Nicky Milner facts for kids

Nicola Jane Milner (born 4 September 1973) is a British archaeologist and a university professor. She is known for her amazing work studying the Mesolithic period, which is also called the Middle Stone Age. This was a time when people lived after the last Ice Age but before farming began.

Professor Milner is the head of the Archaeology Department at the University of York. She has spent more than 15 years working at a very important ancient site called Star Carr in England. She has led the digs there since 2004.

Who is Nicky Milner?

Nicky Milner is a top archaeologist who studies how people lived thousands of years ago. She focuses on the time when the Ice Age ended and people started to settle down more, but before they began farming. This period is called the Mesolithic.

She has received several important awards for her work. In 2019, she became a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), which is a big honor for experts in history and social sciences. In 2009, she also became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). In 2023, she was given the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her great contributions to archaeology.

Her Early Life and Learning

Nicky Milner was born on September 4, 1973, in Bridlington, a town in Yorkshire, England. She went to Hunmanby Hall School, which was a private boarding school for girls.

She loved learning about the past, so she decided to study archaeology at the University of Nottingham. She earned her first degree there in 1995. After that, she went to the University of Cambridge to continue her studies. There, she worked on her PhD, which is a very high university degree.

For her PhD, she found a new way to figure out the time of year that ancient people ate oysters. She did this by looking at the growth rings on oyster shells, similar to how you might count rings on a tree! She used this method to study old shell piles, called "kitchen middens," in Denmark. She finished her PhD in 1999.

Her Career in Archaeology

After finishing her PhD, Nicky Milner received a special research grant called a Sir James Knott postdoctoral fellowship in 1999. This allowed her to continue her research at Newcastle University. In 2001, she became a lecturer there, teaching students about archaeology.

In 2004, she moved to the University of York. She quickly moved up the ranks, becoming a senior lecturer in 2009 and then a Professor of Archaeology in 2012. Since 2019, she has been the head of the Archaeology Department at the University of York. This means she leads all the archaeology studies and teaching there.

Professor Milner also helps share archaeological knowledge with others. She is a senior editor for a major archaeology review and has been an editor for the Mesolithic Miscellany journal since 2006. She also helped write a popular book called Star Carr: Life in Britain After the Ice Age, which was connected to a big exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum.

Amazing Discoveries at Star Carr

Professor Milner leads a big research project called POSTGLACIAL. This project looks at how people lived in northwest Europe after the last Ice Age and how they adapted to big changes in the climate. The main place they study for this project is Star Carr and other sites around an ancient lake called Flixton.

Her excavations at Star Carr have been so important that they were even shown on a special episode of the UK TV show Time Team. In 2013, her team found what they believed was the "earliest house in Britain." This incredible discovery was reported by news channels all over the world, including the BBC, CBS, and Sky News Australia.

Besides her work at Star Carr, she has also studied ancient shell piles in Ireland, Scotland, Spain, and Portugal. She has also helped lead digs at other important sites like Howick and Baylet.

In 2019, Professor Milner was recognized for being an excellent research supervisor. This means she does a great job guiding and helping other students and researchers with their projects.