Sara Machin

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.

Sara joined Headland Archaeology from the University of Reading, where she spent almost two years as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant working on the results of excavations at the Roman town of Silchester, which has also formed the central focus of Sara’s PhD thesis, Constructing Calleva. Sara has broad experience of interpreting site records to produce assessments and analysis reports. She is practiced in the curation of all aspects of project archives, from site records to small and bulk finds, environmental samples and ecofacts.

In her role as Senior Specialist Sara provides an analytical and advisory service on all aspects of archaeological artefacts for internal projects and external clients. Sara co-ordinates finds work by liaising with other team members and external specialists to produce finds assessments. This involves the identification and dating of finds using appropriate typologies and references and undertaking relevant research. She also liaises with external specialists to provide quotes and estimates for programmes of finds work. Sara manages projects from the post-excavation assessment stage to publication, conducting further research and directing specialist analyses to produce academic standard publication reports.