Mik Lisowski

Dr. Mik Lisowski is a Technical Specialist in Zooarchaeology at the University of York's Department of Archaeology, affiliated with BioArCh and PalaeoHub. His work focuses on applying zooarchaeological and isotopic methods to investigate religion, ethnicity, and food systems in past societies. Prior roles include Postdoctoral Research Associate on the Leverhulme-funded Urban Ecology and Transitions of the Zanzibar Archipelago project. He holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield (2019) on Jewish butchery practices and meat provisioning in medieval Europe.

Education: PhD in Archaeology (University of Sheffield, 2019); AHRC-funded research on Jewish culinary practices using zooarchaeological and historical sources. Earlier work involved Neolithic studies in Poland, including bone tool analysis and isotopic investigations of animal husbandry.

Research interests span archaeology of food, multi-faith societies, urban provisioning, taphonomy, isotopic analysis, Jewish cultural history, Swahili coast food systems, and Neolithic sociocultural transitions. He leads courses on zooarchaeology and practical bone analysis, and manages the BioArCh/PalaeoHub zooarchaeological reference collections. Current projects include modernizing collections and creating a 3D bone atlas from the Baker and Brothwell pathology collection.

Teaching responsibilities include undergraduate courses on human and animal bones (co-leader) and archaeological science, as well as postgraduate modules on zooarchaeological identification and analysis. He serves as a zooarchaeological consultant for departmental research projects.

Grants: Leverhulme Trust (Urban Ecology project), AHRC (PhD funding). Collaborations focus on integrating spatial data with archaeological findings, as seen in Zanzibar case studies. Future directions emphasize digital curation of archaeological resources and interdisciplinary approaches to cultural foodways.

Labs/Teams: Active contributor to BioArCh and PalaeoHub facilities, promoting cutting-edge methodologies in biomolecular and isotopic analysis. Involved in international archaeological projects examining cultural identity through material remains.