Aleksandra McClain
Senior Lecturer

Profile

Biography

Aleksandra McClain BA (Yale), MA, PhD (York) is a medieval archaeologist specialising in the study of churches, commemoration, and the Anglo-Norman period. She teaches in the Department of Archaeology and in the Centre for Medieval Studies on British medieval and historical archaeology, buildings archaeology, landscape archaeology, and the archaeology of religion.

After completing her PhD on church building and commemorative patronage in medieval North Yorkshire at York in 2006, Aleks worked for the department for a year as a fixed-term lecturer. She then went on to work for two years in the School of History at the University of East Anglia, as a post-doctoral research assistant on the AHRC-funded project 'A GIS-aided study of agriculture and the landscape in Midland England,' which examined the historic landscape of Northamptonshire up to the time of enclosure. Aleks came back to York as a lecturer at the end of 2008, and since that time has been Director of Studies for the MA in Medieval Archaeology.

Departmental roles

• Director of Studies, MA in Medieval Archaeology
• Director of PGR Student Admissions
• Departmental Scholarships Panel

Research

Overview

Aleks' research has focused primarily on parish churches and commemorative practice in the Middle Ages, as well as on the archaeology of the Norman Conquest and the Anglo-Norman period. Her wider research interests include periods of transition and cultural contact, social and cultural identity, the nature and material expression of medieval lordship, the development of the medieval rural landscape, the material and ideological relationship between religious and secular authority, and patronage of ecclesiastical material culture. She also has a particular interest in the north of England, and the development of northern local and regional identities in the Middle Ages.

Projects

Developing mortar dating methodologies for medieval buildings (Society for Medieval Archaeology and Society for Church Archaeology research grants) in collaboration with Gerard Barrett and the Chrono Centre, QUB

This project takes samples from a selection of Anglo-Saxon and Norman churches in Yorkshire to help develop technologies for radiocarbon dating of historic lime mortars and test the precision and accuracy achievable from the method. Techniques for radiocarbon dating of lime mortar have been known since the 1960s, but recently there have been significant methodological advances which have demonstrated its potential for dating the construction of stone buildings, particularly those where stylistic dating is not possible, insufficiently diagnostic, or debated. The project will contribute to further refinements of the method, and an improved understanding of its accuracy and precision for medieval buildings. Developing a reliable means of scientifically dating stone buildings has the potential to open new and exciting avenues across medieval archaeology, given the wide array of structures which have been excavated and survive above ground.

Archaeologies of the Norman Conquest (AHRC Network grant) in collaboration with Naomi Sykes (Exeter)

Archaeologies of the Norman Conquest is a research network which seeks to examine the cultural, social, and political implications of the Norman Conquest through an explicit focus on archaeology and material culture. Its chief aims are to highlight the new insights and nuanced interpretations that archaeology can bring to this fundamental turning point in British history, and to articulate an inclusive research framework for the 11th and 12th centuries that brings together the scientific, humanistic, academic, professional, and public engagement arms of archaeology. By providing a forum for the presentation of innovative scholarship and the discussion of new questions, agendas, and research directions, the network will contribute to re-evaluating the long-standing narratives of the Conquest, its process, and its aftermath -- both in Britain and in Europe, in urban and rural areas, in different regions and localities, and at elite and common social levels.

Cross slabs in northern England, 1000-1600 (Marc Fitch Fund) in collaboration with Peter Ryder  

This project has undertaken the systematic recording of medieval non-effigial commemoration across the northern counties of England, producing a database of over 5000 grave monuments. The project will produce a full published catalogue of Yorkshire cross slab monuments (BAR), and an online, interactive database of the northern corpus (ADS). The project aims to establish spatial and chronological patterns of production, distribution, style, and their relationships to elements of topography, political and ecclesiastical divisions, manorial structures, settlement and landscape, and the secular and religious built environment. In addition, it explores the significance of cross slabs to medieval concepts of social identity, memory, and competitive expenditure and display.

Torpel Manor Archaeological Research Project (HLF) in collaboration with Steve Ashby and the Langdyke Countryside Trust 

Torpel Manor is a scheduled ancient monument near Peterborough and the likely site of a 11th/12th century ringwork fortification and settlement. The project is a joint University of York/community archaeology endeavour carrying out landscape and geophysical survey, fieldwalking, artefact analysis, and historical archive research to better understand the development of Torpel in its local, regional and national landscape contexts. The site has the potential to inform debates about agricultural regimes and economy, castles and fortified sites, open field and settlement development, and politics, land and tenure in the 11th and 12th centuries and into the later Middle Ages.

Supervision

Current students

• Stephen Lonsdale: ‘Moated, but all in ruin’ -- The Medieval Moated Sites of Eastern Yorkshire and the Humber
  
• Yannick Signer: Potting Landscapes: a Regional Approach to the Development of Pottery Production in 11th-13th century Yorkshire (WRoCAH studentship)

Past students

• Carl Savage: Coinage, Landscape and Society in the Borderlands: Economy, Politics and Identity in Scotland and Northern England, 1136-1603 (Scottish Cultural Heritage Consortium CDP)
  
• Vanessa Castagnino: Copper Acquisition and Object Production at Monastic Houses in Late Medieval England, c.1100-1540
  
• Aubrey Steingraber: Landscape and the Making of the Medieval Anglo-Scottish Border: Power, Place, and Perspective, c. 1200-1500 (York Overseas Research Scholarship)
  
• Ross McIntire (Centre for Medieval Studies): In the Footsteps of the Holy: Sacred Landscapes and the Cult of Saints in the Anglo-Norman World, 1066-1220
• Lauren Stokeld (Centre for Medieval Studies): An Interdisciplinary Historical Semantic Study of the Old English Word ‘Burh’ (Wolfson Scholarship)
  
• Robert Webley: Conquest and Continuity: Characterising Portable Metalwork in Late Saxon and Anglo-Norman England, AD 900-1250 (AHRC CDA)
• Dav Smith: An Archaeological Examination of the 'Street' Parish Churches in Ryedale, North Yorkshire (Buildings Teaching Fellowship
  
• Jane-Heloise Nancarrow (Centre for Medieval Studies): The Appropriation of Roman Material Culture and Ideology in Anglo-Norman Towns (CMS Scholarship)

Teaching

Undergraduate

1st year

• Prehistory to the Present
• Exploring Archaeology

2nd year

• Interpreting Historical Archaeology

3rd year

• Archaeology of British Christianity
• Dissertation Preparation

Postgraduate

• Medieval Settlement and Communities
• Using Archaeology (CMS)

External activities

Memberships

• Executive committee member, Society for Church Archaeology
• Management board, Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland
• Executive committee member, Society for Medieval Archaeology (2012-2015)

Editorial duties

• Honorary Editor of Medieval Archaeology (2019-2022)
• Deputy Editor of Medieval Archaeology (2015-2018)
• Assistant editor of Church Archaeology (2013-2015)
• Web editor for Society for Church Archaeology website