Dr. Helene Benkert
Helene Benkert completed her MSc at the University of Sheffield with a specialisation in zooarchaeology. Her PhD thesis (2023, Exeter) investigated horse stature and morphology in medieval Europe, in collaboration with the AHRC-funded Project “Warhorse – A medieval revolution?”.
Although a prehistorian by training, Helene has most recently worked on faunal assemblages from medieval Iceland to explore animal husbandry and diet in Benedictine and Augustinian monasteries as part of the Project ‘Between Man and Nature’ at the University of Iceland. Her research interests lie, amongst others, in equine history, morphology and human-animal interactions, co-authoring papers in PNAS, the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Cheiron: The International Journal of Equine and Equestrian History, and chapters in the upcoming Warhorse monograph.
Books by Helene Benkert
Harnessing Horses from Prehistory to History
Approaches and Case Studies
Edited by Katherine Kanne, Helene Benkert, and Camille ML Vo Van Qui | Forthcoming
The human past is unimaginable without the horse. From our ancestors hunting and painting horses in the Upper Palaeolithic, to the earliest riders, the rise of equestrian empires, and the critical role of horses in…
