Sara Machin

Sara has joined Headland Archaeology from the University of Reading where she has spent almost two years as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant working on the results of the Silchester excavations. The Silchester archives were the central focus of Sara’s PhD thesis, Constructing Calleva, which used both thin section petrography and portable x-ray fluorescence to establish a fabric series for the ceramic building material used to construct the Roman town at Silchester. The results of this were used to provenance the material to raw material resources and production centres, providing a picture of the supply of brick and tile to the Roman town and of the industry that served the changing levels of demand throughout the 400-year life of the settlement.  The results challenged, to some extent, the typical preconception that ceramic building materials were a low-value, high-bulk commodity, typically made local to the consumer.

As an archaeological ceramics specialist Sara has extensive experience of working with ceramic assemblages, both pottery and building materials, from a wide range of archaeological periods with a recent focus on Roman Britain.  As a Senior Finds Officer she will be be helping to co-ordinate the vibrant and growing post-excavation programme in the south-east office.