Faculty Member, Portable Antiquities & Treasure
Thesis Title: Rethinking Roman Britain using the Portable Antiquities Scheme coin data
About
Having studied Classics (with Part I in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic) at Girton College, Cambridge, I worked for several years as a post-excavation researcher and Finds Manager for Oxford Archaeology, most notably on the site of Zeugma in south-eastern Turkey. In 2003, I began working for the Portable Antiquities Scheme as a Finds Liaison Officer, first of all 'stationed' in the North East and subsequently in Cambridgeshire. These posts allowed me to develop my skills as a Finds Specialist and led to an AHRC collaborative doctorate at UCL and the British Museum. My thesis concentrated on the use of numsimatic evidence to re-interpret many of the key moments in the history of Roman Britain whilst also addressing thematic issues such as regionality and identity. It was published in 2012 as part of the Moneta monograph series. I continue to work in the field of Romano-British numismatics as a Finds Adviser for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, although my research now concentrates more broadly on the material culture of Roman religion. I am particularly interested in the composition of watery votive deposits such as Piercebridge, Bath and Coventina's Well. I am committed to making archaeology accessible to all and as a result, have appeared on Channel 4's TV programme 'Time Team' as a Roman finds expert and numismatist.
