Scientific Dating

Role of the team

To provide for English Heritage and others a comprehensive range of advice and practical application of scientific dating.

Work undertaken 

• Co-ordination of English Heritage scientific dating requirements
• Development of scientific dating policy
• Chronological modelling of archaeological problems
• Supervision of scientific dating undertaken in support of the Historic Environment Enabling Programme (HEEP) and Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) research projects
• Commissioning of radiocarbon dating, tree-ring analysis, and archaeomagnetic dating 
• Undertaking archaeomagnetic dating
• Scientific dating, when not available in-house, can be procured externally

Postal addresses

Alex Bayliss & John Meadows:	Isabelle Parsons & Kate Cullen:
Scientific Dating Team English Heritage, 1 Waterhouse Square, 138-142 Holborn, London, EC1N 2ST	Scientific Dating Team English Heritage, Kemble Drive, NMRC 3/60 Swindon, SN2 2GU

Specialist staff

Team Leader: Alex Bayliss, PhD (based in London)
Responsible for the co-ordination of all matters relating to scientific dating for English Heritage including development of corporate policy and national standards. Research interests in Bayesian statistical analysis.

John Meadows, PhD (based in London)
Chronological modelling of archaeological problems, assistance with radiocarbon analysis and quality assurance, dendrochronology casework.

Isabelle Parsons, PhD (based in Swindon)
Dendrochronology casework, assistance with radiocarbon analysis, quality assurance, and statistical modelling.

Cathy Tyers (based at the University of Sheffield)
Dendrochronologist providing tree-ring analysis for standing buildings and archaeological projects, and researching dating of conifers and oak in Devon.

Kate Cullen, BA (based in Swindon)
Preparation of radiocarbon database and datelists, assistance with radiocarbon programme.

 

Primary contacts

Scientific dating:

Alex Bayliss (London)
Tel: 0207 973 3299 / 07730 051008
Email: alex.bayliss@english-heritage.org.uk

John Meadows (London)
Tel: 07919 014968
Email: john.meadows@english-heritage.org.uk

Isabelle Parsons (Swindon)
Tel: 01793 414967 / 07776 164059
Email: isabelle.parsons@english-heritage.org.uk  

Archaeomagnetic dating:

Alex Bayliss (as above) / Paul Linford
Tel: 02392 856749
Fax: 02392 856701
Email: paul.linford@english-heritage.org.uk

 

Scientific Dating Guidelines:

  Archaeomagnetic Dating

Luminescence Dating

 

Dendrochronology: Guidelines on producing and interpreting dendrochronological dates