Department of Archaeology
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Dr Chris Caple, BSc, PhD, ACR, FIIC, FSA

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology

(email at christopher.caple@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

Chris Caple graduated from University of Wales, College of Cardiff in 1979 with a BSc in Archaeological Conservation. He carried out his doctoral research on the composition and manufacturing technology of medieval copper alloy pins at the University of Bradford and was awarded his PhD in 1986. Between 1984 and 1988 he was the artefacts conservator at the York Castle Museum. In 1988 he became lecturer in Archaeological Conservation and Archaeological Science at the Dept. of Archaeology, University of Durham, becoming a senior lecturer in 1996. Between 1984 and 1995 he was Director, for Cadw, of the archaeological excavations at Dryslwyn Castle in Dyfed. He is recently completed the writing up of this project. In 2000 he wrote Conservation Skills: Judgement, Method and Decision Making, a widely used textbook for conservation courses. In 2006 he wrote Objects: Reluctant Witnesses to the Past, a guide for archaeology and museum studies students to the technical study of artefacts. He has been actively engaged in research on the burial environment since the 1990 and published papers on this as well as archaeology, conservation and ancient technology. He is an Accredited Conservator Restorer (ACR), Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation (FIIC) and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA). He was a member of English Heritage’s Science and Conservation Advisor Panel between 1997 and 2003.

Research Groups

Research Projects

  • Burial Environments
  • Conservation Theory
  • Dryslwyn Castle – The Development of, and Life in, Welsh Castles
  • Nevern Castle – The Development of, and Life in, Welsh Castles
  • Objects: Reluctant Witnesses to the Past

Research Interests

  • Ancient Materials and Object Analysis: analysis work done on pins, Saxon brooches, Durham Cathedral doors and many other objects
  • Burial Environments: the preservation of artefacts and materials in burial environments, monitoring burial environments and reburial
  • Conservation: All aspects of conservation work, especially teaching conservation and conservation ethics and practice.
  • Welsh Castles: excavated Dryslwyn Castle 13th century welsh castle over 15 seasons

Indicators of Esteem

  • 2007: External Examiner, Derby University, Heritage Conservation:
  • 2005: External Examiner PhD thesis, UCL:
  • 2005: Joint Leader of Workshop on Teaching Conservation, Winterthur Museum, USA: Together with Garth Rhodes (University of Northumbria) gave a 3 day workshop to the staff of the Winterthur-Delaware conservation course on teaching artefact conservation. Directors of the other east coast conservation programmes also attended.
  • 2005: Keynote Speaker at International Conference on Archaeological Conservation: Keynote speaker and first day session chair at the 4 day international conference 'Archaeological Conservation: Current Trends and Future Directions', held in Cllonial Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.
  • 2003: External Examiner University of Leicester, Dept. of Museum Studies, MA in Museum Studies (Distance Learning):
  • 2003: Speaker - International Colloqium on Reburial in USA: One of the 50 or so speakers and participants in the international colloqium on reburial in Sante Fe New Mexico, USA.

Selected Publications

  • Caple C, D. Dungworth & P.W. Clogg 1997. Results of the characterisation of the anoxic waterlogged environments which preserve archaeological organic materials. in P. Hoffmann, T. Daley, T. Grant & J.A. Spriggs (eds.). Proceedings of the 6th ICOM Group on Wet Organic Archaeological Materials Conference. York 1996. Bremerhaven: International Council of Museums. 57-72
  • Caple C & P.W. Clogg 1996. Conservation Image Enhancement at Durham University. in T. Higgins, P. Main & J. Lang (eds.). Imaging the Past, British Museum Occasional Paper 114, London: British Museum 13-22
  • Caple C 1996. The creation of self-development learning packages (SDLP) and formalised object construction and use sequences (FOCUS). ICOM Committee for Conserevation: 11th Triennial meeting, Edinburgh 1996. Edinburgh: James and James (Science Publishers). 108-115

Books: authored

Edited works: contributions

  • Rimmer, M.B. & Caple, C. 2008. Estimating Artefact Loss: A comparison of metal artefact loss rates through in situ decay and loss of ancient monument sites in England. In Preserving Archaeological Remains in Situ. Proceedings of the 3rd Conference, 7-9 December 2006, Amsterdam. Geoarchaeological and Bioarchaeological Studies 10. Kars, H. & van Heeringen, R.M. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. 65-73. (Additional information)
  • Caple, C. 2008. Preservation in Situ: The Future for Archaeological Conservators? In Conservation and Access. Saunders, D., Townsend, J.H. & Woodcock, S. London: International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. 214-217. (Additional information)
  • Caple C 2001. Degradation, Investigation and Preservation of Archaeological Evidence. In Handbook of Archaeological Sciences. D. Brothwell & M. Pollard Chichester New York: John Wiley. 587-593. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Caple C. & Hovmand, I. 2001. The Problems of Monitoring Archaeological Waterlogged Anoxic Deposits in Situ. In Archaeological Science 1997 (BAR International Series 939). Millard, A BAR. 142-149. (Additional information)

Journal papers: academic

Monographs

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