About this website
I see archaeology as the study of just about everything in the past - as well as the analysis of relevant stuff in the present, such as political culture and how food is grown and commodified.
I write mostly about the Roman world, gender and children / infancy, including infant death and infanticide.
My PhD was on Roman villas in Britain, and shortly after completing that I founded TRAC (the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference).
I have published and contributed to a number of academic books and articles on the Roman world and the archaeology of infancy & infant death. I've additionally carried out survey work in Jerusalem and Palestine / Israel relating to Roman landscapes and the Gertrude Bell Photographic Archive.
I'm interested in changing the way that archaeology is published, delivered, given and sold to students and people who love archaeology.
This website provides and promotes free editions of much of my work, as well as material which is previously unpublished or out-of-print which will be of use and interest to students, researchers and anyone with a foot in the past. I also provide previews of forthcoming material; and I link via Twitter to the websites of notable community archaeologists and independent researchers.
New technology, the growth of online Open Access, and the financial pressures on students mean that academic publishing is undergoing change.
The pressures on academics to publish e.g. for the REF exercise will of course continue to keep various publishing houses functioning, but these books are expensive; and they are becoming harder than ever to access from libraries with diminishing budgets which are stocking perhaps just one copy of each new book.
To me, the problem is that a textbook costing upwards of £60 and sometimes hundreds of £££ is not even remotely within the budget of most students. Even £25 is too much. Students should be able to buy interesting new books on their subject at genuinely affordable prices - and should be able to access them for free after a few years. As much material as possible should be Open Access.
The navigation bar and the book icons at the top of this home page will help you to find your way around the site.
Hover over each topic heading and the available pages will appear - just click on the one you want to see. There's a contact page if you want to get in touch with me. Use the 'Updates on New Content' page to see what's new, as I'll be adding new content on a regular basis.
All the copyright is mine except where otherwise indicated. Please give credit to the copyright holder if you use any of the material. Thank you.
You can contact me here.
I'm not providing a comments facility on the website yet, as I want to focus on creating and uploading new content and not firefighting some of the stuff which is sadly prevalent these days online.