Description

Today, roughly four out of five of us will select, or have selected for us, cremation as a disposal method in the UK. How did this come about? The history of cremation in Britain is usually focused on the medical and public health advocates of the 19th century and the social history of death of the 20th century. But it is only a small sliver of a far older and more complex story! Based on the latest academic research, this talk reveals the far deeper and largely overlooked history of honouring and transforming the dead through fire revealed by archaeological investigations across the globe and over many millennia of the human past.

Howard is Professor of Archaeology with over 27 years of experience in academic teaching and research. He joined the University of Chester in 2008 and was appointed to a personal chair as Professor of Archaeology in 2010. Howard’s research explores the archaeology of death, burial and commemoration in the Early Middle Ages of North West Europe. In addition, his research investigates the history of the discipline and public archaeology. In addition to numerous book chapters and journal articles, Howard has authored one monograph (Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain, Cambridge University Press, 2006) and 12 edited/co-edited collections (most recently Cremation in the Early Middle Ages with Femke Lippok, Sidestone Press, 2024). He is currently editor of the diamond open-access interdisciplinary Offa’s Dyke Journal: A Journal for Linear Monuments, Frontiers and Borderlands Research. Since 2013 on WordPress, and since 2020 on YouTube and TikTok, Howard delivers digital public education project exploring the archaeology and heritage of death and memory: Archaeodeath.