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Posted on 17 June 2023
Professor Nicky Milner
Professor Milner is an award-winning archaeologist who for the last couple of decades has co-directed a number of excavations including the world-famous Middle Stone Age site of Star Carr.
Star Carr site is heralded as one of the most important archaeological sites in this country and recognised globally for the exceptional preservation and examination of its organic remains as well as producing the oldest Mesolithic art in Britain, the earliest known house in Britain and the earliest known carpentry in Europe.
Artefacts
Located in North Yorkshire, the site dates to around 11,000 years ago, just centuries after the end of the last Ice Age. It has become world famous in the archaeological world due to the preservation of artefacts found buried deep in the peat, including headdresses made from red deer skulls which appeared on a Royal Mail stamp in 2017.
Professor Milner led a team of over 70 researchers from a range of disciplines to investigate the site, and preserve some of the remains before they were destroyed due to severe changes in the soil chemistry. This research demonstrated how humans coped with rapid climate change at the end of the last glacial period in Northern Europe.
Public engagment
She is passionate about raising the profile of this period of British prehistory and has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public engagement, which has included visiting schools, working on exhibitions with a number of museums, writing several books, and appearing on numerous TV programmes and radio.
Professor Milner said: ”I am delighted to receive this honour which reflects the importance of archaeology. It is a great privilege to be able to inspire people in archaeology and hopefully encourage the next generation to take an interest in the past and understand how this relates to the present, and future.
“I have been exceptionally lucky to have been trained and mentored by some incredible people and worked with some amazing teams and I thank them for all their support over the years.”
Mentoring
Professor Milner was the first female Professor of Archaeology since the Department’s inception in 1979 and is currently Head of Department. She has been very active in leadership roles, and has worked on encouraging and supporting staff in promotion across the University, mentoring women and creating gender equality in different academic contexts.
More broadly, she has been a Trustee for a number of Archaeological Institutions and sits on a number of international boards. She was elected fellow of the Society of the Antiquaries of London in 2009 and a British Academy Fellow in 2019.
Inspirational
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Charlie Jeffery, said: “Nicky is an inspirational and extremely accomplished archaeologist. She excels in everything she does from teaching and research to public engagement. Her work on the Star Carr site in North Yorkshire was at the forefront of archaeological research by all global benchmarks.
“In addition, she is an outstanding and inclusive research supervisor, consistently supporting high numbers of students from a range of backgrounds, some of whom have gone on to prestigious careers.
“I’m delighted that her body of work has been recognised in the Birthday Honours.”
Impact
Professor Milner has been acknowledged in various university awards and in 2019 she was highly commended for Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year at the Times Higher Awards.
In 2014 and 2020, Professor Milner and her team won Research Project of the Year at the Current Archaeology awards, voted for by the public, for their work at Star Carr; demonstrating unequivocally the incredible impact and reach of her research. The project also won the Best Innovation Prize in 2016 in the British Archaeological Awards.
A second academic at the University of York has been recognised for her work in the Birthday Honours.
Professor Jane Hill was awarded an OBE for services to conservation ecology in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Professor Hill has been a member of staff at the University of York for more than 20 years, examining how species – particularly butterflies – have shifted their ranges in response to climate change.
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