Experience

Digs

• Buckfastleigh Church Project--I participated in the primary excavation stage of the Buckfastleigh church project, led by Dr. Andrew Reynolds and Dr. Sam Turner, in the spring of 2002. Three trenches were dug within the body of the church, where previous geophysical survey had indicated underlying structures, and additional geophys was conducted in the surrounding churchyard. The ruined church, which has standing fabric of the 13th century and later, appears to overlie a previous structure, which was apsidal, possibly transeptal, and may have had a narthex-like structure on its western front. These findings, along with the church's position at the top of a hill--overlooking the villages of Buckfast and Buckfastleigh, and the site of 12th century Buckfast Abbey--may indicate that the parish church location was once the site of the original, Anglo-Saxon abbey of Buckfast, one of the earliest monastic foundations in the southwest of England. Skeletons were found buried in the current north transept, with some of later medieval date, and several dating to the later Anglo-Saxon period. Post-excavation research on Buckfastleigh is currently continuing, and additional funding is being sought for the expansion of the project. Click here for more information about the Buckfastleigh project, and some images from the dig can be found below.
  Image 1: The church looking east, from the tower.
  Image 2: Simon Roffey, Sam Turner, Andrew Reynolds, and Steve Ashby discuss the apsidal foundations found in the eastern trench.
  Image 3: Sam and Steve's trench, which marks the northwest corner of the early church.
  Images 4 and 5: North transept burials.
  Image 6: The site from above, and trenches marked with findings.
  
  
  
  
• Castle Howard, Temple of Venus--The Temple of Venus project at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, was carried out in March of 2002. Under the direction of Dr. Jon Finch, the ruined 18th century temple, which had been overgrown, was cleared and recorded. The worked stone from the fallen structure was also recorded, along with finds such as roof slates, oyster shells, and tiles. The project was carried out with an eye to the possible restoration of the temple through archaeological excavation and reference to early documentation and photographs. Photos from the dig can be seen below.
  Images 1 and 2: The dig site.
  Image 3: My mom gets to be an archaeologist for a day.
  Image 4: Landscape gardening...of a sort.
  
  
  
  
• Gypsy Race prehistoric landscape, East Yorkshire Wolds--In the summer of 2002, I volunteered on Dr. Mel Giles' dig in the East Yorkshire Wolds, which was exploring a Bronze and Iron Age agricultural landscape through aerial photography and excavation. Several large ditches were discovered, which seemed to form boundaries around trackways that helped control and direct the herds of cattle that would have been so important to the lifeways of prehistoric communities on the wolds. The dig was filmed by the BBC2 series Time Flyers. Some pictures from the dig can be seen below.
  Images 1 and 2: The site and the wolds.
  Image 3: Broadening my prehistoric horizons.
  
  
  
  
• Hyde Abbey Dig, Winchester--In the summer of 1999, I participated in the Earthwatch excavation at Hyde Abbey, Winchester, as part of the "Search for King Alfred" project conducted by Winchester Museums Service. Hyde Abbey began life as the 9th century "New Minster" of Winchester, founded by King Alfred. It was located directly next to the Old Minster, which lies beneath the site of the present cathedral. The close proximity of the two churches became disruptive, however, and in 1110, the New Minster and its community were forced to move to the suburb of Hyde. The monastery was dissolved in the 16th century, and fell into ruin, eventually disappearing entirely. Under the carpark of a leisure centre in Hyde, the eastern foundations of the 12th century abbey were uncovered, revealing that the 12th century monastery was a transeptal, apsidal church. A significant number of small finds and burials also provided much detail about the life of a medieval monastic community. Alas, the remains of King Alfred, which were supposedly translated to Hyde upon its dedication, were not among the findings. More information about the project can be found here. Photos hopefully to come soon.

Finds Work

York Minster Excavation Finds--At York I have worked several times with Dr. Kate Giles, the York Minster Archaeologist, on the reassessment of finds from the 1970's York Minster excavations. We have repackaged, catalogued, and recorded human remains from the excavated cemetery (see picture), stained glass, metalwork, and worked stone. Field Archaeology Specialists--I have also worked with York's in-house excavation company, Field Archaeology Specialists (FAS), on the post-excavation processing of finds. I have cleaned, sorted, catalogued, and identified bones and pottery from the Tarbat Discovery Programme and various York sites. The Mint Museum of Art--As an intern to Mike Whittington, curator of Pre-Columbian and African art at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC, I was able to work closely with many of the collections and objects. I participated in handling, cleaning, and displaying of the objects, and carried out research for current and planned exhibits. I also assisted in major reinstallations of both the Pre-Columbian and African collections, and was responsible for some exhibition label writing and contributions to the catalogue text and maps. I was also involved in much of the primary research for the Mesoamerican Ballgame exhibit, a major installation which originated at the Mint Museum and travelled to several institutions throughout the United States.

Other Experience

• Yorkshire Archaeological Research Framework--In March 2004, I participated in the YARF research project, run by Dr. Steve Roskams. As part of the archaeological resource assessment, I was responsible for archive work at the West Yorkshire SMR, assessing the data available for medieval Yorkshire towns and writing a short report on my findings.
• Fishergate Primary School Archaeology Club--During 2001, I assisted in an after-school archaeology club for elementary school students, organizing events and activities to promote archaeology to young people.
• Computing work--In the past few years I have become proficient in HTML and basic web design, and am serving as website officer for The Society for Church Archaeology and the University of York Women's Football Club. I have also become proficient in Access databases and ArcView GIS due to the needs of my own research, enabling me to integrate archaeology and computing skills.