Faculty of Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics, University of Iceland
Maren is a PhD candidate in Biological Anthropology at the University of Iceland, supervised by Prof. Agnar Helgason and supported by a doctoral scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship Foundation). Her project investigates non-adult skeletal remains from several medieval Icelandic sites using macroscopic and biomolecular methods to explore questions related to health, mortality, and social identity among infants and children. So far, her research has found evidence of severe early-life health disruption, highlighting how life trajectories were shaped by the environmental and sociocultural conditions of the North Atlantic.
Beyond her doctoral project, Maren critically engages with the construction of historical narratives. She is particularly interested in how women and children are represented, and marginalized, in interpretations of the past, including recurring narratives of female infanticide and the broader exclusion of women and children from dominant archaeological discourse.
Research interests: Biological Anthropology, Archaeology of Childhood, Mother-Infant-Nexus, Feminist Theory.