News  |  Posted July 23, 2015

Meet Will Wyeth – EAA Society Student Bursary awardee

Will Wyeth - EAA Student Bursary awardee

We are delighted to be sponsoring ten student bursaries for early career researchers at the European Association of Archaeologists meeting in Glasgow 2-5 September. Here Will Wyeth, one of our bursary awardees, talks about his current research and what the Society support means to him.

“In October 2013 I embarked on a PhD looking at Scotland’s early stone castles. The aim of my thesis was to revisit our knowledge and understanding of these monuments of the medieval past, to suggest new ideas for their emergence, development, role and differences – areas identified as in need of attention by the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

Zooming forward to today, this has let me across the country and the sea to share some thoughts about Scottish castles. I have to date visited over 60 castle sites in the UK (the vast majority here in Scotland) and participated in the recording with RCAHMS of a dozen sites. In the process of this I have gained the thing I cherish most, practical experience in archaeology. I have presented at seminars, poster sessions and symposia, most recently at an international medieval and Renaissance conference at St Louis University in Missouri. I am currently refining two journal articles for publication, one on Norse castles in Scotland and the other on timber motte towers. This last will form the topic of a paper I will present at the European Association of Archaeologists’ meeting in Glasgow this September, for which I have very generously been supported by the Society.

I feel especially lucky because the EAA award includes a year’s Fellowship, which I have already benefitted from both in terms of networking and knowledge exchange. The Society’s value to me as a new researcher is not only in material support for forging a career in research, but especially because its membership includes a vast array of expertise and interest in the kind of things I work with. In this sense, the Society’s offering of special Fellowships for students and under-26s is a fantastic opportunity for sharing ideas. On a personal level, it is reassuring that the Society is willing to support the work of newcomers and new research; it is extremely encouraging!”

Will Wyeth

Fieldwork at Castle Tioram