Dr Kirsty Squires

• Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
• Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (Cert FA-III)
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists
• Member of The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences
• Member of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology
• Member of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists
• Member of the Paleopathology Association
• Member of the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past
• Research Associate of the Observatory for the Mummified Heritage of Sicily

• PhD Archaeology: ‘An osteological analysis and social investigation of the cremation rite at the cemeteries of Elsham and Cleatham, North Lincolnshire’ – University of Sheffield (funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council)
• MA Education (distinction) – University of Staffordshire
• MSc Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology (distinction) – University of Sheffield (funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council)
• BSc (Hons) Archaeology (1st class) – University of Nottingham

• Bioarchaeology
• Forensic Anthropology
• Taphonomy Studies
• Ethics
• Disaster Victim Identification (DVI)
• Forensic Humanitarianism

• Taphonomy studies (particularly in relation to burned and mummified remains)
• Mummy studies
• Bioarchaeology of childhood
• Paleopathology
• Health and disease in the past
• Ethics in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology
• Dark tourism
• Heritage crime

The health, development and social identity of children afforded mummification in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily (AHRC Funded Project: AH/V014331/1). https://juvenilemummyproject.wixsite.com/palermo

Undergraduate

• Introduction to Forensic Biology
• Introduction to Forensic Scientific Techniques
• Crime Scene Processing
• Forensic Anthropology in the 21st Century (module leader)
• Forensic Research Project
• Practical Forensic Scientific Techniques
• Techniques in the Identification of Human Remains (module leader)

Postgraduate (Taught)

• Contemporary Issues in Forensic Science
• Independent Research Project (module leader)

Most recent publications

Squires, K., Birch, W., Goold-Jones, G., Huffer, D., Mant, M., Mills, S.H., Primeau, C., Schrader, S. and Biers, T. 2025. To sell or not to sell: the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology’s position on the trade and sale of human remains in the UK. The Historic Environment: Policy and Practice. doi: 10.1080/17567505.2025.2492398.

Squires, K., McKinley, J., Roberts, C.A. and Biers, T. 2025. Cremated bone in archaeology: ethical considerations in the excavation, analysis, storage, and display of cremated bone in the United Kingdom. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology e3382. doi: 10.1002/oa.3382.

Piombino-Mascali, D., Squires, K. and Zink, A. 2024. Ethical challenges in the bioanthropological and biomedical investigation of Sicilian mummies: past experience and future pathways. American Journal of Biological Anthropology. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24946.

Piombino-Mascali, D., Winter, J.J., Gill-Frerking, H. and Squires, K. 2024. Ethical considerations for working with human remains in Sicily: case studies and professional approaches, 150-161. In: Campanacho, V. and Alves Cardoso, F. (eds.) Coming of Age: Ethics and Biological Anthropology in the 21st Century. Oxford: Archaeopress.

Squires, K. 2024. The bioarchaeology of early medieval cremations in England, 173-183. In: Williams, H. and Lippok, F. (eds.) Cremation in the Early Middle Ages: Death, Fire and Identity in North-West Europe. Leiden: Sidestone Press.

Squires, K., Davidson, A., Cooper, S., Viner, M., Hoban, W., Loynes, R., Zesch, S., Rosendahl, W. Lindauer, S., Greco, C. and Piombino-Mascali, D. 2024. A multidisciplinary investigation of a mummified Egyptian head and analysis of its associated resinous material from the Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo (Sicily). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 55: 104525. doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104525.

Squires, K., Davidson, A. and Piombino-Mascali, D. 2024. Public attitudes towards the display of juvenile mummies in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily. International Journal of Heritage Studies 30 (8): 888-904.

Squires, K. and Snelleksz, F. 2024 A cut above the rest? The value of post-mortem examinations in undergraduate forensic science education. Science & Justice 64 (6): 637-641.

Squires, K., Viner, M., Hoban, W., Loynes, R., Van Shaik, K. and Piombino-Mascali, D. 2024 The “angioletti” of Palermo: the health and development of mummified non-adults in Late Modern Palermo, Sicily (1787-1880 CE). Frontiers in Medicine (Pathology) 11. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1443291.

Squires, K. and Piombino-Mascali, D. 2024. Striking a balance: preserving, curating, and investigating human remains from the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily, 51-64. In: Biers, T. and Stringer Clary, K. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Museums, Heritage, and Death: New Ways of Examining Mortality in the Modern World. London: Routledge.

Squires, K., Hookway, E. and Márquez-Grant, N. 2023. Don’t forget the children! The consequences of natural disasters and epidemics on childhood health and mortality in the past. Childhood in the Past: An International Journal 16 (1): 57-78.

Wisniewski, K. D., Doyle, P., Hunter, R. J. S., Pringle, J. K., Stimpson, I. G., Wright, D., Squires, K., Sutherland, Z., Cassella, J. P., Graham, F. C. and Ottey, P. 2023. A multidisciplinary scientific investigation of the 1916 Hawthorn Mine Crater, Beaumont Hamel, Somme, Northern France. Journal of Conflict Archaeology 18 (2-3), 125-156.

Squires, K., Roberts, C.A. and Márquez-Grant, N. 2022. Ethical considerations and publishing in human bioarcheology. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 177 (4): 615-619.

Squires, K., Roberts, C.A., Sardi, M.L. and Márquez-Grant, N. 2022. Ética, Bioarqueología y Publicaciones Científicas: Un Estudio de Caso. RUNA, Archivo Para Las Ciencias Del Hombre 43 (2): 245-263.