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Meet the team

Meet our curators and staff

Looking for someone? You'll find our staff listed by Collections area below. For general enquiries contact Laura Kondrataite, Departmental Administrator, on the number or email below.

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Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology

Dr Fraser Hunter
Principal Curator of Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology

Responsible for: The Prehistory section, Iron Age and Roman collections.

Research interests: Iron Age and Roman material culture; decorative metalwork and Celtic art; jet and related materials; interactions between Rome and the indigenous population.

E: f.hunter@nms.ac.uk

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Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark
Senior Curator, Early Prehistory

Responsible for: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic collections.

Research interests: Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic material culture, especially lithics; the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition; mobility and temporality of settlement in prehistory; deposition practices and structured deposition; rock art and associated artefact assemblages, the post-medieval gun flint industry in Britain.

E: h.anderson-whymark@nms.ac.uk

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Dr Matthew Knight
Dr Matthew Knight
Senior Curator, Early Prehistory

Responsible for: Chalcolithic and Bronze Age collections

Research interests: The production, use and deposition of Bronze Age material culture particularly metalwork; the deliberate destruction of Bronze Age objects; the relationship between memory and material culture in prehistory.

E: m.knight@nms.ac.uk

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Jim Wilson
Jim Wilson
Assistant Curator, Early Prehistory

Responsible for: Co-ordinating and supervising access to the Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology collections by visiting scholars, students and TV crews; maintenance of our displays in the Early People Gallery at National Museum of Scotland; facilitating temporary loan requests from borrowing museums for exhibitions.

E: jim.wilson@nms.ac.uk

Headshot of Bethany Simpson
Bethany Simpson
Assistant Curator, Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology

Responsible for: Supporting curatorial activity across the Prehistoric and Roman section, with particular responsibility for the registration of Roman, Iron Age and early Medieval assemblages and assisting with enquiries relating to the Roman and Iron Age collections.

Research interests: Religious practices in Roman Britain and the impact of interaction between Roman and Iron Age communities on these practices and their expression in material culture.

E: b.simpson@nms.ac.uk

Dr Gemma Cruickshanks
Dr Gemma Cruickshanks
Post-excavation Officer

Responsible for: Post-excavation projects – coordinating specialist work and writing reports.

Research interests: Material culture c.1000 BC – AD 1000, particularly the development of ironworking and iron objects throughout this period.

E: G.Cruickshanks@nms.ac.uk

Medieval Archaeology and History

Dr Martin Goldberg
Principal Curator of Medieval Archaeology and History

Responsible for: Early Historic and Viking collections.

Research interests: Material culture in Northern Britain from Later Prehistory to the Early Historic period; silver – use and manufacture from Roman to Viking period; material culture approaches to the holistic study of ancient religion and ritual practice.

E: m.goldberg@nms.ac.uk

Dr Alice Blackwell
Senior Curator, Medieval Archaeology & History

Responsible for: Late medieval collections.

Research interests: Early to late medieval material culture, including Anglo-Saxon archaeology; the archaeological interpretation of stray finds; the use of heraldry in material culture; the medieval in contemporary society.

E: a.blackwell@nms.ac.uk

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Craig Angus
Craig Angus
Assistant Curator, Medieval Archaeology & History

Responsible for: Graphic and digital imaging for media/publication; co-ordinating department loans and department photographic requests; maintenance of our displays in National Museum of Scotland; support to all curators from Early Prehistory and Later Prehistory sections whenever object movement is required.

E: c.angus@nms.ac.uk

Dr Adrián Maldonado
Dr Adrián Maldonado
Galloway Hoard Researcher

Responsible for: Supporting the delivery of academic and public engagement outcomes as part of the AHRC-funded research project Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard as well as contributing to the wider research of the Galloway Hoard project.

Research interests: Early medieval Scotland, the Viking Age, early Christianity, the archaeology of death and burial, medievalism in pop culture.

E: a.maldonado@nms.ac.uk

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Dr Mary Davis
Galloway Hoard Researcher, Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard

Responsible for: Technical and elemental analysis of inorganic artefacts within the Galloway Hoard and contributing to wider research elements of the Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard project.

Research interests: Archaeological conservation and analysis of artefacts. Iron Age material culture. Technical and elemental analysis of Iron Age and early medieval metals and glass, plus Bronze Age jet, ceramic inlays, and gold artefacts. Prehistoric and early historic hoards and hoarding practices. Object biographies.

E: m.davis@nms.ac.uk

Renaissance and Early Modern History

Dr Anna Groundwater
Dr Anna Groundwater
Interim Keeper and Principal Curator, Renaissance and Early Modern History

Responsible for: The Renaissance and Early Modern section’s collections of the material culture and history of Scotland from c.1450-1750. This encompasses the Scottish Renaissance, applied arts, Scottish weaponry, early modern history, society and culture.

Research interests: The material culture of Renaissance and Early Modern Scotland; the blood feud; networks and communities; Anglo-Scottish relations; public and participatory history; mapping the early modern world; travel writing; cultural exchange and transmission; object biography.

E: a.groundwater@nms.ac.uk

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Ella Paul
Assistant Curator, Renaissance and Early Modern History

Responsible for: Supporting curatorial activity across the Renaissance and Early Modern History section, with particular responsibility for material acquired through the Treasure Trove process, responding to collections-based enquiries and supervising access to the collections.

Research interests: 17th century maritime archaeological collections; Scottish seal matrices c. 1200-1600; post-medieval numismatics.

E: e.paul@nms.ac.uk

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Georgia Vullinghs
Dr Georgia Vullinghs
Curator, Renaissance and Early Modern History

Responsible for: Renaissance and Early Modern Scottish collections and displays, especially collections from 1650 - 1750, Jacobite collections, and objects of Scottish Early Modern domestic applied arts.

Research Interests: Jacobite material culture; material culture of emotions; histories of women and identity in the Early Modern period; the cultural legacy of Jacobitism in modern Scotland.

E: g.vullinghs@nms.ac.uk

Modern and Contemporary History

Dr Sarah Laurenson
Dr Sarah Laurenson
Principal Curator of Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: The Modern and Contemporary History section, Scottish history collections from c.1750 to the present day.

Research interests: The relationship between material culture and the Scottish landscape; cultures, identities and industries in the Highlands and Islands; Scottish decorative arts and the historical development of craft skill; colonial histories and legacies.

E: s.laurenson@nms.ac.uk

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Dr Calum Robertson
Dr Calum Robertson
Senior Curator, Modern & Military History

Responsible for: Scottish history collections, c.1750 to c.1850; the military collections, c.1600 to the present; and the bagpiping collections.

Research interests: Arms and armour; bagpipes and bagpiping traditions; the material culture of faith and migration; Scotland in the age of Enlightenment; museum and collecting histories.

E: calum.robertson@nms.ac.uk

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Ailsa Hutton
Dr Ailsa Hutton
Curator, Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: Scottish history collections c.1850 to 1980, working and rural life collections c.1750 to the present, as well as the Scottish Life Archive.

Research interests: Scotland's social histories; travel and tourism in Scotland; craft production in rural Scotland; history of NMS collections.

E: a.hutton@nms.ac.uk

Oliver Taylor
Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: Supporting all curatorial activity across the Scottish Modern & Contemporary History Section.

Research interests: The domestic space in late-nineteenth century Scotland, in particular the history and the material culture of lives lived in the Scottish tenement.

E: o.taylor@nms.ac.uk

Dr Julie Holder
Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: Supporting all curatorial activity across the Scottish Modern and Contemporary History Section.

Research Interests: Scottish antiquarianism; Scottish disability histories; museum and collecting histories; Scottish social and cultural history and Scottish performing arts history.

E: j.holder@nms.ac.uk

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Research Associates

Dr Henrietta Lidchi
Research Fellow, AHRC Baggage & Belonging Military Collections and the British Empire (1750-1900)

Dr Henrietta Lidchi is a Research Fellow in the Department of Scottish History & Archaeology.

E: h.lidchi@nms.ac.uk

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Dr Nicole Hartwell
Research Associate

Dr Nicole Hartwell is a Research Associate.

E: n.hartwell@nms.ac.uk

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Dr Alison Sheridan
Research Associate

Dr Alison Sheridan is a Research Associate.

E: a.sheridan@nms.ac.uk

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Treasure Trove

Emily Freeman
Treasure Trove Manager

Responsible for: Daily running of the Treasure Trove Unit operation, outreach.

Research interests: Numismatics, the Romans in Scotland and the impact of metal detecting on museum collections.

E: e.freeman@nms.ac.uk T: 0131 247 4025

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Sophie Flynn
Treasure Trove Officer

Responsible for: Daily running of the Treasure Trove Unit operation, outreach.

Research interests: Palaeolithic archaeology, palaeolithic collections in museums, finger rings (especially Medieval).

E: s.flynn@nms.ac.uk T: 0131 247 4120

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Dr Antony Lee
Treasure Trove Officer

Responsible for: Daily running of the Treasure Trove Unit operation, outreach.

Research Interests: Lived experiences of religion in Roman Britain, and the role of material culture in creating and expressing religious identities.

E: a.lee@nms.ac.uk

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Dr George Prew
Treasure Trove Officer

Research Interests: The dressed body and meaning-making through decoration

E: g.prew@nms.ac.uk

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Carl Savage
Treasure Trove Officer

Responsible for: Daily running of the Treasure Trove Unit operation, outreach.

Research Interests: Numismatics in medieval Scotland and northern England.

E: c.savage@nms.ac.uk

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Dr Janel Fontaine
Treasure Trove Officer

Responsible for: Daily running of the Treasure Trove Unit operation, outreach.

Research Interests: Early medieval slave trading and its associated archaeology.

E: j.fontaine@nms.ac.uk

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