About CBA Wales

CBA Wales is about all things archaeological in Wales

About Us

The Council for British Archaeology Wales is a registered charity, (Reg.No. 518374) that serves to promote interest in the historic environment of Wales and to bring together those interested in Welsh archaeology. It is one of twelve regional groups, covering the whole of Britain, under the auspices of the Council for British Archaeology, (https://www.archaeologyuk.org).

The objectives of CBA Wales are to pursue the following:

To advance the study and practice of archaeology
To promote the education of the public in such archaeology
To conduct and/or communicate the results of relevant research
To advance public understanding and care of the historic environments

To address these objectives CBA Wales undertakes a range of activities including:

organizing events and conferences, often in partnership with local societies
promoting activities of societies through the Newsletter and this website
providing guidance to available archaeological resources
CBA Wales campaigns for the local heritage of Wales and supports local groups such as the Young Archaeologists Club.

CBA Wales produces two publications:

A Newsletter which appears in Spring and Autumn of each year
CBA Wales produces the annual journal Archaeology in Wales.

More information can be found in the group’s constitution.

Committee Members

Michael Greene

Chair
Born and raised in Wales, Mike entered archaeology as an amateur involved in promoting heritage as a museum volunteer, a member of the Ermine Street Guard, a Roman military research organisation, and fieldwork. Read archaeology at the University of Reading, leading to a B.A. honours degree and was an associate lecturer on buildings heritage at the Extra-mural department. Following an M.A. in Classical Studies, he completed a Masters research degree at the University of Birmingham on Iron Age transitional rural settlement in southwest Shropshire. Working as a freelance professional archaeologist in field, education and lecturing. He has also continued his amateur interests in managing community archaeology projects in the Welsh Marches.

Evan Chapman

Secretary
Evan came to Cardiff to go to university and never left. In 1990 he got a six-month contract in the then Department of Archaeology and Numismatics of the National Museum of Wales and has remained there ever since. He is now Senior Curator: Archaeology with day-to-day management of the archaeology stores, caring for and providing access to the collections. He specialises in the Roman period, his primary artefact specialism is Roman small finds, in particular those made of copper alloy. He has been on the committee of CBA Wales/Cymru since 2002.

Gary Robinson

Treasurer
Gary Robinson is a senior lecturer in archaeology at Bangor University in North Wales. His main research interest is the archaeology of maritime and coastal communities in western Britain and Ireland. He completed his PhD at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (PhD 2006), where his interest in British prehistory was first encouraged. More recently Gary has become interested in the archaeology of the modern and contemporary world and how this can be used to challenge established historical narratives.

Simon Timberlake

Editor, Archaeology in Wales
Simon worked as a geologist and museum curator before joining the Cambridge Archaeological Unit in 2006. He later became a freelance archaeomaterials specialist from 2017 until his retirement in 2022. With over 30 years in the field, Simon directed the Early Mines Research Group and participated in significant archaeological projects in Wales and England, focusing on prehistoric and historic mining, and smelting. Notable excavations include Cwmystwyth, Alderley Edge, and Ecton. He collaborated with universities on mining research funded by the Leverhulme Trust and worked with international institutions on ancient mining techniques. Simon's contributions include over 50 papers and two books on early mining.

Julian Ravest

Before ‘retiring’ Julian had a varied career. Graduating in Physics and studying History and Philosophy of Science at Oxford, his subsequent work included being a teacher, museum curator, and management consultant to both ACE and HLF, plus being an agent for Russian artists. Moving to mid-Wales provided the opportunity to engage more actively in his life-long interest in archaeology. This he now pursues using a drone for aerial photography and photogrammetry.

Sarah Saunderson

Sarah graduated from Bangor University in 2020 with a BA (Hons) in History and Archaeology and is continuing postgraduate research into the archaeological significance of historic and holy well sites in Wales. Sarah has gained archaeological experience by volunteering on local archaeological excavations with Gwynedd Archaeological Trust and site monitoring visits with the Snowdonia National Park Authority for the Carneddau Project bid. Sarah also works as a relief archives assistant and relief library assistant.

George Nash

Dr. George Nash is an Associate Professor at the Geosciences Centre of Coimbra University - (u. ID73-FCT), ITM (Earth and Memory Institute) in Portugal. Along with his academic career, George has been a professional archaeologist for the past 35 years and has undertaken extensive fieldwork in prehistoric rock art and mobility art in Chile, Denmark, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Norway, Sardinia, Spain, South Africa and Sweden. He has written and edited over 50 books on prehistoric art and monumentality. Recently George has been involved in research into the megalithic rock art of the Irish Sea Province and the rock art within the Dolmen de Soto in southern Spain. He is the convener for the Welsh Rock Art Organisation (WRAO). George is currently involved in geoprospection projects, including the Bacon Hole in South Wales.