaydarska, B. and Hardy, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2006) Does enclosure make a difference? A view from the Balkans. In: Harding, A., Sievers, S. and Venclova, N. (eds.) Enclosing the Past: Inside and Outside in Prehistory. Series: Sheffield archaeological monographs (15). J.R. Collis Publications: Sheffield, UK, pp. 5-19. ISBN 9780906090534

2004

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2004) La litica tallada y la cultura material de los Wola, de Papua, Nueva Guinea. In: Proceedings of the Etnoarqueologia de la prehistòria: més enllà de l’analogia conference. Departament d’Arqueologia i Antropologia. Institucio Mila I Fontanels. CSIC: Barcelona.

Hardy, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Wickham-Jones, C.R. (2004) Scotland’s First Settlers. The study of an archaeological seascape. In: Carver, E., Lelong, O. and Scottish Archeological Forum, . (eds.) Modern Views - Ancient Lands : New Work and Thought on Cultural Landscapes. Series: BAR British series (377). Archaeopress: Oxford, England. ISBN 9781841716558

Wickham-Jones, Caroline and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2004) Camas Daraich: a Mesolithic site at the Point of Sleat, Skye. Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports, 12, (doi: 10.9750/issn.2056-7421.2004.12)

2003

Hardy, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Wickham-Jones, C.R. (2003) Scotland's First Settlers: An investigation into Settlement, territoriality and mobility during the Mesolithic in the Inner Sound, Scotland. In: Larsson, L., Kindgren, H., Åkerlund, A., Kuntsson, K. and Loeffler, D. (eds.) Mesolithic on the move : papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Stockholm 2000. Oxbow Books: Oxford. ISBN 9781842170892

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Sillitoe, Paul (2003) Material perspectives: stone tool use and material culture in Papua New Guinea. Internet Archaeology, 14, (doi: 10.11141/ia.14.3)

Sillitoe, Paul and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2003) Living lithics: ethnoarchaeology in Highland Papua New Guinea. Antiquity, 77(297), pp. 555-566. (doi: 10.1017/S0003598X00092619)

2002

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Wickham-Jones, Caroline (2002) Scotland's first settlers: the Mesolithic seascape of the Inner Sound, Skye and its contribution to the early prehistory of Scotland. Antiquity, 76(293), pp. 825-833. (doi: 10.1017/S0003598X00091304)

2001

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 and Wickham-Jones, C.R (2001) Scotland’s First Settlers, a project to investigate the earliest settlement of west coast Scotland. History Scotland, 1, pp. 22-27.

This list was generated on Mon Jul 7 06:38:21 2025 BST.

Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Edited Books | Edited Journals

Number of items: 75.

Articles

Copeland, Les and Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2018) Archaeological starch. Agronomy, 8(1), 4. (doi: 10.3390/agronomy8010004)

Weyrich, L. S. et al. (2017) Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus. Nature, 544(7650), pp. 357-361. (doi: 10.1038/nature21674) (PMID:28273061)

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2012) Not just meat: the role of plants in paleonutritional reassessment. European Archaeologist(38), pp. 89-95.

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2010) Use of shells as raw material for tools and jewellery in Mesolithic Scotland. Munibe, 31, pp. 128-137.

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2007) Food for thought: starch in Mesolithic diet. Mesolithic Miscellany, 18(2),

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (2007) Survival, extraction and identification of starch granules at Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey. Kaman-kalehöyük, 16, pp. 189-194.

Book Sections

Edited Books

Hardy, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-2397 (Ed.) (2010) Archaeological Invisibility and Forgotten Knowledge. Series: BAR International Series. BAR Publishing. ISBN 9781407307336

Edited Journals

This list was generated on Mon Jul 7 06:38:21 2025 BST.

Prior publications

Article

(2017) Beyond food: The multiple pathways for inclusion of materials into ancient dental calculus American Journal of Physical Anthropology 162, S3, 71-83. DOI 10.1002/ajpa.23147 *Cor American Journal of Physical Anthropology Karen Hardy.

Karen Hardy (2016) Lub Dubh Aird: a seamless Mesolithic landscape in northwest Scotland Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Karen Hardy.

(2014) La placa dental aporta una perspectiva nova sobre la dieta dels nostres ancestres prehistòrics UAB divulga Karen Hardy.

(2012) An Corran, Staffin, Skye: a rockshelter with Mesolithic and later occupation Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports (SAIR) Karen Hardy.

(2012) Aprop del tsunami: arqueologia prehistòrica al nord d'Escòcia UAB divulga Karen Hardy.

(2009) Azokh caves excavations 2002-2006: Middle-Upper palaeolithic transition in Nagorno-Karabagh Karen Hardy.

(2009) Cave-dwelling: new evidence from the west History Scotland Karen Hardy.

(2009) Mesolithic and later sites around the Inner Sound, Scotland: the work of the Scotland’s First Settlers project 1998--2004 Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports Karen Hardy.

(2009) Poororal hygiène: a keyto understanding ancient diet British archaeology Karen Hardy.

(2009) TRACKING HUNTERS AND GATHERERS ON THE CONTINENTAL LIMITS British archaeology Karen Hardy.

(2007) Where would we be without string? Ethnographic and prehistoric evidence for the use, manufacture and role of string in the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of Northern Europe BAR INTERNATIONAL SERIES Karen Hardy.

(2006) Ĺıtico tallado y cultura material de los Wola. Papúa-Nueva Guinea Etnoarqueoloǵıa de la Prehistoria: más allá de la analoǵıa. Treballs D’Etnoarqueologia Karen Hardy.

(2003) Scotland’s first settlers: an investigation into settlement, territoriality and mobility during the Mesolithic in the Inner Sound, Scotland. First results Mesolithic on the move Karen Hardy.

(1999) On the Tehuacán Project: Reply to Flannery and MacNeish Current anthropology Karen Hardy.

(1996) The preceramic sequence from the Tehuacan Valley: a reevaluation Current Anthropology Karen Hardy.

Book Section

Karen Hardy (2016) Wild terrestrial resource use among the people of the Saloum Delta, Senegal The Intangible Elements of Culture in Ethnoarchaeological Research Karen Hardy.

Conference Proceedings

(2015) Scotland’s intertidal prehistory: Lub Dubh Aird, a raw material and knapping site in Upper Loch Torridon Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Karen Hardy.

Book

(2010) Archaeological Invisibility and Forgotten Knowledge: Conference Proceedings, Łódź, Poland, 5th-7th September 2007 Karen Hardy.

Thesis

(1994) Preceramic Lithics in Central Mexico: An Examination of the Tehuacan and Oaxaca Chronological Sequences Karen Hardy.

Grants

POWERFUL PLANTS. The Power of Plants as Food, Medicine and Raw Materials Before Agriculture.

2022 – 2027. UKRI ERC Advanced Replacement Fund. Originally awarded €2.5m, this was replaced in full by a UKRI award to enable the project to be based in the UK.

This project will use archaeological evidence, supported by experimental archaeology and ethnographic data, to investigate the social, cultural and genetic roles of the human use of plants before farming. Plants are essential to our physical, psychological and physiological wellbeing providing us with energy, nutrients, medicines and raw materials. The depth of the human connection to plants suggests this has always been the case. Yet the role of plants before the emergence of agriculture around 10,000 years ago is virtually unknown. This project will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to investigate three areas - food, medicine and technology - in which use of plants was pivotal in shaping human trajectories, with implications that are still evident today

Pioneer human populations in the Isle of Skye from the Late Upper Palaeolithic to the Late Mesolithic.

Funded by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, The Prehistoric Society and private donations.

There are few traces of the earliest people to reach north Britain before the Late Mesolithic period but over the past few years evidence has emerged suggesting that members of different cultural groups ventured across Doggerland, most probably following herds of reindeer and reached what is today Scotland both during the Late Glacial Interstadial and the subsequent cold period known locally as the Loch Lomond Readvance. The north-west coast is particularly important in the search for the earliest evidence of these northern British pioneer populations due to low levels of industrialisation. The Isle of Skye and surrounding areas have revealed a concentration of sites from this time.

Supervision

Bexultanova, Gayana
Use of plants for food, medicine and technology during the Upper Palaeolithic in Siberia.
Bibi, Bushra
The Origins of String: Fibre Technologies in the Palaeolithic.

Additional information

PRESS COVERAGE (SUMMARY)

Popular Science ‘We’re surprisingly good at surviving amputations’
BYU radio, USA. ‘Constant Wonder’. 30 minute radio interview. http://www.byuradio.org/constant-wonder
NHK (Japan) The Origin of Food. Episode 1 (In Japanese). Carbohydrates (Specialist contributor in Israel, Cantabria and Barcelona). Around 20 million viewers.
3.4.19. ‘Two million year old toothache may have killed an early human’. New Scientist. Invited Expert Comment. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2198666-two-million-year-old-toothache-may-have-killed-an-early-human/
‘Expert commentator’ The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/neanderthal-medicine/573028/
Extensive international press coverage 2017 ‘Diet and Environment’ article and ‘Nature’ article
2016 Extensive Spanish press coverage of 2016 Antiquity article.
2016 Tolerance of smoke may have given us an edge over Neanderthals. New Scientist, 2^nd August 2016 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2099655-tolerance-of-smoke-may-have-given-us-an-edge-over-neanderthals/
2015, Reports based on QRB article (Hardy et al., 2015b) included in the BBC '100 things we didn't know last year' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35132976

https://www.popsci.com/health/amputations-history-medicine/

2015. Worldwide coverage of QRB article. Summarised in: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mace-lab/media/our-research/real-paleo-diet.
Many radio and magazine interviews; e.g. 15 radio interviews on Breakfast show across Canada on QRB article.

Worldwide coverage of QI Qesem Cave article: e.g. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/06/17/oldest-evidence-of-manmade-air-pollution-found-in-dental-plaque-from-palaeolithic-israel/
Hardy, K., La placa dental aporta una perspectiva nova sobre la dieta dels nostres ancestres prehistòrics UAB Divulga October.
2014 Numerous interviews and articles related to PLOS ONE article (2014) including National Geographic, El Mundo, Voice of America, New York Times, BBC East, BBC 5 Live, Dental Tribune International, Haaretz, Israel, Voice of America, National Public Radio Washington DC.
2013 Neanderthal self-medication in context article was the subject of a Der Spiegel article
Numerous interviews and articles related to Naturwissenschaften article (Hardy et al, 2012), in newspapers, journals, magazines including Nature, National Geographic, New Scientist, Scientific American and across the world (e.g. Russia, Australia, Mexico, Argentina and throughout Europe) in many languages, Spanish TV coverage (various), Spanish radio live interviews, interviewed on BBC Radio 4 ‘Material World’.
Hardy et al., 2012. The Academic Minute 2^ND USA Radio show: http://wamc.org/post/dr-karen-hardy-autonomous-university-barcelona-neanderthals-and-medicinal-plants
Hardy et al., 2012 selected as one of the 10 most important archaeological discoveries of 2012, Archaeological Institute of America.
‘Expert’ commentator, in Barras C., Farming has deep roots in Chinese Ice Age. New Scientist, 18th March 2013
2005 – 2011 Participated in several BBC Radio 4 programmes including Open Country (interviewed in Skye), and several BBC food programmes.

BBC Scotland. The Skye Trail (Triple Echo Productions).

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