Archaeological Fieldwork

For more than forty years I was involved in field archaeology and carried out numerous excavations in that time. This included a variety of approaches requiring different survey techniques, monument recognition and map research.

Excavation

Rescue excavation of a group of Hellenistic burials in the suburbs of Benghazi (Hellenistic Berenike) in 1973 gave me my first independent responsibility for an archaeological site and this was followed by work on the Roman fort at Northwich, medieval urban sites in Aberdeen, Nantwich and Stockport and at the Tudor palace of Hampton Court. In 1975 I took over the management of a long-term excavation ahead of gravel quarrying at Wetwang Slack, a national priority, multi-period site in the Yorkshire Wolds which proved to be of international importance for its extensive Iron Age settlement and accompanying cemetery. During my time in East Yorkshire I investigated a number of rural sites and finds, including a Roman villa, two Anglian cemeteries and even a timber bridge from the Viking era. Between 1990 and 1993 I collaborated with Bradford University in the Newstead Environs Project, during which time I carried out excavations at four Iron Age settlements in the hinterland of the Roman military complex of Trimontium in Roxburghshire.

Survey

Between 1975 and 1993 I carried out aerial surveys of the archaeological landscape and these are now incorporated into the National Monuments Records of England and Scotland. As Regional Archaeologist for the Scottish Borders, I carried out walk-over surveys at ground level to help in the preservation of archaeological sites threatened with destruction by forestry, encroaching agriculture, quarrying and building construction. I found that a different approach was needed to investigate and record a medieval tower house in Hawick and other standing structures that made up a World War II munitions factory at St Boswells - particularly close attention to health and safety issues.