Connect With Our Committee Members

 
Christine McDonnell

Christine McDonnell

Chair
Christine is Head of Collections and Archives at York Archaeology. Her team looks after a large and important collection of finds and associated archive reflecting the York Archaeological Trust's (now York Archaeology) excavations in the City of York over the last 50 years. This includes the important sites of the Vicar’s Choral at Bedern and 16-18 Coppergate, both extensively researched and published in the Archaeology of York series. She believes in knowledge sharing through access for study, publication, display and participatory activities. She thinks it is enormously important to facilitate and benefit from next generation research and from developing scientific techniques. Christine is committed to the Finds Research Group as a conduit for in-person interaction between those interested in small finds and as a way to support and encourage up and coming researchers.

 
 
Julie Cassidy

Julie Cassidy

Datasheet Distributor
Julie received a degree in Archaeology at the University of Reading in 2001, and a Masters degree in Artefact Studies at UCL in 2004. She has since worked as Finds Manager for excavations at Silchester, Catalhoyuk, the M74 Extension Project in Glasgow and Carriacou, West Indies, and was the Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Northamptonshire from 2008 to 2016. After an 18-month stint as Assistant Archaeology Collections Officer for Orkney Museums, she currently lives in Orkney researching the post-medieval period. She has a special interest in Roman and Post-Medieval material culture.

 
 
Nicola Rogers

Nicola Rogers

Committee Member
Nicola has been a small finds researcher for 35 years, working for York Archaeological Trust for the bulk of her career, but as a self-employed artefact researcher since 2015. She has been the author or joint author of many publications, articles and reports, including academic volumes relating to small finds from York, as well as popular publications. Additionally, she has been involved in teaching students and others interested in archaeological small finds for at least 15 years. In addition to being on the Finds Research Group committee Nicola is also a member of the MCIfA Finds Special Interest Group committee.

 
 
Steve Ashby

Steve Ashby

Awards Officer
Steve is a medieval archaeologist with specialism in Viking-Age artefacts, craft and technology. He is particularly interested in the relationship between the various regions of Britain and Scandinavia before, during, and just after the Viking Age, which he frequently studies through the application of biomolecular techniques. Most well known for his research on worked bone, and particularly on hair combs, he has also worked on ceramics and metalwork, and was previously employed by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, as Finds Liaison Officer for Northamptonshire. Based at the University of York, he is actively involved in the promotion of artefacts training in undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as his own research.

Steve is Awards Officer for the Finds Research Group, overseeing the Geoff Egan Prize and Finds Research Fund.
 
 
Judy Stevenson

Judy Stevenson

Treasurer
Judy is the Senior Curator (Collections & Engagement) for Herefordshire Museum Service managing the museum collections, care and access through interpretation, display, education and research with specific responsibility for the archaeology collections from the county of Herefordshire comprising all excavated material, individual finds and treasure items. Judy previously worked in the Medieval section at the Museum of London’s Department of Early London History, and as a small finds specialist and researcher in metal, glass, lithic and ceramics. She has been the Finds Research Group Treasurer since 2002 having joined the committee in the early 1990’s starting as the Group's Publicity Officer. Judy is passionate about objects and the wealth of information they contain, and loves to share this with the public.

 
 
Gail Drinkall

Gail Drinkall

Communications Manager
Gail is a freelance archaeological finds specialist, exhibition designer and the Collections Manager for Skaill House in Orkney. With 35 years experience in commercial archaeology and museum curatorship, her early years were spent in the finds departments at York Archaeological Trust and the Humberside Achaeology Unit, standing her in good stead for her work as Keeper of Archaeology at the Hull and East Riding Museum. More recently she was Museums Officer for Hartlepool Borough Council and Post-Excavation Manager for Northern Archaeological Associates before moving to Orkney to take up the position of Curator of Archaeology. She has a broad range of experience from Roman through to Victorian assemblages, but has a particular interest in medieval finds.

Gail has been on the FRG committee since 2004. She recently took on the role of Communications Manager and is the first point of contact for any email enquiries.

 
 
Gary Bankhead

Gary Bankhead

Committee Member – Website/Social Media
Gary is an amateur underwater archaeologist, author, small finds researcher and illustrator, television presenter and a Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University. Gary's main focus is researching the small finds and coordinating the wider research of the Durham River Wear Assemblage; an important group of objects described as a major research facility, probably the largest collection of late- and post-medieval finds in the North of England: a unique regional and national resource.

While Gary is the Museum of London Archaeology's (MOLA) external expert for late- and post-medieval lead cloth seals, he was also the 2013 joint winner of the Finds Research Group Geoff Egan Prize for a research report on an un-paralleled late-medieval pectoral cross associated with the shrine of St. Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral. Gary is also a current member of the Arch and Arch Committee.



 
 
Rob Webley

Rob Webley

Editorial Team member
Rob is a medieval archaeologist with a specialism in metalwork of the ‘long’ medieval period. He is currently a researcher on the Medieval Ritual Landscape project (MeRit) at the University of Reading, investigating the material culture of medieval personal devotion. Rob previously worked for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) for nearly 15 years; during this period he gained a PhD as a mature student, examining metal small finds of the 11th and 12th centuries. Based in Somerset, he edits the county archaeological journal and previously co-edited the PAS round-up in Post-Medieval Archaeology.

Rob is a member of the Finds Research Group’s editorial team and has enjoyed editing a number of recent Datasheets



Email: r.webley@exeter.ac.uk;