Tim WILLIAMS - B.A.

• Senior Lecturer, Managing Archaeological Sites
• Director of the Ancient Merv Project
• Degree Programme Co-ordinator: M.A. in Managing Archaeological Sites
• Course Co-ordinator: ARCL3044 The Pre-Islamic Empires of Iran
  

Research Interests:

• Urbanism, space syntax, complex societies, recording & analysis of complex stratigraphy, integration of complex data sets, management of archaeological sites and cultural landscapes, World systems.
• Roman, Levantine, Islamic & Central Asian archaeology.
• EARTH: Earthen Archaeology Research, Theory and History
  • Conference 11-13 November 2005: Earthen architecture in Iran & Central Asia: its conservation, management, and relevance to contemporary society (A celebration of the life & work of Robert Byron, in his centenary year)
• Caribbean Archaeology
• Editor-in-chief, Conservation & Management of Archaeological Sites http://www.maney.co.uk/index.php/journals/cma/

Research Students:

The following gives a brief listing of some of the research topics of MPhil / PhD students which are currently being (co-)supervised by me:

• Approaches to the conservation and management of earthen architecture in archaeological contexts
• A comparative study of city planning: the cities of the Silk Road from China to the Mediterranean
• The conservation and presentation of fragmentary archaeological features in modern urban contexts: post-war redevelopment in London, Berlin and Beirut
• Mount Athos: contemporary cultural heritage management on the Holy Mountain monasteries
• Integrating conflict management strategies into the heritage management process: the case of ‘in situ museums’
• A marginalized community? Chinese community awareness and participation in heritage issues in England
• Living archaeological sites – the exception to the rule: A case study of the monastic centre of Meteora, Greece

Recently completed master theses, partly or fully supervised by me, include:

• Future past: how those involved in archaeological heritage policy and management in England view the challenges and opportunities of the next 15 years
• The post-inscription support for World Heritage Sites
• Community involvement in archaeological projects: Shoreditch Park community and research archaeology dig
• Local communities, heritage site management and education: how can they be integrated? A case study at Angkor Wat
• From splendid city to cultural garbage dump: managing the ruined Han dynasty city of Chang’an in China
• Site management in the Aegean: the TEMPER project and its applicability to the region
• Kamakura: Planning for urban heritage
• Interpretation of in-situ archaeological sites in major urban centres: a comparative study of the Guildhall Roman Amphitheatre, London and the Museum of History, Osaka
• Evaluating the Wiksworth Project: conservation-led regeneration in a Derbyshire market town
• Improving heritage management practice in the UK: the role of the Heritage Lottery Fund: case-studies from the Roman villa sites of Chedworth, Brading and Fishbourne
• Visitor experience at historic gardens
• Erosion and stabilisation of earth slopes on archaeological sites: with a case study from Erk Kala, Turkmenistan.
• Mudbrick structures at Chan Chan, Peru: visual analysis of past and present conservation efforts

Recent Publications:

2008 The landscapes of Islamic Merv, Turkmenistan: Where to draw the line?, Internet Archaeology 25 http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue25/merv_index.html

2008 (with Nicholas Stanley-Price and Gaetano Palumbo) Managing archaeological sites and landscapes, Archaeology International 2007/8 (11)

2007 The city of Sultan Kala, Merv, Turkmenistan: communities, neighbourhoods and urban planning from the eighth to the thirteenth century. In Bennison, A.K., Gascoigne, A. (eds.) Cities in the pre-modern Islamic world: the urban impact of religion, state and society, London: Routledge, 42-62

2007 Niuheliang, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China: strategies for the management of a complex cultural landscape. In Pomeroy-Kellinger, M., Scott, I. (eds.) Recent developments in research and management at World Heritage Sites. Oxford Archaeology Occasional Paper 16 series. Oxford: Oxford Archaeology, 55-64

Williams T, 2006 (with Sjoerd van der Linde ) Archaeological site management: theory, strategies and implementation for the archaeological landscapes of Jericho, in Nigro, L & Taha, H (eds) Tell-es Sultan/Jericho in the context of the Jordan Valley: site management, conservation and sustainable development. Rome: La Sapienze expeditions to Palestine & Jordan: 111-144

Perring,D., Thorpe,R., Williams,T.D. (2006). The Beirut Souks excavations. in Jennings,S. (ed.) Vessel glass from Beirut: BEY006, 007 and 045. Archaeology of the Beirut Souks, Berytus series. Series edited by Perring,D., Seeden,H. and Williams,T.D.. Beirut: American University of Beirut, 8-26. ISBN: 0067-6105

Williams T, (2006). The current situation of Cultural Resource Management in the UK, The World of Cultural Heritage, Japan 22, 4-7

Williams T, 2004 Conservation issues of Ancient Merv monuments, MIRAS, 14: 140-1

Williams T, 2003 with Kurbansakhatov, K The Ancient Merv project, Turkmenistan: preliminary report on the second season (2002), Iran 41: 139-170

Williams T, 2003 Ancient Merv, Turkmenistan: research, conservation and management at a World Heritage Site, Archaeology International: 40-3

Williams T, 2003 Water and the Roman city: life in Roman London, in Wilson, P (ed) The archaeology of Roman towns: studies in honour of John S Wacher, Oxbow Books: 242-250.

Williams T, 2002 with Kurbansakhatov, K The Ancient Merv project, Turkmenistan: preliminary report on the first season (20021), Iran 40: 9-57

Williams T, 2002 with Dare, P, Herrmann, G & Ziebart, M Acquisition, registration and application of IKONOS space imagery for the World Heritage Site at Merv, Turkmenistan, in Proceedings of the Space Applications for Heritage Conservation at the International Space University, Strasbourg

Williams T, 2002 First interim report of the Ancient Merv project, Iran

Williams T, 2002 Ancient Merv: Queen of Cities, World Heritage, 24, 4-15, UNESCO

Williams T, 1999 Exploring our Past 1998: implementation plan, English Heritage.

Williams T, 1998 (with Perring, D, Seeden, H & Sheehan, P) 'Archaeological Excavations in the Souks Area of Downtown Beirut. Interim Report of the AUB Project BEY 006 1994-1995', Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaises, Directorate General of Antiquities of Lebanon.

Williams T, 1997 English Heritage research agenda, English Heritage.

Williams T, 1996 Archaeological Excavations in the Souks Area of Downtown Beirut 1994-1995: Interim Report. http://www.acrearchaeology/windows/index.htm

Williams T, 1996 (with Perring, D) 'Archaeological Work on the Souks Site, Beirut Central District', National Museum News, 3, 22-24.

Williams T, 1995 (with Seeden, H., Perring, D) Urban Archaeology '94: Beirut, Directorate General of Antiquities, Lebanon. English, French and Arabic editions.

Current Research Projects:

• Merv, Turkmenistan - research, site management & conservation of this important Silk Road complex of cities. The current project has a number of over-arching aims: a) To improve our understanding of the survival and potential of the archaeological resource. b) To undertake active research into the cities, to aid in both their management and research. c) To develop the information base upon which decisions about the management and interpretation. d) To develop the local skills base. e) To develop active management of the archaeological resource. f) To make research data available to the widest academic audience.
  
  
• Beirut, Lebanon - since1994 co-director Beirut Souks excavations, with Professor Helga Seeden (American University of Beirut) and Dominic Perring (York University). The excavations, which ran for three years, recorded a complex Hellenistic to Islamic sequence, exposing several insula of the classical settlement. The results of this project are being prepared for publication, with accompanying digital resources, and a full deposition of the electronic archive with the Archaeological Data Service at York. There will also be popular accounts, in Arabic, French and English. There are ongoing plans for an interpretation centre in Beirut.

Collaborations:

• Beirut, Lebanon - Archaeological Collaboration for Research & Excavation (ACRE); American University of Beirut (AUB); Department of Antiquities, Lebanon; University of York. Additional collaborations with University College Cork & Cambridge University.
• Merv, Turkmenistan - National Department for the Protection, Study and Restoration of Historical and Cultural Monuments, Ministry of Culture; 'Ancient Merv' Archaeological Park; State Institute of Cultural History of the Peoples of Turkmenistan, Central Asia and the East; CRATerre-EAG (Grenoble); UNESCO; World Monuments Fund; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
• Port Royal, Jamaica - The project began in the late 1980s combining a training project for the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) with an evaluation of the dry land archaeology at Port Royal in advance of proposed development to the town. The main fieldwork project comprised a small excavation to establish the current condition of the resource, to evaluate the impact the proposed development, combined with research to establish the relationship between historic cartographic data and the surviving archaeological evidence. More recently the project has expanded into exploring the conservation of important historic buildings in the town, especially the Old Naval Hospital, and the development of local schools education programmes.
• University College Cork - since 1992 a visiting lecturer in Roman urbanism & spatial analysis; post-excavation analysis & project management.

Educational Background:

1980 BA Archaeological Studies, Leicester University

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