Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
The Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland act as Trustees of the charity and is comprised of voluntary members who are all Fellows of the Society and are elected by the Fellowship during the Anniversary Meeting on the 30th November each year. As defined in the Laws, the Officers of the Council include the President, three Vice Presidents and the Treasurer and are elected for a term of three years, except the Treasurer who is elected every year. In addition, there are twelve Councillors who are also elected for three years, and at least four must stand down each year. Currently the three Vice Presidents each have a particular remit to help support the Society, including staff matters, Fellowship matters and external communications. The Chair of the Aberdeen and North-East Section is also a member of Council. The minutes of Society meetings are available on application to the Society offices.
The Council, as allowed by Law 15, have created five Committees to aid in the pursuance of its objectives: the Fellowship Committee, the Research Committee, Publications Committee, the Heritage Committee and the Programme Committee. There is also a Management Group.
The voluntary contributions of all Council members and Conveners of the various Committees are warmly appreciated by the Society and the staff. The following comprise the current Council:
President (elected for three years with year of election in brackets)
Alan Saville BA FSA MIfA (2011)
Alan is an archaeologist and prehistorian. He graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Ancient History and Archaeology and worked for many years in England as a field archaeologist and lithic specialist before joining the staff of National Museums Scotland in 1989. He is best known from his early career for the total excavation of the Hazleton North Cotswold-Severn tomb in Gloucestershire and for his edited volume on the archaeology of that county. At NMS he has had various roles, as Head of the former Artefact Research Unit, as Head of the Treasure Trove Secretariat, and now as Senior Curator Earliest Prehistory. A firm supporter of the Society he has served as its Treasurer, Research Convenor, Publications Convenor, and Vice-President; he is currently Co-Chair of the ScARF Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Panel. While Research Convenor he inaugurated the Society's international period conferences with the Mesolithic conference in 1999 and, as Publications Convener, oversaw the establishment of the current very successful series of new-look monographs. Since coming to Edinburgh he has also served as Vice-President and President of the Council for Scottish Archaeology and as a member of the Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland. Outwith Scotland in recent years he has been a Trustee of the Council for British Archaeology, President of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, Chair of the NERC Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Dating Service Steering Committee, and was for six years the Editor of the European Journal of Archaeology, in which capacity he sat on the Executive Board of the European Association of Archaeologists. His most recent publication is an edited volume on Flint and Stone in the Neolithic Period (Oxbow 2011) and he is currently co-editing a monograph on flint-mines in Europe.
Vice Presidents (elected for three years with year of election in brackets)
Lesley Ferguson MA (2009)
Lesley has an MA in Prehistoric European Archaeology from Edinburgh University and is currently Head of Collections in the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). She has over 25 years professional experience working with archaeological archives and information, with an emphasis on opening up access to these resources. She was a Council Member between 2002 and 2005 and was Secretary of the Council for Scottish Archaeology between 1999 and 2001. Research and publications have focused on historic archaeological archives and antiquarians, and include a recently published volume Wanderings with a Camera in Scotland: The Photography of Erskine Beveridge.
Neil Curtis MA MLitt AMA (2010)
Neil is Head of Museums and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Anthropology in the University of Aberdeen, having previously been Senior Curator of the university's Marischal Museum. He studied Archaeology (Glasgow), Museum Studies (Leicester) and Education (Aberdeen) and has particular research interests in museum practices and the history of Scottish museums and archaeology. He was a Council Member of the Society between 2003 and 2006, and has been Secretary of the Aberdeen and North-East Section since 1990. He is also Convenor of University Museums in Scotland and is a member of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Advisory Panel.
Antoinette "Twin" Watkins BA(Hons) (2011)
Twin graduated in 1960 from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Ancient History and Archaeology and has had a career of almost 40 years in Museums. She was a curator in Liverpool Museums before moving to Scotland with her husband Trevor Watkins, with whom she has collaborated on numerous excavations. After a career break to have a family, she worked as a freelance curator mainly for the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland and from 1989 for the National Museums of Scotland on many major exhibitions. For the last seven years before retirement she worked as the Exhibitions Co-ordinator for the Museum of Scotland. She has been a Fellow of the Society since 1979 and in the past has worked for the Society, organising excursions, lectures and conferences, and served on Council from 1995-1998.
Treasurer (elected each year, first year of election in brackets)
Brendan O'Connor BA DPhil FSA (2006)
Brendan has been active in archaeology for over forty years. After studying at Nottingham and Oxford he moved to Edinburgh to work in the Scottish Office from which he retired in 2001. His thesis was published in 1980 and he has published extensively on Bronze Age metalwork in Scotland (often in collaboration with Trevor Cowie), elsewhere in Britain and abroad. From 1995 to 1998 Dr O'Connor was a member of the Society's Council and also served on its Finance and Administration Committee. He has been Treasurer since November 2006.
Councillors (elected for three years with year of election in brackets)
Gordon Noble MA MA PhD (2009)
Gordon is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen. After graduating with a degree in the History of Art at Aberdeen, Gordon went on to a Masters in Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and then studied for a PhD at Reading University on the Neolithic monument traditions of Scotland, supervised by Professor Richard Bradley. He then held a temporary lectureship at Durham, followed by a three year postdoctoral position at Glasgow University funded by the British Academy. Gordon was appointed at Aberdeen in July 2008 and is helping create the new undergraduate programme in archaeology at the University. He is one of the directors of the Strathearn Environs & Royal Forteviot Project (SERF) investigating the Early Medieval Royal centre and prehistoric monument complex at Forteviot, Perthshire. He has published widely including two books, Neolithic Scotland: Timber, Stone, Earth and Fire (Edinburgh University Press) and the co-edited volume Scottish Odysseys: The Archaeology of Islands (History Press).
Julie Gibson BA AIfA (2009)
Julie gained her degree in Medieval Archaeology at University College London. This was a lot of years ago, and followed some years of undertaking rescue archaeology in the English Midlands. Since then she has lived in Orkney where for the last dozen years she has been County Archaeologist, working for the Islands Council. Julie was instrumental in Orkney College creating the Department of Archaeology that now leads the subject in UHI, and where she is also a part- time lecturer. The uses of archaeological research in sustainable development of rural areas and the benefits of knowledge transfer are a theme in much of her work. Julie was a contributor to the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney" World Heritage Area Research Agenda, and is the author of the illustrated book "Rising Tides" that refers to one of her main interests - the problem of coastal erosion.
Stephen Holmes MA BD PGCE (2009)
Stephen studied at the universities of St Andrews and Cambridge (Corpus Christi) and at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham. He has degrees in medieval history and divinity and is currently working for a doctorate at Edinburgh University on the interpretation of liturgy in Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. After Cambridge he worked from 1988 to 1990 as a history teacher at Downside School and was then a Benedictine monk at Pluscarden Abbey for eighteen years where he was Master of Novices, Librarian and a lecturer in theology for the Maynooth degree course at the Maryvale Institute. He has written and published books on early Cappadocian monasticism and Pluscarden Abbey as well as a number of articles. At present he is preparing for publication David McRoberts' 1970 Rhind lectures on church furnishings in late medieval Scotland and also articles on relics and Scottish identity and on sixteenth century Scottish marginalia. He is a volunteer member of staff in the National Library of Scotland manuscripts division working with medieval liturgical manuscripts, a member of the Scottish Medievalists and is on the committee of the Scottish Church History Society.
Nyree Finlay MA PhD MIAI (2009)
Nyree studied Archaeology at Edinburgh University and worked in the commercial sector before a move to Reading University to undertake research on the social dimensions of lithic technology as part of the Southern Hebrides Mesolithic Project. A three year lecturing post at University College Cork followed before joining Glasgow University as a lecturer in 2000 where, amongst other things, she has developed the taught postgraduate programme in Material Culture and Artefact Studies. She has over twenty years experience in both commercial and academic archaeology and has published widely on the Mesolithic period in Scotland and Ireland, lithic studies as well as aspects of archaeological theory. Her most recent international volume is Skillful Stones: Approaches to Knowledge and Practice in Lithic Technology (with Douglas Bamforth). Particular research interests include gender, archaeologies of children and disability issues. She co-edits the Scottish Archaeological Journal and is on the editorial board for World Archaeology.
Ian Simpson BSc PhD (2010)
Ian is Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Stirling, and currently Deputy Principal (Research and Knowledge Exchange). His expertise is in the history of soils and sediments, contributing new understandings of land resource utilisation by early societies and related landscape changes. He has researched extensively in the North Atlantic region including Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Faroe, as well as in south and west Asia (Sri Lanka and Iran). He has also been involved in rescue archaeology and 'preservation by record' where archaeological sites and landscapes are threatened by development and has contributed to the research agendas of World Heritage Sites. At a strategic and governance level he is involved in the AHRC-EPSRC Science and Heritage programme, research pooling initiatives across the Scottish Universities and the North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation.
Mary MacLeod Rivett MA MA PhD MIfA (2010)
Mary was born in 1964 and, following a childhood in England and Canada, read Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. From 1986 to 1990, she worked in field archaeology in Britain, and acquired an MA in Mediaeval Studies at the University of York. From 1991 to 1996, she was resident in Stockholm, working on excavations at the Viking town of Birka, and on a part-time PhD at the University of Glasgow, awarded in 1999, on the subject of Viking period urbanism. In 1998, she was appointed as Regional Archaeologist in the Western Isles, for Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, a post which she left in 2009. Since that time, she has worked as a part-time lecturer in archaeology for Lews Castle College, part of the UHI Millennium Institute, and part-time crofter. She has served previously as a Council Member. Recent publications include reports on the STAC project, and excavations on Barabhas Machair in Lewis.
Alice Blackwell BA MPhil (2010)
Alice works for the National Museums Scotland as the Glenmorangie Research Officer, a post created through the ongoing research partnership with Glenmorangie. Her research interests cover all types of material culture from the early historic British Isles, but primarily focus on sculpture and small finds. Other interests include the role of the senses, experience and ritual, and working with contemporary artists and craftspeople to better understand archaeological remains. Alice was appointed to this post in July 2008 and currently sits on the ScARF Medieval Panel. Prior to this she studied for her PhD (currently in preparation) on the Anglo-Saxon small finds from Scotland, and was awarded an MPhil with Distinction in Archaeological Studies, both at the University of Glasgow. Before this she read History at the University of Leeds.
Judith McClure CBE MA DPhil FRSA (2010)
Following a career as lecturer in Medieval Latin in the University of Liverpool and in Medieval History at the University of Oxford, teacher and Head of History at the School of S. Helen and S. Katherine, Abingdon, Assistant Head of Kingswood School, Bath and Head of both The Royal School, Bath, and St George's School for Girls, Edinburgh, Judith is very interested in exploring further the Society's engagement with the education sector. She has extensive experience of corporate governance, including as Trustee of Hopetoun House Preservation Trust, Chair of the Management Committee of Scottish Council of Independent Schools and member of the Heriot-Watt University Court, as well as being a member of the RSE Education Committee.
Jonathan Wordsworth MA (2011)
Jonathan is Rural Land Use Adviser with Archaeology Scotland, promoting the better protection and appreciation of Scotland's historic environment in the Scottish countryside. He is currently a Director of the Built Environment Forum Scotland and the Scottish representative of the EAA Working Group on Farming, Forestry and Rural Land Use. Following an MA in History /Religious Studies from Aberdeen University he worked for 25 years in field archaeology including four years directing excavations at UAU (predecessor to SUAT) and ten years running his own freelance consultancy in the Highlands, before taking up his present job in 1998.
Beverley Ballin Smith BEd MA FSA MIfA (2011)
Beverley gained university degrees from (Warwick University and the London University's Institute of Archaeology), and moved to Orkney where she worked as an archaeologist for thirteen years. This was followed by a seven year period in Denmark and Norway with archaeological work there and in Sweden. She has over the last fourteen years been actively involved in Scottish commercial archaeology (formerly as post-excavation manager with GUARD, University of Glasgow), with research (with St Andrews and Stirling University on the Papa Project, and on her own Viking pottery project), and with community archaeology (the partial reconstruction of a Norse building on the island of Papa Stour, Shetland with Barbara Crawford; the Norwegian Crafts Development and the Papa Stour History Group), and has an advisory role with the Applecross Broch team and with SPEAR in South Ronaldsay, Orkney. She has lectured and published widely on archaeological sites and artefacts. She is a member of the IfA Council and Executive, being the Honorary Chair for Groups and Membership, and sits on the Validation Committee. In addition to this she continues to teach short courses in History and Archaeology, and Historical Geography at the Scottish Agricultural College. Beverley is currently undertaking a detailed assessment of the extensive Udal archives from sites dug by Iain Crawford on North Uist from 1963-1994, which will hopefully lead to eventual publication of the project.
James Mearns BSc(Hons) MSc (2011)
James is a graduate of Glasgow University Archaeology Department in 1982. His career has mostly been in Government, from the Ancient Monuments Division of the old Scottish Office, through a Civil Service Fast Stream appointment to the Department of Transport in London. This was followed by a move to Strathclyde Regional Council Roads Department where he gained a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning at Strathclyde University in 1997. More recently he has been employed in various roles within Glasgow City Council. He has retained his archaeological interest through membership of this Society but mainly through his involvement with Glasgow Archaeological Society. A member of Council of GAS for several years he was involved in organising a number of one-day conferences on topics such as Science and Archaeology. He had the privilege of being President during the Society's 150th Anniversary year. As an important outcome from that year he was able to help the Society begin a programme of excavation and survey in Pollok Park. His main excavation experience has been on Roman sites, both on the Antonine Wall and in central Italy. He will bring the enthusiasm of an informed amateur and an expertise in the role of Government to the work of the Council.
Vanessa Habib BA MPhil (2011)
Vanessa trained as a textile designer at the University of Leeds, taught at the University of Bradford and held the Drapers Fellowship there and later worked as a designer of textiles and ceramics. After moving to Edinburgh in 1980 she concentrated on researching the history of textiles in Scotland, particularly the Early Modern period, but is also interested in Coptic textiles. She is currently working on bleachfields and the history of dyeing and printing in Scotland. She is a member of CIETA (Centre International D'Etude Des Textiles Anciens).
Committee Convenors (appointed for five years with year of appointment in brackets)
Heritage Committee - Neil Curtis MA MLitt AMA (2010)
Fellowship Committee - Antoinette "Twin" Watkins BA(Hons) (2011)
Programme Committee - Lesley Ferguson MA (2009)
Research Committee - Shannon M Fraser MA Dip.Post-Ex. PhD MIfA (2009)
Publications Committee - David Bowler BA MPhil MIfA (2004)
Chair of the Aberdeen and North-East Section (elected for three years with year of election in brackets)
Chris Croly BA (Hons) MPhil PhD (2009)
National Museums Scotland Representative (nominated by the Trustees of the NMS)
Fraser Hunter BSc PhD FSA (2005)
Patron and Honorary Fellows