Hassett has undertaken substantial archaeological fieldwork, including in Greece, Thailand and Turkey. The majority of her fieldwork has concerned analysis and recording of human remains for Aşıklı Höyük (Istanbul University), the Çatalhöyük Project (Stanford/UCL), Giza Plateau Mapping Project (Oriental Institute Chicago/American Research Center in Egypt), AOC Archaeology Unit (London), and the British Museum (London).[citation needed]
Hassett was a post-doctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum in London from 2012 to 2016, working on the "Tooth fairy" project,[1] researching what forensic analysis of teeth can tell us about the diet and lifestyles of children in the past. Hassett remains a scientific associate of the Natural History Museum.[citation needed]
Since 2018, she has been co-leading the large four year research project "Radical Death",[2][3] funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, at University College London. Using new evidence from the Early Bronze Age graves of Başur Höyük, on the Upper Tigris in Turkey, the project is researching how ritual killing was implicated in the political transformations of the third millennium BC. In 2019, Hassett was awarded a British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) study grant to extend the impact of the Radical Death project to include conservation and finds training for graduate students and undergraduates at Ege University.[4][5]
Writing career
In 2017, her first book Built on Bones 15,000 Years of Urban Life and Death[6] was published by Bloomsbury Sigma press to critical acclaim.[7][8][9] She wrote her second book, called Growing Up Human: the evolution of childhood, published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2022.[10]
She is a founding member of the TrowelBlazers collective, which seeks to promote awareness of female participation in science, particularly contributions to archaeology, palaeontology, and geology. This project has included a public-participatory online archive, as well as much wider engagement with social media communities and public talks, panel discussions, and lectures aimed at diverse audiences. In 2015, TrowelBlazers worked with the toy company Arklu to develop the Fossil Hunter Lottie Doll,[24] which is now sold all over the world.[25][26] In 2016, TrowelBlazes developed and launched the Raising Horizons project, which was a collaboration highlighting the contributions of women geoscientists past and present with artist Leonora Saunders and toured the UK throughout 2017-19.[27][28][29]
^Hassett, Brenna (8 May 2018). Built on bones : 15,000 years of urban life and death (Paperback ed.). London. ISBN9781472922960. OCLC1032369213.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Archaeology, Current World (25 January 2018). "Review: Built on Bones". World Archaeology. Retrieved 6 October 2019.