Institute alumna wins Linnean Society Trail-Crisp Award

Lara González Carretero (PhD, UCL 2020) now based at the University of York, is the recipient of the Linnean Society's Trail-Crisp Award for 2023.

Her PhD research at the UCL Institute of Archaeology concerned the genesis of bread cultures: an archaeobotanical study on changing cuisine and cooking practices at Neolithic Catalhoyuk (Turkey) and was supervised by Dorian Fuller and Katherine (Karen) Wright.

Lara's work on charred cereal foods for her 2020 PhD provided a breakthrough for archaeobotany. The carbonised remains of food have proved stubbornly resistant to identification, but she was able to establish clear and replicable criteria to identify cereal species under the microscope. Her best-known work concerns bread material from Jordan that represents the world’s oldest known to date.

The Linnean Society aims to promote the study of all aspects of the biological sciences. Through awarding medals and grants, the Society acknowledges and encourages excellence in all of these fields.Established in 1966, from the amalgamation of The Trail Award and The Crisp Award (both founded in 1910), the Trail-Crisp Award is presented at intervals with preference to early and mid-career researchers in  recognition of an outstanding contribution to microscopy.

Congratulations Lara!

Read more

• The Linnean Society Awards Prizes Grants
• News: Recipe for origins of bread discovered in Jordan
• PNAS research article