The Life Scientific: Jacqueline McKinley

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How much information can you extract from a burnt fragment of human bone?

Quite a lot, it turns out - not only about the individual, but also their broader lives and communities; and these are the stories unearthed by Jacqueline McKinley, a Principal Osteoarchaeologist with Wessex Archaeology.

During her career, Jackie has analysed thousands of ancient burial sites across the British Isles, bringing to life the old traditions around death via often cremated human remains. She's also assisted criminal investigators with forensic analysis, and contributed to some of the UK's best-loved archaeological TV shows. And one thing she’s absolutely clear about: far from being macabre, osteoarchaeology is more about the living, than the dead...

In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Jackie talks about the stories we can derive from skeletal remains, how western attitudes to death have gone through a major recent shift, and why she's kept some of her late father's bones.

Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor Reversion for World Service by Minnie Harrop

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
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0:07.2	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.
0:09.4	Absolutely right.
0:11.5	So, you might like to know that the BBC makes loads of other podcasts.
0:15.6	Really?
0:16.4	Wow.
0:17.2	Many of them are very funny.
0:19.1	Which I think means...
0:20.1	A hatful of ha-hars. And energy. Even if we do very funny. Which I think means... A hatful of ha haas.
0:21.7	And energy. Even if we do say so ourselves. I agree 100% of that. Find them all on BBC Sounds. Just tell us a joke. Come on, tell us a joke. Tell us a joke. Come on, tell us a joke. Just search comedy on BBC Sounds. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in. How much information can you extract from a burnt fragment of bone?
0:41.6	The answer might surprise you because today, through a combination of science, technology and
0:46.4	detective work, cremated bone and indeed other remains from ancient burial sites, can tell
0:52.0	us a huge amount about their backstories.
0:54.8	This subterranean world where science meets history
0:57.8	is where today's guest digs for answers, quite literally.
1:01.9	Jacqueline McKinley is a principal osteo-archologist with Wessex archaeology
1:06.6	and has analysed thousands of burial sites across the British Isles,
1:10.8	dating from around 9,000 BC through to the comparatively modern 18th century.
1:16.4	Over her career, Jackie's brought to life ancient societies via burned bone fragments,
1:21.6	helped criminal investigators with forensic analysis,
1:24.5	and contributed to some of Britain's best-loved archaeological TV shows.
	...

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