Dr David Smith is a world expert in archaeoentomology, a field pioneered at the University of Birmingham since the 1960s.
As we celebrate the 125th anniversary of our University, we’re taking a look back at the history of insect archaeology, a field developed at the University of Birmingham.
When a human skull was discovered in a ditch around the Jewel Tower at the Palace of Westminster, Dr David Smith, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Archaeology at the College of Arts and Law, was called in to take a closer look. Nicknamed ‘Mouldy Larry’, the body-less skull had remains of fly pupae in its ears and nose sockets which, for an expert in ancient insect remains, may give clues as to poor Larry’s demise.
Dr Smith noticed that these particular flies weren’t the sort you’d find in a ditch in Larry’s time but were most commonly found in cess pits. He then suggested that after execution by beheading, Mouldy Larry’s skull had been thrown into one of these cess pits as a final humiliation. The grizzly detail was only discoverable thanks to the fascinating study insect archaeology, a field developed right here at the University of Birmingham.
Insect archaeology began at the University of Birmingham in 1958. Beginning in the Geology department, Professor F.W. Shotten and Professor Russell Coope wanted to learn what preserved insect remains could teach us about the past.
Remains of reed beetles and woodworms
In this early research, several important discoveries were made. It was noted that many of the remains of insects in ice-age era archaeological materials were species that can still be found today, though climate change has since changed their global distribution. With these remains, Professor Russell Coope was able to extract ecological information from each of the species dating back thousands of years. An incredible discovery, Professor Coope and collaborator Peter Osborne used this information to reconstruct specific temperature and landscape changes over the last 22,000 years.
With this output, archaeoentomology became an important branch of the archaeological discipline, evidencing for the first time that insect remains held crucial value in narrating the past.
Dr David Smith joined the University in 1992, having specialised in the study of insect remains for his MA and PhD at Cambridge University. Since, he has continued to push the field, gleaning new discoveries from insect fauna remains. Speaking on his research, Dr Smith said “insect archaeology can tell us about the dirt, smells and itchiness of life in the past in a direct way that is often missed by other archaeological techniques”.
The wing case of a reed beetle
Dr Smith’s research began with an investigation of how lowland river conditions in the south and midlands of the UK changed in the last 10,000 years, using the remains of beetles and flies. He found that rivers were very different before the Early Bronze Age (c. 2000BC). Before that point, rivers were home to a very diverse ecosystem, typically with gravelly or sandy bottoms. Likely the result of a massive boom in agriculture causing erosion of riverbanks, rivers then became more filled with clay and silt, giving them the brown tinge that we recognise today. This coincided with a decrease in biodiversity. His research continued to prove the efficacy of archaeoentomology in understanding how our environments have changed over 1000s of years.
His later work looked at how the insect fauna found in archaeological settlements changed over time. His research is helping to answer questions like when the insect species that live with us, such as fleas, lice and cockroaches started appear in our living spaces for the first time.
Dr Smith is also helping us to understand how insect diversity in Britain has changed over its history. His research suggests that in the past there was a much vaster diversity of specialised insects in ancient woodlands. Following a boom in agriculture, these were replaced with a narrower set of generalist species better suited to farmlands.
Insect remains also help us to understand how human history has had a direct impact on biodiversity in the UK today. For example, when the Romans invaded Britain in AD43, Dr Smith’s research proved that they brought with them a huge variety of the insects we see today, including the German cockroach, one of the two most common species of cockroach in modern Britain.
An important part of Dr Smith’s work is offering a commercial consultancy for archaeological units. For every new home or road built in the UK, an archaeologist is required to conduct a survey of the land designated for construction. This is important to ensure any physical items are recovered, but also any biological remains buried in the ground, including insects. “The consultancy work is the backbone of my more academic research and produces the data I need” said Dr Smith. As one of the leading experts in the country, Dr Smith has worked closely with most of the major archaeology providers in the UK to study the insects found in these surveys.
Senior Lecturer in Environmental Archaeology
Biographical and contact information for Dr David Smith in the Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham.
