Victoria Yuskaitis

I currently work full-time as an Academic Skills Officer at the University of Southampton in the Learn with US Transition Programme, which prepares students, especially from Widening Participation backgrounds, to succeed at a Russell Group University. I am also continuing to publish about my research on English anchorites, the cells they lived in, and their varied experiences.

An anchorite squint from the parish church in Stanton-Upon-Hine-Heath, Shropshire

My work is interdisciplinary and combines archaeological, historical, and literary approaches. In particular, I have developed an original typology and methodology for identifying and interpreting surviving archaeological remains of anchorite cells.

I have significant experience working on archaeological excavations in Israel and the UK, delivering public engagement activities virtually and in person, and being published in edited collections and journal articles, including Studies in Medievalism and Early Middle English.

More publications are also forthcoming, and I hope to publish my PhD thesis.

I have been accepted on a British Archaeological Association panel for the International Medieval Congress (IMC) in 2022, to present about leper squints, and previously I have presented at and attended numerous conferences, including previous IMCs, the British Archaeological Association (BAA) Annual Conference (2019), and the International Anchoritic Society Conference (2018).

Publications

• 'Archaeology and Medievalism at Julian of Norwich's Anchorite Cell', Studies in Medievalism, 29 (2020), pp. 123–54
• 'The Archaeological Context of an Anchorite Cell at Ruyton, Shropshire', Early Middle English, 3.1 (2021), pp. 131–36
• 'The Archaeological Context of an Anchorite Cell at Ruyton, Shropshire', in The Materiality of Middle English Anchoritic Devotion, ed. by Michelle M. Sauer and Jenny C. Bledsoe (York: Arc Humanities Press, 2021), pp. 131–36
• ‘Brothers Minor: Lancashire’s Lost Franciscans Investigations at Preston Friary, 1991 and 2007’, Northern History, 58.2 (2021), pp. 309–10
• ‘Performative Anchorite Grave at St. Anne’s, Lewes, Sussex’, Sussex Archaeological Collections,158 (2020), pp. 233–36