2019 Conference - Your Roman Past

Geoffrey Dannell F.S.A

Began archaeology in 1955 excavating at St Albans, and acted as a supervisor there and later at Catterick.  Became interested in Roman pottery and Terra Sigillata (samian ware) in particular and has written many specialist reports, and articles on the samian industry. This led to numerous excavations in the lower Nene Valley involving pottery kilns together with Brian Hartley and John Peter Wild, including Stanground Park Farm, and the Longthorpe fortress’ military kiln-site. Currently Chairman of the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust.

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Ralph Jackson FSA

Recently retired from his post as a curator in the Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities at the BritishMuseum, Ralph has had a distinguished career leading the study of health in the Roman period. He has published numerous articles and specialist reports on Roman medical instruments and the culture within which they were used.  He has also engaged in the archaeology of the Fenland and with the late Tim Potter, co-authored the definitive account of the multi-period site at Stonea.

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Chris Evans FSA

Director of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit which he co-founded 1990. He has worked in British Archaeology at a senior level for more than twenty-five years. Chris has published widely, including the Haddenham Project volumes (with Ian Hodder) and Power and Island Communities: Excavations at the Wardy Hill Ringwork, Coveney, Ely, as well as work at Earith. He has, in addition, directed a number of overseas fieldwork projects (Nepal, China & Cape Verde), and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists. He has recently been elected as Fellow to the prestigious British Academy for the humanities and social sciences.

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Stephen Upex FSA

Professor of Landscape Archaeology at the University of Brunei  from 1996- 2008 and now Tutor at Maddingley Hall, Cambridge, Stephen has a long career in the landscape and  archaeology of the Lower Nene Valley. He has carried out a number of excavations including the Roman site of Ashton (with John Hadman), the Saxon site of Polebrook and the Roman fort at Water Newton. His publications include the Roman palatial complex at Castor. He remains deeply interested in landscape archaeology of all periods. A member of the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust’s Research Committee, Stephen is developing the framework for the next phase of investigation of the local Roman town of Durobrivae.

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John Peter Wild FSA

John Peter, an Honorary Vice-president of the Roman Society and Honorary Research Fellow in Archaeology at Manchester University, has just retired as Chairman of the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust. He has excavated and published (with Geoffrey Dannell) Longthorpe II (1984). He worked on the AI road development in 1958 and has excavated other Roman sites in the Peterborough area, including Stanground Park Farm, Stibbington and Normangate Field, Castor. His specialist interest remains archaeological textiles and is reflected in his publication of Textile Manufacture in the Northern Roman Provinces (1970). He is former editor of the journal Britanniaand its monograph series.

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William Burke

Formerly rector of Castor, William Burke has been interested in archaeology from an early age. He met one of the best-known British archaeologists of the twentieth century, Sir Mortimer Wheeler at the Roman site of Verulamium when he was ten. As a teenager he visited and assisted on excavations.  He managed to maintain his interest during his time in the army visiting sites in Cyprus and Libya. He is particularly interested in Romano-British archaeology and early Christianity, the archaeology of the early Gaelic Kingdom of Dalriada in Northern  Ireland and Scotland, ecclesiastical architecture and the Roman and Byzantine architecture of the Levant.

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