Project role
I am the project’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Digital Humanities, serving as data manager and leading on the application of quantitative and data sciences methodologies to a wide range of materials, while also contributing my historical expertise on medieval England and north-western Europe.
Background
Over the course of my academic career I have worked with universities, national museums and academic institutions in England and in Finland on research projects related to history, archaeology, Digital Humanities and Citizen Science.
I was awarded a PhD in History by the University of Cambridge in 2007 for my dissertation on international exchanges in north-western Europe during the Middle Ages. My current projects, including MeRit, combine intersectoral and data-driven scientific research of historical and archaeological materials with the study of their dissemination, use and consumption in the contemporary society as digitized cultural heritage. Prior to joining MeRit in 2023 I worked as a University Researcher on a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship at the University of Helsinki, Finland, where I lead or am involved with a number of interdisciplinary research projects on these themes. I will return to Helsinki between September 2023 and March 2024 but will continue collaborating with MeRit during this period, before re-joining it in April 2024.
Education and training
PhD in History, University of Cambridge, 2007
MPhil in Medieval History, University of Cambridge, 2004
BA in History, University of Cambridge, 2001
Areas of interest
- Medieval history and archaeology (in particular socio-economic topics).
- Historical travel, trade and communications.
- Digital humanities and data sciences in the Humanities.
- Citizen Science.
- Cultural Heritage.
Research projects
- HISCOM – Historical Travel and Communications in Finland, c. 1650-1917 (University of Helsinki, 2023-2027).
- MeRit – The Medieval Ritual Landscape: Archaeology & Lived Religion (University of Reading & the British Museum 2023-2026).
- DeepFIN – Assessing Archaeological Deep Time in Finland through Spatial Exploration (University of Helsinki, 2020-2023).
- DigiNUMA – Digital Solutions to European Numismatic Heritage (2022-2024).
- DASTA – Data Services for Transnational Archaeology (2021).
Selected publications
Scientific monographs
Oksanen, E. (2012). Flanders and the Anglo-Norman World, 1066-1216, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Scientific articles
Oksanen, E., Ehrnsten F., Rantala, H. & Hyvönen, E. (accepted in 2023). ‘Semantic Solutions for Democratizing Archaeological and Numismatic Data Analysis’, ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage.
Oksanen, E., Saarenpää, I. & Lahtinen, A. (accepted in 2023). ‘Exploring Methodologies for Large-scale Digitisation of Historical Roadways: the HISCOM Project’, SKAS.
Giacomo, B., Kempf, M., Oksanen, E., Günther, Scholtus, L. and Nakoinz, O. (submitted) ‘Point Pattern Analysis (PPA) as a tool for reproducible archaeological site distribution analyses and location processes’.
Oksanen, E. & Lewis, M. (2023). ‘Evaluating Transformations in Small Metal Finds Following the Black Death’, Medieval Archaeology 67.1, 159-86.
Oksanen, E., Rantala, H., Tuominen, J., Lewis, M. Wigg-Wolf, D., Ehrnsten F. & Hyvönen, E. (2022). ‘Digital Humanities Solutions for Pan-European Numismatic and Archaeological Heritage Based on Linked Open Data’, CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 352-60.
Rantala, H., Oksanen, E., and Hyvönen, E. (2022). ‘Harmonizing and Using Numismatic Linked Data in Digital Humanities Research and Application Development: Case DigiNUMA’, Extended Semantic Web Conference 2022, 26-30.
Rantala, H., Ikkala, E., Rohiola, V., Koho, M., Tuominen, J., Oksanen, E., Wessman, A., & Hyvönen, E. (2022). ‘FindSampo: A Linked Data Based Portal and Data Service for Analyzing and Disseminating Archaeological Object Finds’, The Semantic Web 2022, 478-94.
Oksanen, E. (2022). ‘Trade and Travel’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of William the Conqueror (c.1025–1100), ed. by Benjamin Pohl, Cambridge, 118-39.
Wessman, A. & Oksanen, E. (2022). ‘Metal-detecting data as citizen science archaeology’, in Odes to Mika. Professor Mika Lavento’s Festschrift as he turns 60 years old, eds. Petri Halinen, Volker Heyd & Kristiina Mannermaa, The Archaeological Society of Finland, 293-302.
Hyvönen, E., Rantala, H., Ikkala, E., Koho, M., Tuominen, J., Anafi, B., Thomas, S., Wessman, A., Oksanen, E., Rohiola, V., Kuitunen, J., & Ryyppö, M. (2021). ‘Citizen Science Archaeological Finds on the Semantic Web: The FindSampo Framework’, Antiquity 95, 1-7.
Oksanen, E. & Lewis, M. (2020). ‘Medieval Commercial Sites: as seen through Portable Antiquities Scheme data’, in Antiquaries Journal 100, 1-32.
Oksanen, E. (2020). ‘Knights, Mercenaries and Paid Soldiers: Military Identities in the Anglo-Norman Regnum’, in Chivalric Identity in the High Middle Ages, ed. by David Crouch, Jeroen Deploige, and Xavier Baecke, Leuven, 71-93.
Oksanen, E. (2019). ‘Flanders and the Flemish’, Scotland and the Flemish People, ed. by A. Fleming and R. Mason, John Donald, 6-28.
Oksanen, E. (2018). ‘Anglo-Norman Treaties’, The Encyclopedia of Diplomacy, ed. G. Martel, Chichester.
Oksanen, E. (2017). ‘Inland Waterways and Commerce in Medieval England‘, in Post-Classical Archaeologies 7, 7-32.
Oksanen, E. & Lewis M. (2017). ‘Exploring the Commercial Landscape of Medieval Saltfleetby and Skidbrooke, Lincolnshire, through PAS Data’, in Medieval Archaeology 59, 2016, 362-7
Oksanen, E. & Lewis M. (2015). ‘Medieval Markets and Portable Antiquities Scheme’, in Medieval Settlement Research 30, 54-9.
Oksanen, E. (2015). ‘Trade and Travel in England during the Long Twelfth Century’, in Anglo-Norman Studies 37, 181-204.
Oksanen, E. (2013). ‘Economic Relations between East Anglia and Flanders in the Anglo-Norman Period’ in East Anglia and Its North Sea World, eds D. Bates, R. Liddiard and L. Marten, Woodbridge, 174-87.
Oksanen, E. (2008). ‘The Anglo-Flemish Treaties and Flemish Soldiers in England 1101-1163’ in Mercenaries and Paid Men. The Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages, ed. J. France, Brill, Leiden, 261-73.
Scientific Databases
Oksanen, E. (2019). Inland Navigation in England and Wales before 1348: GIS Database, a Geographic Information Systems database, in UK Archaeology Data Service.
Brookes, S. Rye, E. & Oksanen, E. (2019). Bridges and River Crossing in Anglo-Saxon England, a Geographic Information Systems database, in UK Archaeology Data Service.