REFIT: Resituating Europe's First Towns
A case study in enhancing knowledge transfer and developing sustainable management of cultural landscapes
The Team
Our team comprises three leading researchers on Late Iron Age oppida and heritage management, plus a number of research associates with various specialisms.
Tom Moore, Senior Lecturer, Department of Archaeology,
Durham University, United Kingdom (Project Leader)
A specialist in the Iron Age of Britain and France, Tom's research focuses on Late Iron Age oppida and urbanism, approaches to landscape archaeology (particularly geophysics) and reconstructing societies. He is also interested in the relationships between planning legislation, research and sustainable heritage management.
Vincent Guichard, Directeur Général, Bibracte EPPC, France (Project Investigator)
Vincent has been running the public body in charge of the integrated management of the archaeological site of Bibracte for many years. He has a broad and high level of scientific (PhD Sc.) and archaeological (PhD Phil.) training, as well as experience in research (with a focus on the European Iron Age and Romanization), teaching (at the University of Clermont-Ferrand) and museums. He is a member of the board of several bodies of national importance in the fields of higher education, archaeological research and heritage management. At present, his international commitment to cultural heritage issues focuses on cooperation developed by the Réseau des Grands Sites de France, in partnership with UNESCO, ICOMOS and the relevant French ministries.
Jesús R. Álvarez Sanchís, Senior Lecturer, Departamento de Prehistoria, Universidad Complutense Madrid, Spain (Project Investigator)
Jesús is a specialist in the Iron Age of Iberia, with a particular research interest in Celtic societies and their processes of urbanism. He has directed field projects around the oppidum of Ulaca, central Spain. He is also interested in aspects of landscape archaeology and the social assessment of archaeological heritage. Jesús is a member of the advisory committee responsible for recovering the archaeological heritage of western Spain and northern Portugal (Castros y Verracos – Interreg III-A), and has been the Head of the Department of Prehistory at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid since 2014.
Gemma Tully, Researcher REFIT, Durham University, United Kingdom (Project Researcher)
Gemma is a community archaeologist who has worked on collaborative projects between diverse stakeholders to enhance mutual understanding of cultural landscapes and museum collections in Europe and North Africa. Her PhD (University of Southampton, 2010) focused on innovative, community-based approaches for the representation of ancient and modern Egypt in museums. Her role within the REFIT project is to develop strategies to engage non-archaeological stakeholders at the four case study sites with the cultural landscapes in order to share perspectives and help build sustainable management strategies for the future.
Jonhattan Vidal, Chargé de Mission REFIT,
Bibracte EPPC, France (Project Invesitgator)
Jonhattan is an archaeologist who uses field survey (from excavation to remote sensing) and geomatics to explore and understand the evolution of archaeological sites. His PhD (University of Burgundy) focuses on combining all of the archaeological and environmental data concerning the site of Alésia in order to understand the settlement dynamics of the oppidum. With a Masters in museology (Ecole du Louvre), he is also involved in heritage management. His role in the REFIT project is to develop digital data acquisition techniques and to create GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to propose cartographic visualisations of the evolution of landscapes, and to map different stakeholders’ perceptions and management strategies of these sites.
Jesús Rodríguez Hernández, Departamento de Prehistoria,
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain (Project Researcher)
Jesús is an archaeologist with a wide range of experience in field archaeology (excavations and surveys for academic projects and contract archaeology) and laboratory work (processing the large amount of finds from the excavations at Ulaca). His PhD (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) focuses on the social organization of the communities who inhabited Western Spain during the Iron Age. His role within the REFIT project is to assess the current engagement strategies in France, the UK and Spain surrounding oppida landscapes, to identify examples of best practice and to develop alternative engagement strategies, for example, through participatory research events.
