This PhD project aims to reconstruct the colonisation history, of red deer in Britain, with a focus on the smaller islands. Specific aims are: 1. Reconstruct a time-series distribution of red deer across the North Atlantic Archipelago following the last glacial, 2. Identify the origin of first red deer across these islands, and analyse this within their archaeological context, 3. Determine the extent of ancestry persisting to the present-day, from these original post-glacial deer, and feed this back into present-day conservation and management practices. Samples (primarily bone and tooth) will be collected from museum collections. We will draw from the experience (and collections when sampling has already been done) of our collaborators, who are currently actively working on zooarchaeological collections from Ireland, mainland Europe, and Scotland and Scilly Isles. Ancient DNA lab work will be carried out at Cardiff University’s dedicated ancient DNA laboratory, including DNA extraction and NGS library building. The project will use a combination of mitochondrial enrichment and whole genome sequencing for samples with sufficient preservation.
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