Heritage Stone Conservation in Urban Churchyards ― Merging Necrogeography, Historical Archaeology, and Geomorphology

Dr Mary J. Thornbush is a Member of Oriel College at the University of Oxford, England, UK and concurrently a Research Fellow at Cardiff University in Wales, UK. She was until recently Adjunct Professor in Geography (since 2014) and Associate Member of the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (since 2015) at Brock University, Canada. She has been working on the Weathering of Headstones in British Churchyards project since 2007 (with preliminary research in 2006), while also implementing the Ivy on Walls project (2006–2007) as part of the Rock Breakdown Laboratory at the University of Oxford, UK, where she obtained her doctorate at Oriel College in 2006. Dr Thornbush has produced nearly 70 publications in academic journals and books, including edited volumes, conference proceeding, briefs, and encyclopedias, since 2004. She has participated in over 25 conferences and workshops to disseminate her research since 2000. Her academic career has brought her to various universities in North America and Europe, where she has lectured in geography and the environment since 2008. She is a geomorphologist with expertise in rock weathering, heritage conservation, and interdisciplinary research; and is currently developing necogeography as physical geography.

Sylvia E. Thornbush has been a historical archaeologist at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) since 2007. Her specific research interests include mortuary remains, the archaeology of death, feminist archaeology, and underwater archaeology. She has published in interdisciplinary journals, including part of a special issue on Geomorphology, Culture, and Place in the journal Applied Geography (2013) and co-authored books for Bentham Science Publishers, including Photographs Across Time: Studies in Urban Landscapes (2015) and Changing Deathscapes: Headstones in Urban British Churchyards (2018).