Staff profile

I am a Teaching Fellow/Assistant Professor (Teaching) in the Department and provide classroom and laboratory-based teaching in bioarchaeology at all undergraduate levels as well as the MSc in Palaeopathology. Previously I was the Archaeological Science Technician of the Department, while my colleague Beth Upex was on maternity leave. In addition to providing technical assistance, I was involved in teaching human bioarchaeology to undergraduate and postgraduate students. I supervise undergraduate, MSc in Palaeopathology and PhD dissertation projects.

Having taught on the MSc in Palaeopathology since 2004, I was a Teaching Fellow and MSc in Palaeopathology Course Director until September 2008. In 2006, I was also working part-time as a Curator for Physical Anthropology at the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan (British Museum). I completed my PhD dissertation at the Department of Archaeology, Durham University, in 2004. My research concentrated on differences in health and disease patterns in early medieval populations from Britain and southwestern Germany. Previously, I obtained my MSc degree in Osteology, Palaeopathology and Funerary Archaeology from the University of Sheffield. I also hold a Master's degree in Pre- and Protohistory, Physical Anthropology and Art History from the University of Tuebingen, Germany.

Teaching

Level 1:

Archaeological Practicals (practical session)

AAM/SMA 1/ACSAM (lectures)

Level 3: 

Specialised Aspect 'Recent Trends in Human Bioarchaeology' (lectures and tutorials)

SMA 3 (lecture and workshop)

Museum Representation (lecture)

Projects

Since 2007, I am working with Drs Donatella Usai and Sandro Salvatori (CSSeS, Italy) on a multiphase cemetery in central Sudan. As bioarchaeologist I am responsible for the excavation and analysis of human skeletal remains from the site of Al Khiday 2 (16-D-4).

In additon I am working on human skeletal remains from Mograt Island, Sudan, an excavation directed by Dr. Claudia Naeser (UCL).

As on-site human osteologist I excavated human remains at the Nile’s 4th cataract (Merowe Dam Archaeological Salvage Project) in northern Sudan in 2005-06, a project directed by Derek A. Welsby (British Museum/Sudan Archaeological Research Society).

In 2005, I worked on Charlotte Whiting’s (CBRL Amman) Southern Jordan Iron Age Project (SJIAP). During our survey we found extensive evidence for funerary behaviour and more in-depth excavations are intended in the future.

Membership in Professional Organisations

• British Organisation for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO)
• Palaeopathology Association (PPA)
• American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA)
• Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS)
• International Society for Nubian Studies
• European Association for Archaeologists (EAA)

 

• Human bioarchaeology
• Palaeopathaology, focussing on population-based studies of health and disease
• Osteological techniques

• 2017: Associate Editor of Bioarchaeology International:
• 2014: 2014-2017 Secretary of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology:
• 2013: 2013-2016 Director at Large I Paleopathology Association (Student Liaison):

Book review

• Jakob, T. (online). Review of (Re)thinking the little ancestor: New perspectives on the archaeology of infancy and childhood by
• Jakob, T. (2019). The Comparative Palaeopathology of Males and Females in English Medieval Skeletal Samples in a Social Context, Clare Duncan (2016). BAR British Series 629. International Journal of Paleopathology, 24, 52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.09.006
• Jakob, T. (2014). Review of: A Bioarchaeological Study of Medieval Burials on the Site of St Mary Spital: Excavations at Spitalfields Market, London E1, 1991–2007. Environmental Archaeology, 19(1), 88-89. https://doi.org/10.1179/1461410313z.00000000046
• Jakob, T. (2009). Review of Pinhasi, R. and Mays, S. (eds) 2008. Advances in Human Palaeopathology. Palaeopathology Newsletter 148:35-36
• Jakob, T. (2005). Human osteology and skeletal radiology. An atlas and guide by E. Matshes, B. Burbridge, B. Sher, A. Mohamed & B. Juurlink. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2004. 448 pp ISBN 0 8493 1901 3. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 15(6), 461-463. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.818

Chapter in book

• Jakob, T., & Magzoub Ali, M. (2011). Sudan. In N. Marquez Grant, & L. Fibiger (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of archaeological human remains and legislation (513-523). Routledge
• Jakob, T. (2008). Urbanization and epidemic disease. In J. Byrne (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Plagues, Pestilence and Pandemics (737-742). Greenwood
• Jakob, T. (2008). Paleopathology. In J. Byrne (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Plagues, Pestilence and Pandemics (451-454). Greenwood

Conference Paper

• Jakob, T. (2014, December). A bioarchaeological appraisal of the human skeletal remains from Al Khiday 2, Central Sudan. Presented at The 12th International Conference of Nubian Studies, The British Museum, London 1-6 August 2010, London

Journal Article

• Gresky, J., Frotscher, M., Dorn, J., Scheelen-Nováček, K., Ahlbrecht, Y., Jakob, T., Schönbuchner, T., Canalejo, J., Ducke, B., & Petiti, E. (2024). The Digital Atlas of Ancient Rare Diseases (DAARD) and its relevance for current research. Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 19(1), Article 277. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-024-03280-0
• Snoddy, A. M. E., Shaw, H., Newman, S., Miszkiewicz, J. J., Stewart, N. A., Jakob, T., Buckley, H., Caffell, A., & Gowland, R. (2024). Vitamin D status in post-medieval Northern England: Insights from dental histology and enamel peptide analysis at Coach Lane, North Shields (AD 1711–1857). PLoS ONE, 19(1), Article e0296203. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296203
• Zhang, W., Wang, A., Zou, Z., Jakob, T., Chen, P., Alifujiang, N., Zhang, Q., & Wang, Q. (2022). The impaired nomad: A bioarchaeological study on an Early Iron Age case of knee ankylosis from the Jiaerkenjiaga Cemetery, Northwestern China. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 32(2), 493-508. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3083
• Walser, J. W. I., Kristjánsdóttir, S., Gröcke, D. R., Gowland, R., Jakob, T., Nowell, G., Ottley, C., & Montgomery, J. (2020). At the world’s edge: reconstructing diet and geographic origins in medieval Iceland using isotope and trace element analyses. American journal of physical anthropology, 171(1), 142-163. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23973
• Usai, D., Maritan, L., Dal Sasso, G., Artioli, G., Salvatori, S., Jakob, T., & Salviato, T. (2017). Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Evidence of Prostatic Stones at Al Khiday Cemetery, Central Sudan. PLoS ONE, 12(1), Article e0169524. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169524
• Roberts, C., Caffell, A., Filipek-Ogden, K., Gowland, R., & Jakob, T. (2016). ‘Til Poison Phosphorous Brought them Death’: A potentially occupationally-related disease in a post-medieval skeleton from north-east England. International Journal of Paleopathology, 13, 39-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2015.12.001
• Usai, D., Salvatori, S., Jakob, T., & David, R. (2014). The Al Khiday Cemetery in Central Sudan and its “Classic/Late Meroitic” Period Graves. Journal of African archaeology (Internet), 12(2), 183-204. https://doi.org/10.3213/2191-5784-10254
• Buckley, S., Usai, D., Jakob, T., Radini, A., & Hardy, K. (2014). Dental Calculus Reveals Unique Insights into Food Items, Cooking and Plant Processing in Prehistoric Central Sudan. PLoS ONE, 9(7), Article e100808. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100808
• Pētersone-Gordina, E., Gerhards, G., & Jakob, T. (2013). Nutrition-related health problems in a wealthy 17–18th century German community in Jelgava, Latvia. International Journal of Paleopathology, 3(1), 30-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2013.01.002
• Usai, D., Salvatori, S., Iacumin, P., di Matteo, A., Jakob, T., & Zerboni, A. (2010). Excavating a unique pre-Mesolithic cemetery in central Sudan. Antiquity, 84,
• Park, V., Roberts, C., & Jakob, T. (2009). Palaeopathology in Britain: a critical analysis of publications with the aim of exploring recent trends (1997-2006). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 19, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.1068
• Jakob, T. (2007). The Value and Future Potential of Human Skeletal Remains excavated at the Fourth Cataract
• Czarnetzki, A., Jakob, T., & Pusch, C. (2003). Palaeopathological and variant conditions of the Homo heidelbergensis type specimen (Mauer, Germany). Journal of Human Evolution, 44(4), 479-495

Monograph

• Jakob, T. (2009). Prevalence and patterns of disease in early medieval populations: a comparison of skeletal samples of the 5th-8th centuries A.D. from Britain and southwestern Germany. John and Erica Hedges

Other (Print)

• Roberts, C., Alves Cardoso, F., Bernofsky, K., Henderson, C., Jakob, T., Plomp, K., Ponce, P., Sharman, J., & Spencer, R. (2012). Palaeopathology: studying the origin, evolution and frequency of disease in human remains from archaeological sites