Professor Ian Ralston

Former research students (first or second supervisor) with whom I am still in touch include:

Derek ALEXANDER Aspects of the later prehistoric and protohistoric settlement of west central Scotland. M Phil 2003. Derek Alexander is an archaeologist with the National Trust for Scotland.

Gordon J. BARCLAY Ph D 2002. Dr Gordon Barclay submitted a portfolio of his publications on the Scottish Neolithic for his doctorate. Having been an Inspector of Ancient Monuments, he recently held a senior managerial position within Historic Scotland.

Emma R. CARVER The visibility of imported wine and its associated accoutrements in later Iron Age Britain. M Phil 2000. Emma’s thesis was published as BAR Brit Ser 325 in 2001. She in now Head of Interpretation at English Heritage.

Ruby CERON-CARRASCO ‘De iasg agus dhaione’. A study of the utlilization of marine resources as recovered from selected Hebridean archaeological sites. PhD 2002. Ruby has continued to work at postdoctoral level on fish remains and her thesis was published as BAR Brit Ser 400 in 2005. She is now employed by Historic Scotland.

Ciara CLARKE Fungal spores as palaeoenvironmental indicators of anthropogenic activity. Ph D 1995. Dr Clarke now occupies a senior position with the applied company, AOC Archaeology, in Loanhead, Midlothian.

Andrew W. HOAEN The use of palynofacies analysis in archaeopalynology. Ph D 2000. Andy has worked for Glasgow University and the Open University notably in SW Scotland and has also undertaken fieldwork, more particularly in the Matterdale area of Cumbria. He now lectures at the University of Worcester.

Mark W. HOLLEY The artificial islets of the central inner Hebrides. Ph D 1998. Mark’s PhD was published as BAR British Series 303 in 2000; he continues to be involved in underwater archaeology in his native Michigan.

Jane KENNEY The beginnings of agriculture in Britain: a critical assessment. Ph D 1993. After a period as a surveyor with RCHME, Jane Kenney has been working as a freelance excavator in Britain and overseas.

R. Celeste RAY Defining and managing a historic landscape: an interpretative approach to Scotland’s battlefields. MSc CRM 1991. Dr Ray completed her PhD at UNC Chapel Hill and is now Head of the Department of Anthropology at Sewanee, the University of the South, Tennessee.

Kirsty A. SABINE (Aberdeen M Litt) Kirsty Sabine’s MLitt thesis was on the hut-circle groups of Highland Scotland. Before her untimely death, she ran a small archaeological contracting business in Aberdeenshire.

Adrian TAMS Soil micromorphology of archaeological deposits with particular reference to floor surfaces on settlement sites in the Western Isles, Scotland. Ph D 2003. Adrian went on to a post-doctoral position in Soil Science at Nottingham University.

Jennifer E THOMS Aspects of economy and environment of north west Lewis in the first millennium AD: the non-marine faunal evidence from Bostadh and Beirgh considered within the framework of north Atlantic Scotland. Ph D 2004. Jennifer has taught in the UHI Millennium Institute network, and carried out freelance zooarchaeological work, and authoring archaeological reports. She now works for the applied company, AOC Archaeology.

Graeme WARREN Towards a social archaeology of the Mesolithic in eastern Scotland; landscape, contexts and experience. Ph D 2001. Graeme is now a Lecturer in Archaeology at University College Dublin, and has published volumes on the Mesolithic recently with Tempus.

Jane WEBSTER The identification of ritual in the later Iron Age, with specific reference to selected themes in protohistoric Gaul and Britain. Ph D 1991. Jane, who now teaches at Newcastle University, has published widely on this and related topics.

Shelly WERNER followed her M Phil (2002) on Later Prehistoric Settlement in eastern Scotland north of the Tay; a GIS-based analysis, in 2008 with her Ph D, within the Institute of Geography,  entitled An assessment for the case of shared traditions in the North Channel Region. Recently she has been working for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland before joining CFA Archaeology Ltd.

Samantha DENNIS (PhD) The use of experimental archaeology to examine and interpret Pre-Pottery Neolithic architecture: a case study of Beidha in southern Jordan