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Krish Seetah

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Krish Seetah

Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Cambridge
Research Interests: 
Zooarchaeology, human-animal relationships, colonialsm, Indian Ocean World
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About

I am a zooarchaeologist, whose focus is primarily on colonisation and colonialism. My zooarchaeological research has used butchery analysis (with the benefit of professional and ethnographic actualistic experience) to investigate agency within the human-animal relationship. More recently, I have employed geometric morphometrics (GMM) as a mechanism for identifying and distinguishing animal populations. This approach to studying colonial activity centres on understanding how people manipulate animal bodies, both during life and after death.

Alongside the strictly faunal research is a research interest in technologies associated with animal processing. This has been used to investigate issues of technology, trade and socio-economic attitudes within colonial contexts in the Mediterranean (Venice & Montenegro) and the Baltic (Poland, Latvia & Lithuania).

I am also the Director of the ‘Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage’ (MACH) project, which studies European Imperialism and colonial activity. This project centres on the movement of peoples and material cultures, specifically within the contexts of slavery and Diaspora. The work of this project has focused on key sites in Mauritius and is based on a systematic programme of excavation and environmental sampling. The underlying aims are to better understand the transition from slavery to indentured labour following abolition, the extent and diversity of trade in the region and the environmental consequences of intense, monoculture, agriculture.

Mauritian Archaeology Website
Selected Articles

Edited volume
Seetah. K., & Gravina. B. (eds.). In Press. Bones for Tools – Tools for Bones. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Monographs Series, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.

Journal Articles
Appleby. J., Seetah. K., Calaon. D., Čaval. S., Janoo. A., &, Teelock. V. 2012. The juvenile cohort from Le Morne cemetery: a snapshot of early life and death after abolition. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. DOI: 10.1002/oa.2259

Seetah. K., Cardini. A., & Miracle. P. 2012. Can morphospace shed light on cave bear spatial-temporal variation? Population dynamics of Ursus spelaeus from Romualdova pecina and Vindija, (Croatia). Journal of Archaeological Science. Vol 39: 2. pg. 500-510.

Seetah. K., Balbo. A., Calaon. D., Čaval. S., Farr. H., Pluskowski. A., Appleby. J., Durand. C., Lightfoot. E., Morales. J., &, Moreno Escobar. M. 2011. The Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Project: exploring the impact of colonialism and colonization in the Indian Ocean. Antiquity. Vol 85: 330.

Seetah. K., 2010. “Our Struggle”: colonial legacies on an island paradise. SHIMA, The International Journal for Island Cultures. Vol 4: 1. pg. 99-112.

Seetah. K., 2010. Religion, legislation, and meat: the politics of food and its implications for the butchers of London. ViaVias, Vol 3. pg. 110-115.

Pluskowski. A., Seetah. K., & Maltby. M. 2009. Potential osteoarchaeological evidence for riding and the military use of horses at Malbork Castle, Poland. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Vol 20: 3. pg. 335-343

Maltby. M., Pluskowski. A., & Seetah. K. 2009. Animal Bones from an Industrial Quarter at Malbork, Poland: Towards an Ecology of a Castle Built in Prussia by the Teutonic Order. Crusades, Vol 8. pg. 191-213.

Seetah. K., 2008. Modern analogy, cultural theory and experimental archaeology: a merging point at the cutting edge of archaeology. World Archaeology, Vol 40: 1. pg. 135-150.

Seetah. K., 2004. Meat in history – how influences from the past impacts on today’s industry. International Journal of Food History, Vol 2: 2. pg. 19-35.

Book Chapters
Gravina. B, Rabbett.R, & Seetah. K. 2012. Combining stones and bones, defining form and function, inferring lives and roles. In, Seetah. K. &., Gravina. B. eds. Bones for Tools – Tools for Bones. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Monographs Series, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.

Seetah. K., 2007a. The Middle Ages on the block: Animals, Guilds and meat in medieval Britain. In, Pluskowski. A., (ed.) Breaking and Shaping Beastly Bodies: Animals as Material Culture in the Middle Ages. Oxbow, pg. 18-31. Oxford.

Seetah. K., 2007b. A zooarchaeological contribution to biological anthropology. In, Robson-Brown. K., &., Roberts. A. (eds.) Proceeding of the 6th Annual BABAO Conference. BAR, S1623, pg. 72-80. Oxford.

Seetah. K., 2006. Multidisciplinary approach to Romano-British cattle butchery. In, Maltby. M., (ed.) Integrating Zooarchaeology, Oxbow, pg. 111-118, Oxford.

Seetah. K., 2005. Butchery as a tool for understanding the changing views of animals, in, Pluskowski. A., (ed.) Just Skin and Bones? New Perspectives on Human-Animal Relations in the Historic Past. BAR Int. Series S1410, pg 1-8. Oxford.