Professor Harold Mytum MA. DPhil, FSA, FHEA

My research interests in heritage focus on the following topics: experimental archaeology and on-site reconstruction such as at https://www.pembrokeshirecoast.wales/castell-henllys/Castell Henllys, Pembrokeshire; site interpretation for the public and for schools; community involvement in archaeological fieldwork, particularly community excavation and graveyard recording. I have recently produced some Activity sheets for families and resources for branches of the Young Archaeologist Clubs to record their local burial grounds and their monuments. I am also involved with community archaeology, and research its impact and effectiveness.

My Iron Age and native Roman period research concentrates on materiality and enclosure (hillforts and farmsteads), and experimental archaeology (roundhouse, four-poster reconstructions). One of my largest projects is based around Castell Henllys, Pembrokeshire, which we have been extensively excavated. Nearly three decades of fieldwork has revealed an Iron Age inland promontory fort and adjacent native Roman period settlement, with a brief re-occupation of the fort in the late Roman or post-Roman period. Several of the Iron Age buildings have been reconstructed in their original locations, and I have recently collaborated with Dyfed Archaeological Trust in recording the dismantling of two reconstructed roundhouses at the site, and excavating the remains of over 30 years of activity before a new reconstruction is put up in its place; our research and my experience of the building over the decades has informed the revised design.

Another strand of my research is exploring the 'long Iron Age' on the Isle of Man - the period from 500 BC to 1000 AD - with partial excavations on four settlements. I investigate early medieval interconnections within the Irish Sea region (including the Isle of Man), and the origins of nucleation and urbanism in Ireland through geophysical and surface survey of monastic settlements.

My historical archaeology research examines identity and memory through settlement and mortuary evidence from not only Britain and Ireland but also North America and Australia. My longest-running research theme is the interpretation of graveyard and cemetery monuments and landscapes, exploring issues of symbolism, craft production, kinship, belief and identity as expressed consciously and unconsciously in memorials. I also work closely with groups and organisations on the management and conservation of historic burial grounds, and research recording methodologies for various types of users. This was further developed through the DEBS project in conjunction with a team at the University of York. I am currently collaborating with Oxford Archaeology North on the Castle Street burial ground, Hull post-excavation phase.

I am also actively researching the archaeology internment of civilians on the Isle of Man during the First World War (there were camps at Douglas and Knockaloe near Peel), understanding how they coped with this unexpected loss of liberty. The artefacts they made and used, the numerous photographs of the camps, and our excavations at Knockaloe can all be combined with the limited official documentary evidence and the newspapers produced by those inside the camp to investigate this period of dislocation. I am also researching the activities of a famous German archaeologist, Gerhard Bersu. Whilst he was interned on the Isle of Man during the Second World War; he dug some of the key sites for understanding the Manx 'Long Iron Age' so links with my other period interests. Linked to this is my collaboration with Dr Gilly Carr (Cambridge), Professor Nick Saunders (Bristol) and Dr Rob Philpott (Liverpool) surveying the PoW camp at Les Blanches Banques, Jersey.

I also work on historic rural settlements, and the role of ceramics and dressers in domestic contexts. I have been developing network approaches to interpreting the evidence, and also experimenting with various forms of narrative in writing up my research. Recent fieldwork has been on a medieval iron smelting and post-medieval charcoal site at Satterthwaite in the Lake District, and a long-term project at Norton Priory.