Keith Abbott
Areas of interest
- Romano-British Archaeology and Material Culture
- GIS and Digital Methods
- Community Archaeology
Research projects
Life on the road: A comparative spatial analysis of the functional, economic and social character of roadside settlements across Roman Britain.
My project evaluates the functional and socio‑economic significance of Romano‑British roadside settlements along three major Roman road corridors, assessing the extent to which proximity to a primary axis of movement fostered distinctive forms, character and settlement functions compared with communities located in the wider rural hinterland.
I will construct an integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) model of roads, trackways and settlements within the selected road corridors by synthesising landscape topography with primary excavation data, historic aerial photography and records of material‑culture deposition.
Comparative analysis of settlement trajectories within road corridor and hinterland contexts will be used to assess the extent that topographical, economic and social forces shaped roadside occupation into a distinctive class of Romano‑British settlement.
Supervisors:
Professor Michael Fulford (University of Reading)
Professor Rob Hosfield (University of Reading)
Background
After retiring from a 30 year career in aerospace, automotive engineering and mobile telecommunications, I have been an active member within the voluntary sector of archaeology working with a number of local societies on community archaeology projects.I hold a MA in Archaeology from the University of Reading (UK). My Master’s project focused on the spatial analysis of Romano-British material culture across the county of West Berkshire using GIS to identify new insights into the Roman period archaeology of his highly rural landscape.