Steve Roskams
Senior Lecturer

Profile

Biography

Steve Roskams joined the staff in 1983 after spending ten years in rescue archaeology, directing excavations in Carthage in Tunisia and in the City of London, notably the large excavations at Billingsgate. Since then, he has worked abroad in Algeria and Beirut and, latterly, concentrated his efforts on the investigation of a 'Dark Age' site at Mothecombe in southwest England and, closer to home, Iron Age and Roman landscapes and settlement on the Yorkshire Wolds and in York's immediate hinterland.   

Research

Overview

He is interested in all aspects of archaeological fieldwork, both of theory and of practice. The former involve the construction, from a Marxist perspective, of frameworks for understanding landscape change in relation to transitions between the Iron Age and Roman periods, and between the latter and the medieval period. The latter includes the development of excavation methods and analysis to aid the interpretation of complex, deeply-stratified sequences and of extensive, shallow sites, together with an interest in how the fieldwork profession operates in relation to modern development pressures and the way in which such commercial work can engage modern communities more fully.

His publications include site reports and synthetic articles on London and Yorkshire landscapes, overviews of Roman and medieval York, and books on fieldwork methodologies and stratigraphic analysis.

At the present time he is completing the publication of a major research project focused on the prehistoric, Roman and medieval landscapes at Heslington East, immediately outside York. He is also undertaking research outside the Roman fort at Malton to understand the changing relationship there between soldier and civilian.

Collaborators

Sam Turner, working together on the Mothecombe Project

Teaching

Undergraduate

I teach throughout our undergraduate degree, looking at both archaeological theory and fieldwork practice in the first year; Iron Age and Roman Themes in the second year; and a Special Topic or Assessed Seminar option of Roman Landscapes or the Western Mediterranean in the third year. I also direct the Masters programme in Field Archaeology and supervise a number of PhD students at any one time.

External activities

Memberships

• Member, and former Chair, of the York Archaeological Forum: advises York City Council on archaeological matters
• Academic advisor to present Over Arup project reviewing the effectiveness of current archaeological policy in York and advising on future directions 

Editorial duties

• Editor of conference proceedings for the Interpreting Stratigraphy Group