Prof. Dr. Hannah James

I am an archaeological scientist and isotope geochemist working at the interface of archaeology, chemistry and environmental science. My research focuses on using isotopic and elemental techniques to investigate past human and animal mobility, diet, food production and interactions with changing environments. I am particularly interested in research that bridges archaeological questions with broader geochemical, ecological and environmental applications.

I moved to VUB in 2021 to join ERC LUMIERE as a postdoctoral researcher working on developing bioavailable strontium baselines and investigating human and animal mobility across Europe. In 2024, I started as an FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellow working on developing a dietary proxy using stable strontium isotopes. As of October 2026, I also hold a 10% Research Professor at AMGC.

I completed my education at the Australian National University, completing a Masters in Archaeological Science and PhD in isotope geochemistry, focusing on the application of in situ oxygen analyses of tooth enamel and the creation of bioavailable strontium baselines.

Alongside my research, I contribute to teaching and student supervision in archaeological science and isotope geochemistry, and support the development and communication of research within AMGC and the Brussels Bioarchaeology Lab.

I am a strong believer in open access data and since 2021 I have been a Board Member of the IsoArcH Association, an open access database for archaeological isotope data

EDUCATION

•  Postdoctoral researcher on ERC LUMIERE – 2021-2024
•  Post-doctoral researcher – School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University – 2020-2021
•  PhD -Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University - 2021 
•  Masters of Archaeological Science – Australian National University - 2014
•  Bachelor of Arts (Biological Anthropology) – Australian National University - 2012
•  Bachelor of Science (Biology) – Australian National University – 2012

KEYWORDS

• Archaeological science

• Isotope analysis

• Isoscapes

• Dietary reconstruction

• GIS

MAIN PUBLICATIONS

• Stantis, C., Willmes, M., Le Corre, M., James, H.F., Kafino, C., Verostick, K.A., Paris, E.H., Bank, J., Bowen, G.J., Salesse, K. and Bataille, C.P., 2026. Global compilation of bioavailable strontium isotope data. Scientific Data.

• James, H.F., Willmes, M., Fabre, M., Courtaud, P., Rey, K., Balasse, M., Grün, R. and Snoeck, C., 2025. Environmental sampling to capture bioavailable strontium isotope distributions on Corsica. Applied Geochemistry, p.106511.

• Legrand, E.M., Martens, M., Cheung, C., Veselka, B., Debruyne, T., De Mulder, G., Goderis, S., Dalle, S., Snoeck, C. and James, H.F., 2025. Rethinking strontium variability beyond mobility: Strontium isotope and concentration analysis of cremated remains from Tienen (Gallo-Roman Belgium, 1-4th c. AD). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 67, p.105371.

• Griffith, J.I., James, H.F., Ordoño, J., Fernández-Crespo, T., Gerritzen, C.T., Cheung, C., Spros, R., Claeys, P., Goderis, S., Veselka, B. and Snoeck, C., 2025. Reconstructing prehistoric lifeways using multi-Isotope analyses of human enamel, dentine, and bone from Legaire Sur, Spain. PLoS One, 20(1), p.e0316387.

• James, H., Karligkioti, A., Cornelissen, Y., Veselka, B., De Mulder, G. and Snoeck, C., 2025. Mobility patterns, dietary shifts and chronology: strontium and radiocarbon insights from calcined bones at Ursel-Rozestraat (prov. of East-Flanders, Belgium). Lunula. Archaeologia protohistorica, 33, pp.123-130.

• Gerritzen, C.T., Goderis, S., James, H.F. and Snoeck, C., 2024. Optimizing Zr-doped MC-ICP-MS sample-standard bracketing to simultaneously determine 87Sr/86Sr and δ88Sr for high sample-throughput. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 217, p.106955.

• James, H.F., Adams, S., Willmes, M., Mathison, K., Ulrichsen, A., Wood, R., Valera, A.C., Frieman, C.J. and Grün, R., 2022. A large-scale environmental strontium isotope baseline map of Portugal for archaeological and paleoecological provenance studies. Journal of Archaeological Science, 142, p.105595