Yvette Eley

I am an isotope geochemist, interested in the application of a range of geochemical techniques to archaeology, ecology and palaeoclimatology. I obtained my undergraduate degree in Environmental Science from the University of Reading in 2010, while also working as a research technician specialising in isotope and trace element analysis of modern and archaeological samples. I then completed my PhD at the University of East Anglia in 2014, examining the relative importance of environmental and biochemical mechanisms in controlling the molecular distribution and stable isotopic composition of plant leaf wax biomarkers, compounds that have received considerable attention in the last decade as paleoclimate proxies. I am now working on lipid residue analysis in early pottery in the BioArCh group. 

In my current role as a PDRA on the Innovation and Development of Pottery in East Asia project, my focus is on furthering understanding of the complex relationship between humans, culture and climate in the Jomon period through chemical and isotopic analysis of fats, oils and waxes contained in charred adhesions found on pottery sherds.

My wider research interests focus on the use of geochemical techniques (including stable isotopes, radiogenic isotopes and trace elements) in palaeoclimatological, archaeological and ecological investigations, and include:

1) The application of compound-specific stable isotope analysis of biomarkers to the study of modern and ancient ecosystems.

2) The use of stable isotopes in ecological, forensic and archaeological investigations.

3)  Refining understanding of the forcing mechanisms driving climate change through the generation of high-resolution palaeoclimate records.

4) Geo-locating biological materials using stable isotopes, radiogenic isotopes and trace elements.