Dr Dav Smith
Lecturer in Buildings Archaeology
Profile
Biography
Dav Smith is a buildings archaeologist specialising in the recording and analysis of standing structures.
Dav read Medieval History (2000) at the University of Melbourne, Australia, before travelling extensively through Europe. After settling in the UK, Dav discovered a passion for built heritage while working at Bournemouth University, which prompted a move to the University of York where he completed first the MA Archaeology of Buildings (2009) then a PhD (2014) focused on the Victorian rebuilding and restoration of parish churches in Ryedale, North Yorkshire.
Dav works as a commercial buildings archaeology for Maybank Buildings Conservation, having previously worked at Historic England. His research interests include: survey and recording methodologies, church archaeology, Victorian restoration and rebuilding, conservation philosophy, and heritage legislation and management.
Research
Overview
My research centres on the archaeology of restoration and rebuilding, particularly of medieval parish churches. Virtually every parish church in England underwent a scheme of restoration during the 19th century, often resulting in the partial or total rebuilding of the earlier structure. Scholars have generally approached such churches with an assumed disjunction between the medieval and Victorian fabric. My PhD explored the potential of an archaeological methodology to both reveal the restoration and rebuilding process, and to elucidate the ‘lost’ earlier church. More broadly, my research covers the recording, analysis and interpretation of historic buildings, in particular the theory and application of measured survey methodologies, from hand survey through to emerging digital recording techniques.
Teaching
Undergraduate
First Year:
Field Archaeology
Second Year:
Practical Skills: Buildings History
Team Project: Buildings History
Postgraduate
External activities
Memberships
- Member of the Casework Committee of the Council for British Archaeology
- Research Associate, Savannah Technical College, Savannah, GA, United States
