Talking about Medieval Archaeology

The Society for Medieval Archaeology Careers Day

THE PANELLISTS

ABBY ANTROBUS, SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL [email protected]

The first site I excavated was an Anglo -Saxon cemetery at Lakenheath (1997). I was informed – truthfully – that this was one of the best sites of my career. I went on to study for a BSc in Archaeology at (1999-2002). After graduating, I worked as a site assistant for Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Field Unit. I then returned to Durham for an MA in Historical Archaeology, followed by a PhD supervised by Pam Graves and Chris Gerrard (2004 -8). My thesis was on medieval urbanism , explored through a case-study of the evolution of the landscape and buildings of Bury St Edmunds up to 1220. After submission, I turned to fieldwork as an antidote to the effects of months spent before a computer.

I decided to pursue commercial/curator ial archaeology, and have worked for Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service since January 2009, building on my medieval and urban interests whilst at work and at play. I have been involved with excavation, report writing and research, and supervised on a major project to catalogue and digitise the archives from unpublished excavations in Ipswich. Since June, I have been receiving on-the-job training in planning -related archaeology, picking up medieval and church related case-work in particular. It h as been a steep learning curve, with new experiences of GIS, planning guidance, ethical debate, and public relations. It involves engagement with policies and research agendas on local and national levels, and being part of a team that influences what work is carried out, how it is done, how research potential is realised, and how the results should be disseminated. Against a backdrop of a never -ending stream of planning applications, I’m finding the job challenging, varied and satisfying.

TERRY BARRY, TR INITY COLLEGE DUBLIN [email protected]

My route to a career in archaeology probably started when I was a young teenager living in Kent when I heard o ne of the trumpets found in the spectacular tomb of the young Pharoah, Tutankanem, sounding down the millennia when blown on BBC radio. Soon after this my active involvement in ‘dirt’ archaeology was, like I guess many other people, sparked off by one of m y schoolteachers. I spent at least one summer digging on the site of a medieval motte and bailey that he was excavating in his spare time. Along with several friends we then founded a local archaeological society, and as part of our fieldwork programme we decided to clear the saplings and undergrowth that had obscured the ruins of the now-famous Anglo-Saxon church at Stone -By-Faversham. While we were doing this Sir Eric Fletcher, one of the founders of the Society for Medieval Archaeology, was driving b y on the main road from Canterbury to London and saw us there. As a result of this, an important excavation was conducted on this unique site, during which I had the experience of the legendary Sir Mortimer Wheeler who was wearing a large painter’s hat, u sing my trowel!

By now I was hooked on medieval archaeology, but because I had failed the dreaded 11+ exams I found it difficult to get into university. However, the ’s History Department took me in through ‘Clearing’ to do a degree in Medieval and Modern History, a lucky accident for me. I soon discovered Philip Rahtz in the Department, undoubtedly the most gifted field archaeologist I have ever worked with. So as soon as I could, I enrolled for special subjects with him on medieval archaeology. I was also lucky to be part of his excavation team when he examined the Anglo-Saxon defences of Hereford.

Interestingly enough, I had also studied American History in Birmingham, and in the final year of my degree I managed to win two scholarships to study in the USA. I chose to go to NYC to study for a MA in US History in Fordham University, which I duly completed in a year. I almost stayed to complete a doctorate on the Federalist era, but after a year in the States now felt even more of a European. As I was really interested in the archaeology of medieval rural settlement I decided to go to Queen’s University Belfast to work under Robin Glasscock on moated sites in SE Ireland. While there I took part in the excavations of Carrickfergus under the late Tom Delaney, and of Dunsilly motte by Tom McNeill.

When I finished my Ph.D. in the mid 1970s, like now, there were few academic jobs so I taught History and Politics in Campbell College for just over a year, before a position came up in the Office of Public Works in Dublin, as a state archaeologist. Again, my tenure of this job was very short, just over a year, during which I excavated Dunbeg promontory fort on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, the first time I’d dug a Prehistoric site!

Luckily for me, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland’s oldest and we think, best university was contemplating offering a degree in Irish Studies in 1978. Unfortunately, due to inter-departmental rivalries this never took place, but one junior lectureship in medieval archaeology, which was tied to the Department of Medieval History was created. This was the job I walked into, and where I still teach. Two years ago Trinity actually started its first programme in Irish Studies! What incredible symmetry.

NEIL CHRISTIE, [email protected]

Neil graduated at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and then undertook a PhD there on late Roman and early medieval Italy (awarded way back in 1986), before holding a scholarship at the British School at Rome. Subsequently he held post-doctoral fellowships at Newcastle and then at Oxford before finally gaining a full-time academic post at Leicester in the then School of Archaeological Studies in 1992. Since then he has progressed to be Reader in Archaeology. His side jobs include being Reviews and MBI editor for Medieval Archaeology journal; Hon Secretary and Reviews Editor for the Medieval Settlement Research Group; he has served on various grants panels (including AHRC). Fieldwork is a core element to his research and has dug on, directed and co-directed projects in Italy (as well as in Spain) since the 1990s, both excavation and field survey, centred mainly on medieval sites and landscapes. His current fieldwork focus is the AHRC funded Wallingford (Oxfordshire) project, exploring late Saxon to late medieval urbanism; this project (2008-10) employed a Research Officer and funded two PhDs; and an essential element to the project has been its close liaison and partnership with community groups.

PATRICK CLAY, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SERVICES [email protected]

After gaining considerable archaeological experience on a wide variety of sites since graduating in History at Lancaster University in 1973, Patrick Clay worked as a site assistant, surveyor, supervisor and Field Officer with Leicestershire Archaeological Unit. On its closure he was joint founder of ULAS in 1995 where he is co-Director. He has directed numerous projects including excavations of round barrows and Iron Age settlements and has published over twenty archaeological reports, his particular interest being prehistoric and alluvial archaeology. In 1996 he completed doctoral research at Leicester University into prehistoric settlement and land-use on the East Midlands claylands.

Since 1990 he has managed over 500 archaeological projects including major fieldwork programmes in advance of residential development, road schemes, long distance pipeline projects, gravel quarries and opencast coal extraction. He has acted as a consultant for various organisations including major road improvements in Eire and providing Proofs of Evidence for Public Inquiries. Patrick has served for 6 years on the council of the Institute for Archaeologists and for 5 years as Vice Chair (Standards).

DAVID CONOLLY, BAJR [email protected]

From the start, I have been a keen archaeologist, beginning at the age of 13 on a cave site in the Wye Valley, through the local archaeology society and then on to university. I soon realized that the academic route was not for me and left to join the York Archaeological Trust as a digger. I picked up skills along the way, and learned from people as varied as photographers, surveyors and illustrators until I was able to use these skills to make myself a useful participant on projects across the Middle East and Central Asia. In the UK I became increasingly concerned about the state of pay for field archaeologists, and after being inspired by the Digger newsletter in 1999 set up BAJR to offer adverts in archaeology. Over time, this allowed me to create pay minima and grading which has been broadly accepted as an industry standard. Most jobs come through BAJR now, and it serves as a seal of approval, as all adverts are vetted prior to publishing. Over the past decade I have been an associate in a medium sized archaeology company and also spent nearly 4 years as a Development Control Archaeologist in a Local Council. I now have a consultancy, work in public archaeology and unionisation in British Archaeology and continue to push forward digital boundaries of heritage communication, including the successful Past Horizons brand. Archaeology should be inclusive and find a place for us all, it has great potential to be a successful career choice, and provide an opening to all those who seek employment in the industry. BAJR will continue to support this over the next decade.

AMANDA FORSTER, BIRMINGHAM ARCHAEOLOGY [email protected]

I started my archaeological career at Bradford University, undertaking a BSc in Archaeology. The course at Bradford is a four year sandwich course, with your third year taken up with work experience relevant to the course – and excellent opportunity and worthwhile for anyone considering a real career in archaeology. I was lucky enough to work in two very different environments; the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments, Scotland (RCAHMS) in Edinburgh and as a post-excavation assistant with the Northern Isles Research Laboratory at Bradford University. Luckily for me both placements were paid, but perhaps more importantly they gave me a great breadth of experience and allowed me to continue to explore my passion for Scottish archaeology. Throughout my degree I had the opportunity to work at the Old Scatness and Jarlshof Environs Project in Shetland, spending every summer excavating one of the most amazing archaeological sites I expect I will ever work on. I continued to work with the project after I graduated and spent a year illustrating, cataloguing and reporting on the material culture recovered from the site and wrestling with Harris matrices which attempted to make sense of approximately 6m of complex archaeological stratigraphy. I became fascinated by the nature of the Viking archaeology at the site (which was an Iron Age village) and in 1999 began a PhD exploring the steatite artefacts of the North Atlantic region. In doing a PhD, I wanted to be sure that I got the most out of the experience and – wanting to avoid sitting in a library for 3 years – fitted in research visits to Faroe, Iceland, Denmark, Ireland and Norway. During my research I had the opportunity to take 6 months out of my PhD to work in Shetland on a large Heritage Lottery Fund bid to start a project in Unst, the most northerly island, entitled the Viking Unst Project. I fell even more in love with Shetland and completed my PhD on the islands, staying on to work on some Viking material recovered from a rescue excavation.

After an unsuccessful bid to undertake a post-doc in Glasgow, I decided it was high time I got a proper job. I applied for a couple but there was very little on the horizon. Seeing the advert for University of Birmingham’s commercial unit for Post Excavation Manager, I thought I would give it a go and – despite a lack of commercial experience – and I apparently impressed my interviewers enough for them to give me a chance. I think this was a real turning point for me. At the time I was headed for a pretty academic career in Scottish and Viking archaeology, or was about to leave the discipline for a graduate training scheme of unknown type. Before the interview I researched the field unit and looked at what they did. I read about English commercial archaeology and tried to cram as much info in as possible. I felt confident that despite my research interests being with Vikings and the North Atlantic (not very West Midlands!), that my practical experience in post excavation and the fact I had been trained by some brilliant archaeologists gave me a good chance as the wild card interviewee. I ended up as the Assistant Post Excavation Manager for the unit and within 3 years was promoted to Senior Management level. I have learnt a huge amount working at the business end of archaeology and I think it had strengthened my profile as an archaeologist. I am now Member of the IfA, sit on various committees and boards (including Medieval Archaeology) and truly enjoy my job. During my time in Birmingham, I have had to opportunity to explore the medieval world in – it’s a very different place to Shetland but just as fascinating. I have recently set up a new project in Cumbria with a colleague, exploring the medieval farming landscape and excavating what we hope will prove to be a medieval upland settlement (though the jury is still out!).

In 2010, I feel I am at another significant staging post in my career, which I expect to throw up challenges and bring with it change. Working in a commercial and academic environment has granted me a unique and valuable experience and I feel very lucky to have been given that opportunity. There are, however, some inherent problems within the profession, not least the relationship between the University and commercial sectors, and I suspect solving these problems may throw up some unexpected opportunities in the current economic climate. The discipline of archaeology is undoubtedly in a difficult place at the moment – the recession has and will continue to challenge the commercial sector and the planned budget cuts are going to make life as a University researcher just as hard. I have learnt a lot through my career but, most of all, I feel that whatever area of research you are interested in (be it medieval artefacts or Roman landscapes), it is vital to remember that you are first an archaeologist and second a specialist. I strongly believe that in order to be successful in archaeology it is important to establish contacts across the profession, to take note of what is happening outside of your own area of interest and to gain as much diverse experience as possible. Despite the current situation, there will always be opportunities and, moreover, I suspect the profession will come through this stronger, more integrated and with a better career structure for a future generation of archaeologists.

MARK GARDINER, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST [email protected]

I went to Cardiff to do a degree in History and Archaeology, but I found the Archaeology bit much more interesting and dropped History. A PhD at University College London followed. While I was doing this, I took a group of friends off to a field in the most remote part of Sussex and we dug a medieval farmstead. After a period of unemployment and evening-class teaching, I got a job as a field officer in the unit at the Institute of Archaeology, London. It was a terrific period and over three or four years I directed excavations on a Roman site, two Saxon farmsteads, a medieval church, a friary and surveyed a castle. By 1996 I had become the deputy director and manager of Archaeology South-East, and then moved to Queen’s University Belfast. I have worked there since, lecturing and undertaking research on a number of sites in Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, as well as England. In my spare time for five years I edited Archaeological Journal .

KATE GEARY, INSTITUTE FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS [email protected]

I graduated with a BA(hons) in archaeology from the in the early 90’s and was fortunate to find a temporary job straight away at the Snowdonia National Park as an assistant to the National Park Archaeologist. This allowed me to gain some valuable real world experience covering Sites and Monuments Records, heritage management and field survey to add to the fairly limited amount of digging I had been able to do as a student. After eight months or so at the National Park, I applied for a Sites and Monuments Record Officer post with the Gwynedd Archaeologist Trust in north west Wales. I was successful and stayed there for the next nine years, mostly working on the SMR (later Historic Environment Record), but also helping out across a range of other areas including desk based assessments and evaluations for the commercial wing of the Trust, field survey, development control archaeology and outreach. My interest in the politics of the profession led me to the IfA Wales Group which I eventually chaired and to the trade union IPMS, now Prospect, for whom I am still a local rep.

I moved from Gwynedd in 2003 to gain experience across the border with an HER/development control post at Devon County Council. Realising that local government was not for me, I took up post with the Institute for Archaeologists as Training and Standards Coordinator in 2005, moving to my current post in 2009. My work with the IfA encompasses the development of standards, including new IfA Standards and guidance, promoting good practice and developing initiatives to promote training. Working for the IfA has allowed me to build on my previous curatorial experience to develop an extremely valuable overview of all aspects of archaeological practice.

DAWN HADLEY, [email protected]

Details to follow

DEIRDRE O’SULLIVAN, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER [email protected]

I grew up in Dublin, where I also went to University, graduating with a BA in Archaeology and History in 1973. After that I went to London to try to earn a living, and worked in an insurance company on Chancery Lane for the best part of a year. I also had various casual jobs, including working as an usherette at the Mermaid Theatre (great fun, and access to free theatre tickets, but incredibly badly paid!). It didn’t take long to work out that I was really not suited to the world of insurance, so I packed that in and did an M.Phil (a 2 yr research degree) at the University of Durham, working on the Early Christian archaeology of Cumbria with Rosemary Cramp. I loved my time at Durham, but when my funding ran out, I went north to St Andrews to work on an MSC (Manpower Services Scheme), which were very significant sources of archaeological employment in the late 1970s and 1980s.

I had managed to pick up a fair bit of excavation experience by then, working at Belderg Beg in Ireland and lots of places in England, mostly in the north. I supervised on the last few seasons at Jarrow with Rosemary Cramp, and also gained much useful experience on urban excavations, but my first ‘breakthrough’ was when I got the chance to run my own project on Lindisfarne, on the site of the present museum. The project was funded by English Heritage, and the system was, retrospectively, enormously supportive and bureaucracy-free at that time. I went on to set up a long-term project on the island with my then partner, Rob Young.

But I had to get a ‘proper job’ and eventually did so, coming to Leicester to set up a course on post excavation skills on a fixed-term temporary contract in 1979. This worked out well; over the next few years recruitment was solid and I was eventually made permanent. I’ve been here ever since; my interests in archaeology have expanded enormously and so has the department. There were 6 academic posts apart from my own in 1979; I have now 30 archaeological colleagues, working all over the world. I’ve spent the past three years mostly developing materials for Distance Learning, including our new BA in Archaeology, so hopefully we will soon have an equally global distribution of students!

RICHARD ORAM, OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY ARCH SERVICE [email protected]

I had always wanted to be an archaeologist, probably inspired by being taken to the Iron Age Hillfort of Beacon Hill as a child by my parents. Of course we went to see Lord Carnarvon’s tomb and it was only later I learned about Hillforts. After being laughed at by my Careers advisor for mentioning it, I entered an engineering apprenticeship in the nearby town. A string of fairly random jobs followed which included working as a baker and a warehouse man and kept me occupied until I chanced upon the access courses run by my local college. This led me to the University of Sheffield to study Archaeology and Prehistory and to occasionally work as an engineer, a baker and a warehouseman.

Although I enjoyed the academic side of archaeology there was never a doubt in my mind that I wanted to dig. During my time at university I managed to miss the first year student dig as I spent the entire summer out in Jordan digging. I only managed to attend the second year dig because I was able to delay my start date on site in France by a few weeks. I also managed to volunteer with a local unit to spend more time on site. Upon finishing my degree I was lucky enough to get a job with a commercial unit famed for ‘hovering’ up graduates during their busy time and laying them off in the winter. This experience got me my second job and a combination of luck and a naturally itinerate lifestyle kept me employed for many years. I fact it kept me employed right up to the moment my back gave out.

Unable to carry on digging for much longer I applied for my current position, Oxfordshire County council’s Planning Archaeologist, in early 2006 and was, thankfully, successful. I currently advise two District Councils, the County Council and a wide variety of external consultees on a number of archaeological matters mainly related to planning but also including agri-environment schemes and research excavations as well as all manner of public enquires. Although not directly involved in excavation I was and always will be a field archaeologist and am still involved indirectly though writing briefs and approving specifications as well as monitoring sites and providing advice and opinions where needed.

DAVID STOCKER, ENGLISH HERITAGE [email protected]

After university education at Cambridge and York (1974-9), David worked for the York Archaeological Trust and in Lincolnshire before joining English Heritage in 1987. Following 5 years casework with ancient monuments and a further 10 years in designation, he is currently a senior professional within EH’s Research Strategy Department. He has occupied a number of roles within British Archaeology including: Director of the British Archaeological Association (1987-1990), founding Chair of the Institute of Field Archaeologists Buildings Group (1989-91), Honorary of the Archaeology Department, University of York (1999-2004), Vice President of the Society for Medieval Archaeology (since 2005), Trustee of the Council for British Archaeology (since 2007), Trustee of the Lincoln Record Society (since 2007) and Trustee of the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology (since 2008). This year he was appointed an Honorary Visiting at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the .

David’s research interests and publications are mostly within medieval archaeology, especially on buildings, settlement and landscape. He has published about 120 contributions to reports and papers in academic journals and is the author or co-author of 10 books. His most recently published volume (one of several authored jointly with Paul Everson) is Summoning St Michael. Early Romanesque Towers in Lincolnshire (2006). In the press is a study of the landscape associated with a Lincolnshire monastery and an edited collection of essays about medieval Grantham.

JOANNA STORY, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER [email protected]

My BA degree was in History and Archaeology at the University of Durham (1989-92) followed by a PhD in History, also at Durham. During this time I did a lot of digging, mostly in the UK (e.g. several seasons at Tintagel). I've worked in the School of Historical Studies at Leicester since 1996. Although I am officially an historian, archaeological evidence has always been a core component of my research and teaching, and continues to inform my research strategy. I specialise in the 'history' of Carolingian Europe, especially the contacts between Anglo-Saxon England and the Continent, and archaeology is obviously central to that subject. I'm very interested in how we make our research methods truly interdisciplinary. To that end I've just been awarded a very big grant by the Leverhulme Trust for a programme of research on The Impact of Diasporas in the Making of Britain. This focuses on the first millennium AD and will combine the evidence and methods of history, archaeology, historical linguistics, genetics and sociology. Six interdisciplinary post docs will be advertised in the new year, so watch this space (or rather, this one: http://www2.le.ac.uk/projects/roots-of-the-british )!

RICHARD THOMAS, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER [email protected]

I read Ancient History and Archaeology at Birmingham University in 1995 (completed in 1998) and subsequently embarked on a PhD at Birmingham, studying animal husbandry in medieval and post- medieval England. Between 2001 and 2003, the period when I was finishing off my thesis (which I completed in 2002), I was employed as a systems analyst for an IT company, designing e-software solutions for companies in a variety of sectors (pensions, stock exchange, B2B, etc.). I joined the School as Lecturer in Zooarchaeology on a four-year fixed term contract in September 2003, and was later made permanent. This year I was promoted to Senior Lecturer and elected as Fellow for the Society of Antiquaries of London. My current and past research has two main strands: (1) the reconstruction of past human-animal relationships, predominantly in the historic period; and (2) palaeopathology – the study of animal health and disease in the past.

During my tenure I have held a variety of administrative roles within the School and University; for five years I was head of the School’s undergraduate admissions team and I have also acted as the School’s careers tutor, during which I disseminated careers information to undergraduate and postgraduate students and organised a number of careers-related events .

LESLIE WEBSTER, PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY FOR MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY FORMERLY OF THE [email protected]

My route to a career as curator of the Anglo-Saxon collections (and eventually Head of the Department of Prehistory and Europe) in the British Museum was an incredibly lucky one.

I’d always been fascinated by past cultures and their archaeology, and had taken part in excavations and fieldwork while at school in Newcastle. But the only university teaching medieval archaeology at the time was at Durham, and since my university plans focussed on getting as far away from home as possible, I went to read English at the University of London, which enabled me not only to pursue a passion for Anglo-Saxon literature, but to take as a special subject, Anglo-Saxon archaeology, taught by the formidable Vera Evison. I was planning to go straight on to work for a PhD on an Anglo-Saxon topic after graduation (quite possible in those days!), when shortly before my finals, I spotted an advertisement for the post of Assistant Keeper (Grade 2) at the British Museum. Rupert Bruce-Mitford, Keeper of what was then the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities, wanted to employ two young and biddable apprentices to his Department; and so it came about that John Cherry (at 22) and myself (at 20) were appointed to work respectively on the Medieval and Anglo-Saxon collections. Even at the time, it was a controversial decision to employ two such new and totally inexperienced graduates, innocent of anything resembling research. Though few BM curators at the time had doctorates, all had certainly far more experience – we must have seemed like babes in arms. Worse still, Bruce-Mitford was at the time immersed in driving through his gargantuan publication with the aid of a quite separate research and conservation team – so I was pretty much left to my own devices. It was utterly terrifying. I instantly discovered that in reality, I knew almost nothing, and spent the next ten years striving to remedy this – hands-on collections and contextual research of a very gritty kind. But for a specialised museum curator, it was in some ways, the best possible way of learning the job.

I’m conscious that my extraordinary stroke of luck would be impossible to replicate these days; but it does reflect something that is still possible today – an indirect, even chance-led, route into a professional post in medieval archaeology can still happen, and be made to work.