I possess a wide range of research interests that span multiple periods and cultures. My primary regional and chronological expertise lies in the study of Late Iron Age Scandinavia and early medieval Europe.
Currently, my work focuses on the themes of 1) violence, martial culture, and their impacts on social and political organisation, 2) captivity, slavery, and social inequality, and 3) migration, conflict, and coalescence in cross-cultural and transnational settings. These are explored and articulated primarily through discussions of Late Iron Age society, but with substantial reference to broader, global archaeologies of migration, slavery, conflict, and state formation across and outside of the broader cultural sphere of the so-called ‘Viking diaspora.’
My work is underpinned by an interdisciplinary approach that situates discussions of material culture within wider frameworks. In recent years, a key component of my research strategy has been to utilise theory and data from a range of fields including anthropology, psychology, sociology, geography, and the cognitive science of religion as a means of developing novel approaches to longstanding historical questions. I also make regular use of cross-cultural and comparative frameworks, drawing on archaeological and historical case studies dating from prehistory to the early modern period.
In addition, I maintain a longstanding research interest in the archaeology of conflict, spanning multiple periods. I have participated in fieldwork projects focusing on the 1708 Battle of Oudenaarde and the archaeology of the 1941-45 Pacific War in Micronesia and the Ryukyu islands.
My fieldwork interests are wide ranging and I have participated in a range of excavations and survey projects across Britain, Continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Micronesia.