Prof. Julian Richards, is Head of the Department of Archaeology of the University of York, MA(Cantab), PhD(CNAA), FSA, MIFA. Not to be confused with Julian "Meet the Ancestors" Richards.

Julian read Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge and then first came to York to take part in the Coppergate Viking excavations. His involvement in archaeological computing began in 1980 when he started his PhD research studying pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon burial ritual using the computing power of an ICL mainframe and an early Z80 micro-computer. In 1985 he co-authored the first textbook in archaeological computing for Cambridge University Press, and has subsequently written numerous papers and edited a number of books on the applications of information technology in archaeology. After a brief spell at the University of Leeds he returned to York to lecture on Anglo-Saxon and Viking archaeology, and he has never looked back.

Academic and professional distinctions

Co-Director of Internet Archaeology, Director of the Archaeology Data Service, Editorial Board of Antiquity, Archaeologia Islandica, Internet Archaeology, AHRC Peer Review College, EPOCH Framework 6 network of excellence Review College, permanent invited member of the Internationales Sachsensymposion & Viking Congress; Member of AHRC Methods Network Advisory Board, JISC Images Working Group, Archaeological Archives Forum; Advisor to DANS digital archiving project, Netherlands; Council member, Society of Antiquaries; Invited keynote speaker, ‘Land and Sea: Common ground and contemporary issues for Australasian Archaeology’, 2002.

Recent Publications:

• 2006 "Electronic publication in archaeology", in T.L.Evans and P.Daly, (eds.) Digital Archaeology: bridging method and theory, Routledge, 2006, 213-25
• 2005 "A Very Short Introduction to Vikings", Oxford University Press
• 2004 "The Viking barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby", Antiquaries Journal 84, 23-116
• 2004 "Viking Age England", new edition, Tempus
• 2003: "Online archives" Internet Archaeology 14
• 2003: "When does the term 'Productive' Site become Unproductive? When It's Excavated. Investigations at the Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian Sites at Cottam, East Yorkshire", in T. Pestell and K. Ulmschneider (eds.) Markets in Early Medieval Europe, Windgather Press, 155-66
• 2003: "Pagans and Christians at a Frontier: Viking Burial in the Danelaw" in M.O.H. Carver (ed.) The Cross goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD 300-1300, York Medieval Press, 383-95.
• 2003: with Fernie, K. M. (eds.)Creating and Using Virtual Reality: A Guide for the Arts and Humanities. AHDS, Oxbow Books.
• 2002: "Digital Preservation and Access", European Journal of Archaeology 5(3), 343-367.
• 2002: "The case of the missing Vikings: Scandinavian burial in the Danelaw" in S. Lucy and A. Reynolds (eds.) Burial in Early Medieval England and Wales, Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph 17, 156-70.
• 2002: with Austin, A., Pinto, F., and Ryan, N. "Joined up writing: an Internet portal for research into the Historic Environment" in G. Burenhult (ed.) Archaeological Informatics: Pushing the Envelope CAA2001, BAR International Series 1016, 243-51.
• 2001: "Boundaries and cult centres: Viking burial in Derbyshire" in J.Jesch et al (eds.) Vikings and the Danelaw: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress
• 2001: "Finding the Vikings: The hunt for Scandinavian rural settlement in the Northern Danelaw" in J.Jesch et al (eds.) Vikings and the Danelaw: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress
• 2001: The Vicars Choral of York Minster: The College at Bedern. The Archaeology of York 10/5. Council for British Archaeology
• 2001: Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian Cottam: linking digital publication and archive", Internet Archaeology 10, http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue10/richards_toc.html"
• 2000 : (ed. with D.Hadley) : Cultures in Contact: Scandinavian Settlement in England in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. Studies in the Early Middle Ages, Brepols