Duncan Sayer

Lecturer in Archaeology

School of Forensic and Investigative Science

Maudland Building MB107c

01772 89 4175

DSayer@uclan.ac.uk

I am course leader on the Archaeology of Death masters.

I am a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Central Lancashire and an associate lecture at the University of Bath’s Centre for Death and Society. I have taught at the universities of Reading, Chester, Bath and Oxford and have worked as a project officer for a number of commercial archaeology companies. I studied for my Masters and PhD at The University of Reading and have an undergraduate degree from The University of Sheffield. I am a founding member of the interdisciplinary scholarly society the Association for the study of Death and Society. When not at work I enjoy walking, cycling, fencing, red wine and cooking, I am hoping to buy a Royal Enfield motorcycle and a puppy.

Research

Research interests include -

• Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries.
• The archaeology of kinship and the family.
• Ethics and archaeology.
• Burial archaeology.
Duncan currently has two field projects -

• Oakington, Cambridge, early Anglo-Saxon cemetery and settlement.
• Rollright Heath, Oxfordshire, Iron Age banjo enclosure.

Featured Publications

Books

King, C. & Sayer, D. (eds) (2011). The Archaeology of Post-Medieval Religion. Woodbridge, Boydell.

Sayer, D. (2010) Ethics and Burial Archaeology. London, Duckworth.

Sayer, D. & Williams, H. (eds) (2009). Mortuary Practice and Social Identities in the Middle Ages. Exeter, The Exeter University Press.

Articles

Sayer, D. (2011) Death and the Dissenter: group identity and stylistic simplicity as witnessed in nineteenth-century nonconformist gravestones.  Historical Archaeology 45(4): 115-134.

Sayer, D. (2011) Bowls, Bobbins and Bones: Resolving the Human Remains Crisis in British Archaeology, A Response. Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 21: http://pia-journal.co.uk/article/view/pia.370/431

Sayer, D. Mortimer, R. & Simpson, F. (2011). Anglo-Saxon Oakington: Life and death in the East Anglian Fens. Current Archaeology 261: 20-27.

Sayer, D. (2010) Who’s Afraid of the Dead: Archaeology, modernity and the death taboo. World Archaeology 42(3): 481-491.

Sayer, D. (2010). Death and the family: developing a generational chronology. Journal of Social Archaeology 10(1): 59-91.

Sayer, D. & Pitts, M. (2010). The Human Remains Crisis. British Archaeology 115: 34-35.

Sayer, D. (2009). Medieval waterways and hydraulic economics: monasteries, towns and the East Anglian fen. World Archaeology 41(1):132-147.

Sayer, D. (2009). Is there a crisis facing British burial archaeology?  Antiquity 83: 184-194.

Sayer, D. & Symonds, J. (2004). Lost congregations: the crisis facing later post-medieval urban burial grounds. Church Archaeology 5-6: 55-61.

Book Chapters

King, C. & Sayer, D. (2011) Conflict, Community and Custom: the material remains of post-medieval religion. In C. King, & D. Sayer, (eds) (2011). The Archaeology of Post-Medieval Religion. Woodbridge, Boydell: 1-18.

Sayer, D. (2011). The Organization of Post-Medieval Churchyards, Cemeteries and Grave Plots: Variation and Religious Identity as Seen in Protestant Burial Provision. In C King & D Sayer (eds) (2011) The Archaeology of Post-Medieval Religion. Woodbridge, Boydell: 199-214.

Sayer, D. (2009). Laws, funerals and cemetery organisation: the seventh-century Kentish family. In D, Sayer. & H. Williams, (eds) Mortuary Practice and Social Identities in the Middle Ages. Exeter, The Exeter University Press: 141-166.

Williams, H. & Sayer, D. (2009). Hall of Mirrors: Death & Identity in Medieval Archaeology. In D Sayer & H Williams (eds) Mortuary Practice and Social Identities in the Middle Ages. Exeter, The Exeter University Press: 1-22.

Mayo, C., Cohen, N., Armitage, P., Carter, S., Dodwell, N., Gaimste, M., Jarrett C., Sabel, K.,  Sayer, D., Sayer, K. & Shepherd, J. (2009). The Post Medieval Church of St Saviour. In D Diver, C Mayo,  N Cohen & C Jarrett. A New Millennium at Southwark Cathedral: Investigations into the first two thousand years. London, Pre-construct Archaeology, monograph 8: 76-98

Sayer, D. (2008). The Early Medieval Period. In R Adkins, L Adkins & V Leitch (eds.). The Handbook of British Archaeology. London, Constable: 201-240.

Sayer, D. & King, C. (2008). The Medieval Period. In R Adkins, L Adkins & V Leitch (eds.). The Handbook of British Archaeology. London, Constable: 241-302.

Sayer, D. (2007). Drei südenglische Gräberfelder aus angelsächsischer Zeit und ihre Organisation. In C. Grünewald and T. Capelle (eds.), Innere Strukturen von Siedlungen und Gräberfeldern als Spiegel gesellschaftlicher Wirklichkeit? Akten des 57. Internationalen Sachsensymposiums.  Veröffentlichungen der Altertumskommission für Westfalen, Vol. XVII: 79-84.

Encyclopaedia Chapters

Sayer, D. (2009). Palaeolithic Burial.  In D Peck & C Bryant (eds) The Encyclopaedia of Death and the Human Experience.  London, Sage Publications: 120-123.

Sayer, D. (2009). Buried Alive. In D Peck & C Bryant (eds) The Encyclopaedia of Death and the Human Experience.  London, Sage Publications: 131-133.

Sayer, D. (2009). Curses and Hexes. In D Peck & C Bryant (eds) The Encyclopaedia of Death and the Human Experience.  London, Sage Publications: 248-249.

Sayer, D. (2009). Exhumation. In D Peck & C Bryant (eds) The Encyclopaedia of Death and the Human Experience.  London, Sage Publications: 438-441.

Module Contributions

I am  course leader on the Archaeology of Death masters. My undergraduate teaching includes study skills, professional practice, post-roman archaeology and early medieval archaeology, I also supervise research masters and PhD students.