Staff Profile
Professor Chris Gerrard, BA (Hons), PhD, MIFA, FSA
(email at c.m.gerrard@durham.ac.uk)
Biography
Professor Christopher Gerrard has held a Chair in Archaeology since 2009 and was a Deputy Head of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Health 2008-2011.
After studying for a joint honours degree in Archaeology and Geology Chris continued at the University of Bristol to complete his PhD in 1987 under the supervision of Professors Mick Aston and Richard Harrison. He was later awarded a post-doctoral grant from the Spanish government to work on medieval pottery in Spain, and subsequently joined the newly-formed Cotswold Archaeological Trust in Cirencester in 1989, going on to become the Senior Archaeological Consultant at Countryside Planning and Management. He left commercial archaeology in 1992 to take up a post as lecturer at the University of Winchester (then King Alfred's College), joining the Archaeology department in Durham in 2000. He was Deputy Head of Department and Chair of the Department's Research Committee in the period 2005-7 before becoming a Deputy Head of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Health (for Postgraduate matters) 2008-11 and Deputy Head of Department again in 2012.
Chris has conducted fieldwork in many different parts of Britain, notably at Shapwick (Somerset) in an intensive landscape project he directed with Mick Aston, and at Clarendon (Wiltshire) where he worked with Tom Beaumont James on the medieval and later royal palace and park. Both these projects, funded in large part by English Heritage, benefitted greatly from the involvement of local communities and volunteers. He has also worked in Spain for many years and has published excavations and standing building recording on later medieval sites there. His particular interest is in the transition from Islamic to Christian societies and their landscapes in the north-east of Spain, including themes such as water/irrigation and qanats. He is currently undertaking field survey and site recording with Spanish colleagues as part of the Moncayo Archaeological Survey. His past experience in project management and ongoing interests in heritage and site presentation involve him in a variety of projects including the nomination for the World Heritage Site at Jarrow and Monkwearmouth and he is a trustee of the Ad Gefrin Trust (which manages the early medieval site at Yeavering in Northumberland). He evaluates publications for Oxford University Press, Blackwells, and many others, as well as grant applications for research councils in the UK and abroad.
Chris' research students mainly work in three areas: medieval and later landscapes (in the UK and Spain), artefacts, and medieval Spain. Among the former are Simon Draper who worked on early medieval Wiltshire (now post-doctoral researcher at University of West of England), Abby Antrobus on medieval townscapes (now development control officer with Suffolk County Council), Amanda Richardson on medieval parks (now a Senior Lecturer in History at Chichester), Richard Kelleher (British Museum), Jenny Morrison (development control officer with Tyne and Wear) who worked on post-medieval landscapes around Newcastle, and Ronan O'Donnell who has won an AHRC studentship to work on post-medieval landscapes in the north-east England. Among those who have worked on artefact topics are Eleanor Standley whose thesis was about medieval dress accessories (now Assistant Keeper at the Ashmolean Museum and a Lecturer at the University of Oxford), Phil Marter on medieval ceramics (now a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Winchester), Erica D'Amico on Byzantine ceramics (now a Lecturer at Richmond, Rome) and Ran Zhang on Chinese export ceramics. Michelle Mundee (now a Lecturer at the University of York) has recently completed her PhD on the diet of medieval Spain using isotopic techniques. Many of these researchers have successfully published their theses, for example Draper, Heley, and Richardson as BAR Archaeopress volumes and Standley in the Antiquaries Journal. Those with an interest in studying later medieval topics in Britain and Europe should contact me directly.
Research Groups
Department of Archaeology
- Landscapes of Complex Society Research Group
- North East Research Group
- Ritual, Religion, Belief and Place Research Group
Research Projects
Department of Archaeology
- Clarendon Palace, Wiltshire
- Durham Medieval Archaeologists (DMA)
- Moncayo Archaeological Survey, NE Spain
- Shapwick Project, Somerset. A Rural Landscape Explored
Research Interests
- Archaeological resource management
- Historic earthen architecture
- Historic irrigation and water
- Landscape archaeology
- Medieval artefacts
- Medieval rural settlement
- Spanish medieval ceramics
- Templars and Hospitallers
Publications
Books: authored
- Gerrard, C M & Aston, M A (2013). Interpreting the English village. Landscape and community at Shapwick, Somerset. Windgather Press, Oxbow Books.
- Beaumont James, T. & Gerrard, C.M. (2007). Clarendon. Landscape of Kings. Macclesfield: Windgather Press.
- Gerrard, C.M. & Aston, M.A. (2007). The Shapwick Project, Somerset. A Rural Landscape Explored. Leeds: Society for Medieval Archaeology.
- Gerrard, C.M. (2003). Medieval Archaeology. Understanding traditions and contemporary approaches. London: Routledge.
- Gerrard, C.M. (2003). Paisaje y señorío. La casa conventual de Ambel (Zaragoza): arqueología, arquitectura e historia de las Órdenes militares del Temple y del Hospital. Zaragoza: Institución Fernando el Católico.
- Gerrard, C.M. & Darvill, T.C. (1996). Cirencester: Town and Landscape. Stroud: Cotswold Archaeological Trust.
Books: edited
- Petts, D. & Gerrard, C.M. (2006). Shared Visions: The North-East Regional Research Framework for the Historic Environment. Durham: Durham County Council.
- Gerrard, C.M., Gutierrez, A. & Vince, A.G. (1995). Spanish Medieval Ceramics in Spain and the British Isles. British Archaeological Reports International Series 610. Oxford: Tempus Reparatum.
Books: sections
- Gerrard, C M (2009). The Society for Medieval Archaeology: The early years (1956-1962). In Reflections: 50 Years of Medieval Archaeology, 1957-2007. Gilchrist, R & Reynolds, A Maney Publishing. 30: 23-46.
- Gerrard, C.M. (2009). The study of the deserted medieval village: Caldecote in context. In Caldecote. The development and desertion of a Hertfordshire village. Beresford, G. Leeds: Society for Medieval Archaeology. 28: 1-20.
- Gerrard, C M (2009). Tribes and territories: 50 years of Medieval Archaeology in Britain. In Reflections. 50 Years of Medieval Archaeology. Gilchrist, R & Reynolds, A Leeds: Society for Medieval Archaeology. 79-112.
- Gerrard, C.M. (2005). The medieval and later towns of the Middle Thames Valley. The wider archaeological context. In Reading and Windsor: Old and New. Preston, S. Reading: TVAS. 181-186.
- Gerrard, C.M. (2002). The archaeology of the Knights Templar. In Excavations at the Templar preceptory. South Witham, Lincolnshire 1965-67. Mayes, P Leeds: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph 19. ix-xiii.
- King, R. & Gerrard, C.M. (2001). The Pottery. In Ludgershall Castle. Excavations by Peter Addyman 1964-1972. Wiltshire Archaeological and natural History Society Monograph Series 2. Ellis, P Devizes.
Essays in edited volumes
- Gerrard, C. M., Turner, A. and Wilkinson, K. (2010). Geophysical and geoarchaeological survey at the Bishop's Palace, Wells. In Jocelin of Wells. Bishop, builder, courtier. Dunning, R Woodbridge: Boydell Press. 125-136.
- Gerrard, C. M. (2008). Adventures in a post-medieval landscape: a rural case study from Shapwick, England. In Constructing post-medieval archaeology in Italy: a new agenda. Gelichi, S & Librenti, M Florence: Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio. 75-96.
- Gerrard, C.M. & Dauber, R. (2008). Building Biographies: Graffiti, Architecture and People at the Hospitaller Preceptory at Ambel (Zaragoza), Spain. In The Military Orders. Volume 4. On Land and by Sea. Upton-Ward, J. Aldershot: Ashgate. 235-250.
- Gerrard, C. M. & Rippon, S (2007). Artefacts, sites, and landscapes: archaeology and medieval studies. In A century of British Medieval Studies. Deyermond, A Oxford: Oxford University Press. 525-556.
- Gerrard, C.M. (2007). Not all archaeology is rubbish: the elusive life histories of three artefacts from Shapwick, Somerset. In People and Places. Essays in Honour of Mick Aston. Costen, M. Oxford: Oxbow. 166-180.
- Gerrard, C.M. (2000). Espacio y vida cotidiana: la casa conventual de las Ordenes Militares de Ambel (Zaragoza). In Las Ordenes Militares en la Peninsula Iberica. Lopez-Salazar Perez, J Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. 1467-1487.
- Gerrard, C.M. (1999). The Shapwick Project. In A Century of Archaeology in Somerset. Papers to mark 150 years of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. Webster, C Taunton: Somerset County Council. 67-93.
Articles: magazine
- Gerrard, C. M. (2007). Retrospect and prospect: 50 years of Medieval Archaeology. Society for Medieval Archaeology website
- Marter, P & Gerrard, C M (2004). Medieval pottery production in England: a new gazetteer. The Archaeologist 51: 16-17.
Journal papers: academic
- Gerrard, C & Gutierrez, A (2012). Estudio arqueológico del Somontano del Moncayo: avance metodológico. Salduie: Estudios de prehistoria y arqueología 10: 259-270.
- Gerrard, C.M. (2011). Contest and co-operation: strategies for medieval and later irrigation along the upper Huecha valley, Aragon, north-east Spain. Water History 3(1): 3-28.
- Pluskowski, A, Boas, A J & Gerrard, C M (2011). The Ecology of Crusading: Investigating the Environmental Impact of Holy War and Colonisation at the Frontiers of Medieval Europe. Medieval Archaeology 55: 192-225.
- Jaquin, P.A., Augarde, C. & Gerrard, C.M. (2008). Chronological description of the spatial development of rammed earth techniques. International Journal of Architectural Heritage 2(4): 377-400.
- Wilkinson, K. Gerrard, C.M., Pope, R. Aguilera, I. & Bailiff, I.K. (2005). Prehistoric and historic landscape change in Aragon, Spain: some results from the Moncayo Archaeological Survey. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 18(1): 31-54.
- Gerrard, C.M. (1999). Opposing identity: Muslims, Christians and the Military Orders in Rural Aragon. Medieval Archaeology XLIII: 143-160.
- Gerrard, C.M. & Aston, M.A. (1999). Unique traditional and charming. The Shapwick Project. Antiquaries Journal 79: 1-59.
- Gerrard, C.M. (1997). Misplaced faith? Medieval pottery and fieldwalking. Medieval Ceramics 21: 61-72.
- Darvill, T, Gerrard, C & Startin, B (1993). Identifying and protecting historic landscapes. Antiquity 67: 563-74.
Books: reviews
- Gerrard, C.M. (2001). Reconstruccion del Coro Petreo del Maestro Mateo. Internet Archaeology 11.
Edited works: conference proceedings
- Gerrard, C.M. (2010). Edificios en en paisaje medieval: el papel y recorsos de las ordenes militares en Ambel (Zaragoza). I Jornadas de Arqueologia medieval en Aragon, Teruel, Spain, Museo de Teruel, Instituto de Estudios Turolenses.
- Jaquin, P.A., Augarde, C.E. & Gerrard, C.M. (2004). Analysis of Tapial structures for modern use and conservation. Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions: Possibilities of numerical and experimental techniques, Padua, November., Taylor and Francis.