Castles and Coprolites

I attended a fascinating lunchtime seminar this week on the potentials for archaeology and AI, which brought together perspectives from across different departments at Durham University . One of the talks was by Prof Jelena Ninic , a civil engineer whose work focuses on structural assessment and maintenance of infrastructure, particularly ageing transport networks such as railways and bridges. Her presentation discussed how heritage is not something separate from modern engineering but fundamentally embedded within it. Much of the infrastructure we rely on every day is in fact, historic. Across the UK and elsewhere, roads, bridges, railways, tunnels, often have origins in the nineteenth century, if not earlier. These are complex, evolving systems that have been repaired, adapted, and extended over decades or centuries. As such, they present a series of challenges that are as much archaeological as they are engineering in nature.  A key challenge is maintaining historic infrastructu...

This follows on from my previous post , where I reflected on the value of the heritage sector in the UK, and the frustration that we have not been very good at communicating this value more broadly. This followed a UKRI board visit to the north east, where I was asked a question specifically about RICHeS (Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science)  (which readers will know I am closely involved in, as director for NEMCAS , the north east node of the distributed infrastructure). It got me thinking, perhaps more urgently than I have before, about how crucial RICHeS is both as a programme for catalysing research, but as a tool for demonstrating the economic value of the heritage sector, consolidating what has historically been very dispersed, and making the case for continued investment in heritage, and arts and humanities, broadly defined. If the first step is recognising that archaeology and heritage are a significant part of the UK economy, the next question is ...

Let’s start with the numbers. According to Historic England’s latest Heritage Counts analysis , the heritage sector contributed £44.9 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy in 2022, supporting over 523,000 jobs. Of this, £15.3 billion is direct economic output, with the remainder generated through supply chains and wider spending across the economy. For every £1 directly generated by heritage, an additional £1.93 is created elsewhere in the economy. This places heritage firmly within the UK’s core economic activity, deeply embedded in construction, planning, tourism, and regional development. And this is only part of the picture - across the wider cultural and creative economy, UK sectors generated over £120 billion in GVA annually , representing around 5% of the UK GDP. Even these figures are likely conservative. Government commissioned research acknowledges that standard statistical definitions struggle to capture the full extent of heritage activity, meaning its to...

It finally happened. After continuously posting since 2012, 2024 was the first year I didn't make a single blog post. To be fair, 2022 and 2023 weren't exactly prolific either, but I did manage a handful of posts. There is an explanation for this. 2024 overall was a incredibly stressful year, and I didn't manage to get much of anything done, as most of my time was taken up trying to solve a rather major problem. Back in 2021 I was lucky to apply successfully for an AHRC Capability for Collections grant , to establish NEMCAS (formerly Newcastle Material Culture Analytical Suite). Over the following 3 years, I worked hard with my technical team and colleagues to build up our portfolio of research in the facility, and build collaborations with museum partners in the north-east. I also worked very hard developing a relationship with the AHRC, as part of my vision for NEMCAS was to integrate into the new RICHeS programme that we knew was on the horizon. RICHeS ( Research Infras...

As promised, a new post that is actually on geoarchaeology. I never used to be into industrial archaeology. Having grown up in the north east, I always thought the buildings were ugly. The skyline from our house was filled with the cranes of Swan Hunters shipyards, and I remember the siren that used to go off to call people to work. My dad would grab his bait box and walk there, down the path into what is now Segedunum Roman Fort. He likes to tell me the story of how the end of the wall was right outside the cabin where he would sit with his mates on a break. This was all just whatever at the time. I prefered nature - beaches, rocks and trees - to being in the urban landscape. After my dad was made redundant when the Shipyards was closing down for good, the industrial landscape became associated with decline, poverty instead of pride. A reminder that we were poor and lived in an ugly place with ugly old buildings. I was so happy to move away from that at age 18 when I went to univers...