Officers and Council

Justine worked for Historic England’s predecessors as an archaeological scientist, specialising in metal- and glass-working. She also analysed thousands of Roman brooches, demonstrating the range of copper alloys used and their correlation with type and date. She is a long-standing member of HMS and its Council, having served as Treasurer and for over 30 years as joint Editor. Her current research on non-ferrous metalworking includes Roman and later parting vessels, Viking metalworking in Dublin, and the Tudor mint at the Tower of London.

Vanessa fits the description of Jill of all trades, mistress of some, expert by experience. She is an archaeometallurgist with a preference for non-ferrous metals. Several career strands were/are run concurrently; merging skills and understanding from Materials Characterisation, research, STEM teaching & outreach at all levels from primary to post-graduate, and 8 years of parish council amongst other occupations. She cannot do shorthand.

Jonathan’s main research interest at the moment: The relationship between air input and the thermal properties of early modern blast furnaces. Aiming for experimental tests. Also, an issue that provides context for pre-modern iron production: Given that oak bark is a valuable commodity, how did vast demand for bark affect charcoal production?

The subject of Paul's Master's thesis at Ghent University (Belgium) was prehistoric and Roman iron production in Belgium. After a stint of archaeological fieldwork, he undertook doctoral research into late medieval iron production in Ireland at University College Cork. Currently, he is an archaeological consultant specialising in Irish metalworking, composing reports on assemblages ranging from the Bronze Age to the 19th century.

Vanessa (Ness) returns to Council as Membership Secretary. With an MSc in ironworking and a PhD in copper research and analysis, her interests focus on late medieval ecclesiastical metal acquisition. She runs an archaeomaterials consultancy, specialising in research and chemical analysis. Outside work, she can be found lurking in the finds tent on community and research digs or reassessing the metal and glass collections at English Heritage’s Archaeology stores.

The late Thomas Rose was Professor of Archaeometallurgy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, Boston. He held a PhD in Archaeology from Ben Gurion University of the Negev and Sapienza University of Rome, and a master’s degree in Geosciences from Goethe University. His research focused on ancient metallurgy, stable metal isotopes, and developing methods to reconstruct metallurgical practices and their impact on past societies. He also promoted reproducible research and open science through ASTR and TerraLID.  He was the production editor of Historical Metallurgy Journal.

We were so incredibly fortunate to have had Thomas as part of our society and Council, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him. 

María Florencia Becerra:  PhD in Archaeology (University of Buenos Aires), permanent Researcher at CONICET (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research), Argentina, and Assistant Professor in the Anthropology program at the University of Buenos Aires and the Archaeometry Specialisation Program at the National University of La Plata.  She is also Editor-in-Chief of Historical Metallurgy.  Her research focuses on pre-Columbian and colonial mining and metallurgy in the Southern Andes, currently exploring the use, circulation, and provenance of copper in Northwestern Argentina.

Eddie Birch has served on Council since the early 1990s.  He trained as a chemist but spent most of his career in the metals industry, first at BISRA and later at what was then the London & Scandinavian Metallurgical Company. More recently, "following retirement," he was a freelance consultant specialising in laboratory quality assurance.

Peter King has researched and written for many years about the history of the iron industry and other historical subjects.  This was the subject of his 2003 doctorate from University of Wolverhampton and of his 2020 Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry.  He is an Honorary research fellow in the University of Birmingham.  He is a past treasurer of the society.  Some of his publications are available at https://bham.academia.edu/PeterKing 

Carlotta holds a BSc and MSc in Science for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage from institutions in Italy, and an MSc in Archaeological Science from the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Before starting her PhD at the University of Exeter, Carlotta worked as a research assistant in the Archaeology department at UCL Qatar and the Institute of Archaeology in London. Her PhD research focused on iron production technology in post-medieval England, combining archaeological science with historical and material analysis. During her doctoral studies, she also served as a sub-editor for The Crucible. At present, Carlotta is an Associate Lecturer in Archaeological Science at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, where she is mainly involved in teaching, student support, and laboratory training.

Bart is an archaeometallurgist at the University of Tübingen specialising in the development of metallurgy during the Early Nordic Bronze Age via elemental and isotopic investigations. Most notably, swords and daggers of the Sögel-Wohlde Sphere and their relationship to Central European counterparts, including swords of type Hajdúsámson-Apa.
Having presented his research at HMS online talks, newsletters, and conferences, granting him a prize for best presentation, Bart joined the council to support upcoming metallurgical researchers.

Berber van der Meulen-van der Veen: PhD in Archaeology (Cardiff University); currently a lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She is the assistant editor of Historical Metallurgy. Her research focuses on copper alloy technology in the (Late) Roman West, and she has worked on the reproducibility of archaeometallurgical research through ASTR.