Names followed by (T) give talks, (D) is for demonstrators
Justine Bayley (T)
Justine worked as an archaeological scientist for English Heritage and its predecessors for many years, with particular interests in non-ferrous metal- and glass-working. She has been a member of HMS Council since the 1980s and jointly edited its journal, Historical Metallurgy, for over 30 years.
Andrea Dolfini (T & D)
Andrea Dolfini is a Professor of Archaeology at Newcastle University. He researches metalwork and society in Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Europe using experimental and scientific methods, including use-wear analysis.
Adi Eliyahu (T)
Adi Eliyahu-Behar is a senior lecturer at the University of Ariel, holding a PhD in chemistry. Her research focuses on the intersection of materials science and archaeology, specializing in pyro-technological materials and ancient metals, bridging scientific analysis with historical inquiry.
Jeremy Hodgkinson (T)
Jeremy Hodgkinson has been researching the iron industry of the Weald for more than 40 years. He has lectured and written about the industry and is the author of two books: The Wealden Iron Industry (2008) and British Cast-iron Firebacks (2010).
Phil Parkes (D)
Phil Parkes is an accredited objects conservator and a maillemaker, producing maille based on archaeological and historical examples. Phil was awarded Heritage Crafts 'Wales Maker of the Year 2024' for his work and promotion of the craft
Hayden Scott-Pratt (D)
Dr Hayden Scott-Pratt focused his doctoral research on metalworking at Hengistbury Head in the Late Iron Age. He is the curator of the Hengistbury Head Visitor Centre and runs grant-funded experimental archaeology projects, Performing the Past (2019-23) and Living in the Round (2024-2027), which aim to bring ancient history to life on the site through hands-on workshops and local volunteering.
Vincent Serneels (T)
Vincent Serneels is professor of petrology at the university of Fribourg (Switzerland). He specializes in the analysis of archaeological materials, such as stone, ceramics, glass, pigments and metals with a focus on the study of ancient iron metallurgy. For 20 years, he has been involved in field work research on iron in Africa.
Will Sherman (D)
Will Sherman is one of only two Master Arrowsmiths working in the UK as a full time specialist in the forging of medieval arrowheads. His work has been featured in documentaries, TV productions and empirical tests, and his arrowheads can be found in museums and collections across Britain and Europe.
Katie Surridge (D)
Katie Louise Surridge was born and raised in London and is a sculptural artist working in a wide range of metals. She studied for her BA at the Slade, UCL (2010) and completed her MFA at Goldsmiths. She previously spent three years training as a blacksmith at the National School of Blacksmithing and now runs her own forge and metal workshop in Essex whilst teaching in the foundry part time at Chelsea college of art. She exhibited in the New Contemporaries and won the DARE art prize in 2022. Most recently Katie had a joint solo show at Spudworks.
Rowan Taylor (T & D)
Rowan teaches blacksmithing at Holme Lacy College/The National School of Blacksmithing, as well as working independently as a researcher and archaeological ironworker. His preferred periods revolve around the Iron Age and early medieval period. Clare Collier and Ernestas Jakubauskas will be assisting with his demo.
Simon Timberlake and Fergus Milton (T & D)
Dr Simon Timberlake has excavated, lectured and written extensively upon prehistoric metal mining in Britain, chiefly looking at the period from the adoption of metallurgy up to the start of the Middle Bronze Age. Accompanying this he has, often together with Fergus, undertaken experimental work on the smelting, alloying and casting of copper and bronze. This has included the running of courses at Butser Ancient Farm.
Joe Tyler and Tom Tribe (D)
Joe and Tom are both long-time Anglo-Saxon re-enactors with a passion for replicating artefacts from the period. They were trained at The National School of Blacksmithing Hereford and are currently lecturers in blacksmithing.
Russell Wanhill (T)
Russell Wanhill is an emeritus principal research scientist from the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre. Interests include practical fatigue failure analyses, and embrittlement/cracking/corrosion of heritage metals (gold, silver, bronze, iron).
Tim Young (T)
Tim has wide-ranging research interests across archaeometallurgy and geology. His consultancy, GeoArch, offers services in archaeometallurgy and geophysics. He is currently directing the Cardiff University excavations at the early medieval monastery of Llantwit Major, including its 7th century metalworking workshop.
