Annual Reports

Current Report

Highlights

  • Submitted Midterm Report to SSHRC and received approval for second half of project

  • Partnered with Kent County Council to develop a risk assessment and mitigation strategy for heritage sites in Kent

  • Relaunched our Summer Archaeological Field School in the UK

  • Developed and offered a travel course focused on medieval castles

  • Designed the structure, narrative, and basic features of pedagogical video game (Queen’s University)

Students

Total value of student support: $248,780

  • University of Waterloo: $108,430

  • Partner institutions: $140,350

Total number of students trained: 37

  • Undergraduate: 15

  • Master’s: 14

  • Doctoral: 6

  • Postdoctoral: 2

 Students Trained

  • Afolabi, Oluwabamise

  • Allen, Melissa

  • Berg, Morgan

  • Clark, Hannah

  • Diemar, Kendall

  • Drew, Kian

  • Galano, Lucie

  • Giura, Brandon

  • Groot, Paige

  • Grothaus, Grace

  • Henhoeffer, Victoria

  • Hintermeister, Stephanie 

  • Holford, Robert

Kane, Carolyn

Kurian, Erin

Le Clair, Julia

Longo, Caroline

Loudfoot, John

Mappin-Kasirer, Antonia

Marentette, Carley

McCrimmon, Eleanor

McMullen, Clare

Moore, Andrew

Pita, Katie

Racicot, Toben

Robinson, William Clarke

Shaghaghi, Sahand

Siebel-Achenbach, Ellen

Siebel-Achenbach, Michelle

Smethurst, Payton

Stapleton, John

Tsafaridis, John

Vankooten, Nicole

Wagenaar, Gillian

Wales, Michaelah

Yang, Jifan

Spotlight

Summer Archaeological Field School (May 2022)

Although limited travel opportunities in the face of COVID-19 forced us to pause our annual archaeological field school for two years, in May 2022, we were able to resume our archaeological work in the UK. soon as travel resumed in summer 2022, we worked quickly to develop an expanded Archaeology Field School with our partner, the Bader International Study Centre (now Bader College). We received support in this endeavour from two new partners: the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Digital Media program and the Bexhill Museum.

In May and June 2022, we sent over 21 students – a combination of undergraduate and graduate students – who worked on two teams. One team worked to uncover archaeological artifacts on the Bader College property. Points of interest were identified prior to the students’ arrival using LiDAR scans produced by Prof. Derek Robinson and his RA, Brandon Giura. Although the team did not, on this dig, locate the evidence of a medieval structure for which they had been searching, they did unearth many artifacts and acquire invaluable firsthand fieldwork experience. Details on this field school can be found in the report below. The second team worked intently to organize, conserve, and catalogue the thousands of disassembled tiles of a complete Roman bathhouse conserved by the Bexhill Museum.

Read the Report

Castles Course

In September 2022, co-investigator Prof. Joan Coutu (Waterloo) offered a travel course, Castles: Fact and Fiction, cross listed between Fine Arts and Medieval Studies at the University of Waterloo. This course provided 20 undergraduate students the opportunity to travel to the UK and student medieval castles in their original context and reflect on the form and function of these spaces both in their historical context and in the modern imagination. Part of this course focused on Herstmonceux Castle, the site and focus of much of our project’s research.