About our staff

Ian has a background in both landscape archaeology and Iron Age and Roman-period studies in northern England / southern Scotland (MA, PhD - University of York), focussed particularly on concepts of landscape, identity and frontiers / borders and how the three of these interact and inform one another during this period.

To examine such issues, Ian's research uses large-area, non-intrusive archaeological techniques (aerial survey, analytical field survey, geophysical survey) alongside excavated data. His PhD used aerial survey mapping to examine the interaction of indigenous and Roman societies across a wide area of northern Britain's Roman frontier, investigating whether such large-scale survey data can be integrated with archaeological theory to answer questions around past landscapes and identities.

Ian has previously worked for CIfA, Historic England and within the commercial sector as a specialist in remote-sensed survey techniques, including on several large-area landscape surveys for England's national Aerial Investigation & Mapping Programme in Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and on several site-based studies. He has taught on modules in Roman archaeology, landscape survey and excavation techniques for the University of York, including the undergraduate field-school at the Roman sites of Malton and Heslington East.

Ian works for the University of Edinburgh's School of History, Classics and Archaeology as part of the Leverhulme-funded 'Beyond Walls: Reassessing Iron Age and Roman Encounters in Northern Britain' project. In this role, he is responsible for the management, collection and analysis of data pertaining to surveyed and excavated Iron Age and Roman sites in the project area, analysing the relationships between these and the region's landscapes, and is involved in the project's research outputs. 

• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).
• Practitioner of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (PCIfA).
• Member of the Landscape Survey Group.

Summary of research interests

• Britain & Ireland
• Europe
• Scotland

• Ancient Civilisations
• Culture
• Ethnicity
• Imperialism
• Landscapes & Monuments
• Material Culture
• Society
• War

• Prehistory
• Early Historic
• Antiquity

I am interested in the study of archaeological landscapes and how we define them, together with the identities of the people occupying and interacting with them. My other main interest is the impact of boundaries, borders and frontiers upon these past peoples and landscapes, and how interactions across such divisions occurred, particularly for the Roman occupation of the northern half of Britain (and its parallels elsewhere around the empire).

The ways in which people perceive themselves and others, and understand and define the world around them, are universally applicable to the past and present, important for understanding regional and other group-affiliated identities and human-environmental interactions into today. Meanwhile, the development of social, political and cultural peripheries has a profound effect on both the people nearby and the landscapes such boundaries are situated in, affecting perceptions of such regions for long periods and providing insight into similar processes and impacts of boundary-making in the modern world. This has further major implications for interpretations and perceptions of sites such as Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall, and the wider surrounding region of northern England / southern Scotland today - long associated with border warfare and ideas of 'marginality'.

In order to approach such large-scale issues, I apply large-area archaeological techniques such as aerial survey, analytical field survey (earthworks) and geophysical survey, alongside site-based and palaeo-environmental data, to holistically investigate past landscapes and the interactions and identities of peoples living within them. This involves use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

• Landscape Archaeology
• Archaeology of Identities
• Archaeology of Frontiers and Borders
• Indigenous-Roman interaction in northern England and southern Scotland
• Aerial, Geophysical, and Analytical Field Surveys
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• Archaeological Research and its use for Heritage Management

'Beyond Walls: Reassessing Iron Age and Roman Encounters in Northern Britain' (with M. Fernández-Götz, D. Hamilton, D. Cowley & S. McDonald). Funded by the Leverhulme Trust. 

University of Edinburgh Workshop: 'Into the Empire: New Approaches to the Late Iron Age to Early Roman Transition' - 'Integration, separation or somewhere in-between? Interactions at the edge of Roman and Iron Age worlds in northern Britain, as seen from the air'. Paper presented on 12th April 2022.

Edinburgh Archaeology Seminar Series - 'At the Edge of the World(s): aerial survey, landscape and identity across frontiers of northern Britain during the Iron Age and Roman periods'. Talk given on 10th March 2022.

Royal Society of Edinburgh Workshop: 'New Research on Iron Age and Roman Scotland' - 'Beyond Walls: Introducing New Research on Iron Age and Roman Interactions in Northern Britain'. Paper presented on 7th October 2021, with Manuel Fernández-Gӧtz, Dave Cowley, Derek Hamilton & Sophie McDonald.