Information about some of my current research
Almost one third of human population today lives in an earth-built structure. In past times many people in northern Europe lived in such buildings and their presence in the landscape was commonplace. I have a variety of projects that are looking at earth architectures - vernacular and monumental - around the world.
Earth Architecture: Examination of "heritage climatology" and processes associated with the repair and maintenance of historic earth-built buildings with staff at Historic Scotland's technical conservation group;
Earth built monuments - Senegal: Site-based excavations in central Senegal with Sonja Magnavita from the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut (German Archaeological Institute)
Earth built monuments - Nigeria: Examination of earth materials recovered from Durbi Takusheyi, northern Nigeria, in collaboration with Detlef Gronenborn from Roemisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM) and University of Mainz, Germany.
I examine materials from a hierarchy of spatial scales - from landscape-scale to the microscopic - in the consideration of site formation processes and landscape management and in consieration of archaeological sediments such as midden remains and domestic floors. Using a variety of methods including soil micromorphology and associated analyses I aim to establish the processes that have taken place in the development of an archaeological site or landscape, and the environmental processes that may damage such archeological heritage in the future.
Cross-roads of Empires: Benin excavations and landscape survey with Anne Haour at UEA and Didier N'Dah from University of Abomey-Calavi and colleagues from across the EU funded by the European Research Council;
Mid-Holocene settlements in the "Green Sahara": National Geographic Society supported expeditions to central Niger with Paul Sereno and colleagues from the University of Chicago and with Peter Felix-Henningsen from the University of Giessen.
Viking-age Homefields: Research in Iceland with archaeologists Gudrun Gisladottir from the Institute of Archaeology, Iceland and Jim Woollett from University of Laval;
Characterising the Holocene-age lake-edge landscape of human settlement in northern North America: Excavations in Northern Ontario, Canada with Krista Gilliland and Terrance Gibson from Western Heritage.