Dr Aimée Little - Director of the YEAR Centre. 

Originally from New Zealand, Aimée completed a BFA at the Elam School of Fine Arts (Majoring in Printmaking and Polynesian Art) followed by a BA with a double major in Anthropology and Māori Studies (Auckland University). 

Her PhD at University College Dublin, awarded 2010, was funded by a Humanities Institute of Ireland Scholarship. She held a Marie Curie Fellowship (2011-14) at the Laboratory for Artefact Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands, followed by an ERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014-16) on the POSTGLACIAL Project at the University of York, during which time she founded the YEAR Centre (2015). In 2017 Aimée became a Lecturer at York.

Aimée is a specialist in Northwest European hunter-gatherer material culture and funerary archaeology and from January 2021-2023 will be working on her AHRC funded project Stone Dead exploring stone tools in mortuary contexts during the Mesolithic.

Learn more about Aimée’s work via her webpage.

Dr Andy Needham - Co-Director of the YEAR Centre. 

Andy completed an undergraduate degree in (BSc) Archaeology (2008), Masters degree in (MSc) Early Prehistory (2010), and a PhD specialising in Palaeolithic art (2017) funded by the AHRC, all from the University of York.

Andy was appointed as an Associate Lecturer at the University of York (2017) specialising in Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Experimental Archaeology. Andy concurrently held a Post-Doctoral Research position (2017-18) on the Hidden Depths: The Ancestry of Our Most Human Emotions project, focusing on Palaeolithic healthcare practices. Following this, Andy held a Humanities Research Centre Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (2018-19) at the University of York.

Andy specialises in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology, focusing on material culture and especially art. He is currently working on a British Academy Early Career Research Fellowship (2019-23), focusing on Mesolithic portable art, in particular personal ornaments made from shale and amber in northwest Europe. 

Learn more about Andy’s work here via his webpage.

Dr Jess Bates - Education and Outreach Officer for the YEAR Centre.

Jess completed a degree in (BA) Archaeology from the University of York (2017) and a Masters degree (MPhil) in Archaeological Sciences from Cambridge University (2018). She is currently a PhD researcher (2018 - 2021) at York investigating the post-built structures found at Star Carr using microwear analysis of the associated lithics. The project is funded by the White Rose College of Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH). Jess was recently elected to the Lithic Studies Society board (October 2019). 

Jess’s research interests centre on hunter-gatherer structures and settlements, as well as stone tool use. Through her work on identifying the processing and manufacture of material culture, she also has a keen interest in the use of plants and their processing during the Mesolithic. Jess helps to teach practical classes and leads on YEAR Centre education and outreach, including widening participation activities.

Learn more about Jess’s work here via her webpage.

Dr Gareth Perry  - Technical Specialist in Artefact Studies and Departmental Safety Officer for the YEAR Centre.

Gareth has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester (2001), and a PGCE in secondary school science (2002), a master's degree in Material Culture Studies (2009), and PhD specialising in early Anglo-Saxon pottery (2013),  all from the University of Sheffield. Gareth has held roles as Laboratory Manager and Associate Lecturer in Early Medieval Archaeology at the University of Sheffield (2013-2019). He was recently appointed as Technical Specialist in Artefact Studies (2019). 

Gareth is an early medieval archaeologist, specialising in reconstructing ceramic production practices. He is currently collaborating with Profs Dawn Hadley and Julian Richards on the Tents to Towns project, investigating the impact of the Viking Great Army, and Dr Steve Ashby, Prof Ol Craig and Dr Anita Radini on Melting Pot, examining food and identity in the Viking Age.

Learn more about Gareth’s work via his webpage.