Research
My work is developing new method for a data-led social archaeology, using contextual archaeological studies and multi-variate analysis (integrating artefacts, settlement, landscape, environment) towards a new understanding of social organisation in Europe before Rome, and related mechanisms of social change. I also work on the history of archaeology as a discipline, with a particular interest in the development of field methods.
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6178-3481
Iron Age Europe (800-200 BC)
Objective: Discovering social norms in Europe before Rome, from the mortuary evidence.Latest: Pope, R. 2022. Re-approaching Celts: Origins, Society, and Social Change. J. Archaeol Res. 30, 1–67.
Specialising in the fields of:
• Celts
• Iron Age gender and social organisation
• developing method for an applied gender archaeology
I have published on the following:
• the origins of the Celts
• the nature of Early Iron Age society in Europe
• British Middle Iron Age mortuary traditions
You can see me talk about this work on YouTube or on Spotify
Hillforts (1200 BC-AD 43)
Objective: Understanding communal social architecture in the pre-Roman Iron AgeLatest: Pope, R., Mason, R., Hamilton, D., Rule, E., and Swogger, J. (2020) Hillfort gate-mechanisms: a contextual, architectural reassessment of Eddisbury, Hembury, and Cadbury hillforts. Archaeological Journal 177:2, 339-407.
Specialising in the fields of:
• Palisaded enclosures and hillfort origins
• Building hillfort chronology via architectural phasing
• Reconstructing hillfort gates
• History of hillfort studies
Research projects in this area include:
• CaerConnected: connecting the three modern hillfort communities of Caerau, Pen Dinas, and Old Oswestry (funded by the AHRC) in collaboration with Ollie Davies (University of Cardiff)
• Excavations at Penycloddiau Hillfort (Flintshire) (2012-2019): excavation of six separate construction phases to the 19 ha hillfort, dating the type to the Late Bronze Age-Middle Iron Age, with 12th century BC origins (funded in partnership with IFR Global, to press 2026).
• Excavations at Eddisbury Hillfort, Merrick’s Hill (Cheshire): excavation of a Late Bronze Age palisaded enclosure, C-14 dating the developed hillfort phase, and resolution of hillfort phasing (funded by the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Archaeological Institute; bringing to press across 2024)
• W.J. Varley Archive Project: re-evaluating 1930s excavation practice in the analysis of Bill Varley's 'lost' excavation archive, including the analysis and publication of the rare hillfort gate-mechanisms (funded by Historic England, to press 2020; 2024)
Roundhouse settlement (2400 BC-AD 500)
Objective: Understanding prehistoric architecture and social organisationLatest: Creighton, T., Osgood, R., and Pope, R.E. 2021. An experiment in earthen walls: Operation Nightingale, Butser Ancient Farm, and the Dunch Hill roundhouse. Current Archaeology (December 2021).
Specialising in the fields of:
• roundhouse architecture
• land use/agriculture and settlement temporality
• human-land-climate interactions
I have published on the following:
• use of domestic space
• C-14 dating the Bronze Age settlement record
Research projects in this research area include:
• Dunch Hill and Danebury roundhouse reconstructions: experiments in earthen-walled roundhouses at Butser Ancient Farm, with MOD Operation Nightingale (2021) in collaboration with Richard Osgood and Trevor Creighton
• Kidlandlee Dean Cheviot Landscapes Project: excavation of an Early Bronze Age settlement and its associated field system (post-ex funded by the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Archaeological Institute)
Research grants
CAER Connected
ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL
June 2021 - March 2022
Publishing Merrick's Hill Eddisbury: 1936-38 and 2010-11
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON (UK)
August 2018 - March 2019
Illustrating Eddisbury: A re-evaluation of W.J. Varley’s 1936-38 excavations
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE (UK)
August 2018 - March 2019
Illustrating Eddisbury: Excavations 1936-38 and 2010-11
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE (UK)
May 2015 - December 2015
Publishing Excavations at Eddisbury Hillfort: 1936-38 and 2010-11
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON (UK)
April 2015 - December 2015
Kidlandlee Dean Cheviot Landscapes Project
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON (UK)
April 2012 - January 2013
Kidlandlee Dean
THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE (UK)
April 2012 - December 2012
Kidlandlee Prehistoric Landscape Project
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE (UK)
April 2010 - March 2011
Habitats and Hillforts (Merrick’s Hill excavations)
CHESHIRE WEST AND CHESTER COUNCIL (UK)
July 2011 - July 2015
Archiving prehistoric roundhouses: building a national archaeological database
MARC FITCH FUND
November 2011 - December 2011
Kidlandlee Dean Bronze Age Landscape Project
NORTHUMBERLAND NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY (UK)
December 2012 - February 2013
Stabilisation and analysis of the Iron Age gate pivots from the main entrance to Eddisbury Hillfort, Cheshire (W.J. Varley excavations 1936-38)
ENGLISH HERITAGE
January 2015 - June 2017
Kidlandlee Dean Landscape Project: Understanding agricultural landscapes in the British Bronze Age
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE (UK)
April 2012 - December 2012
Kidlandlee Prehistoric Landscape Project.
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE (UK)
August 2008 - February 2009
Research collaborations
Prof. Gary Lock
University of Oxford
Survey at Penycloddiau and Bodfari hillforts.
Dr Fiona Gale
Denbighshire County Council
Excavations at Penycloddiau hillfort.
Richard Mason
English Heritage
Excavations at Kidlandlee Dean (2008), Eddisbury hillfort (2010-2011), Penycloddiau hillfort (2012-).
Dr Jenni Dungait
Rothamstead Research
Soil science at Kidlandlee Dean.
Prof. Ian Ralston
University of Edinburgh
French and British mortuary evidence.
Dr Anne Teather
University of Chester
British Women Archaeologists.
Prof. Colin Haselgrove
University of Leicester
Characterising the Earlier Iron Age.
Peter Carne
University of Durham
Excavations at Kidlandlee Dean (2005-2007)