51cg

Biography

Michael undertook an undergraduate MA in Archaeology here at the 51cg before attending the University of Southampton for a postgradue MA in Maritime Archaeology. Returning to Aberdeen for PhD research, Michael's research established a baseline for understanding crannogs in north-east Scotland which made the first attempt to systematically map loch drainage to understand this lake-dwelling phenomenon. 

This work led to his first post-doctoral appointment (2017-2020) at the in East Kilbride working on the Living on Water project building high resolution chronologies using radiocarbon wiggle-match dating for crannogs in Loch Tay, Perthshire. Following this 3-year project, Michael was appointed as a post-doctoral research associate (2020-2023) at the at the University of York. Michael led research here investigating how archaeology might be used to understand biodiversity change through, and importantly how human-environment interactions shape biological conservation in the present. 

In July 2023, Michael took up a post as an Interdisciplinary Fellow part of the 51cg's 2040 Strategy. In this role, he is continuing his research on past human-environment interactions and how that impacts conservation efforts such as Rewilding and other types of environmental restoration. 

External Memberships

Lead Editor Journal of Wetland Archaeology

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Research Overview

My research sits at the intersection of archaeology and biological conservation. I am interested in how archaeological data and perspectives can be brought to bear on addressing catastrophic declines of biodiversity. With a particular focus on freshwater and coastal environments, my current research examines how human activity is responsible for many or even most habitats and species that we value and protect. This makes decisions about biological conservation as much about past human actions (ie. archaeology) as it is about ecology. A major challenge my research aims to address is bringing that archaeological perspective to the policy and practice of biological conservation. 

Past Research

Michael got his start in research investigating crannogs in north-east Scotland. Crannogs are artificial island dwellings common in Scotland and Ireland and date primarily from the Iron Age (c. 800 BC to AD 400) and the medieval period (AD 400 to AD 1600). Charting historic drainage and the analysis of the history of research of these often enigmatic, but exceptionally rich, archaeological sites, Michael's research has identified over fifty likely crannogs, previously understood as other types of archaeological site or otherwise completely unknown. 

This PhD research fed into a 3-year Historic Environment Scotland funded research project that aimed to build high resolution radiocarbon chronologies for Early Iron Age crannogs in Loch Tay, Perthshire. Based at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, this work developed radiocarbon wiggle-match dates on dendrochronologically linked groups of structural timbers from seven crannogs around Loch Tay dating to the Halstatt plateau period (800-400 cal BC) of the radiocarbon calibration curve. 

Collaborations

Michael has ongoing external research collaborations with the RSPB, Highlands Rewilding and the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity at the University of York. 

Funding and Grants