{"id":588,"date":"2023-09-06T14:19:18","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T13:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/?p=588"},"modified":"2025-12-05T13:51:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T13:51:34","slug":"roberta-gilchrist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/","title":{"rendered":"Roberta Gilchrist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/4&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;672&#8243; style=&#8221;vc_box_circle&#8221;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;3\/4&#8243;][vc_column_text]Principal Investigator<br \/>\nDepartment of Archaeology, University of Reading[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/12&#8243;][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=&#8221;fas fa-envelope&#8221; color=&#8221;black&#8221; size=&#8221;xs&#8221; link=&#8221;url:mailto%3Ar.l.gilchrist%40reading.ac.uk|title:Roberta%20Gilchrist|target:_blank&#8221;][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/12&#8243;][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/12&#8243;][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/12&#8243;][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/12&#8243;][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/12&#8243;][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h3>Project role<\/h3>\n<p>I am the Principal Investigator (PI) for the MeRit project, leading research and working closely with all members of the project team.<\/p>\n<h3>Background<\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019m a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading as well as Research Dean for Heritage &amp; Creativity (Arts &amp; Humanities). I\u2019m a Fellow of the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries and an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.<\/p>\n<p>My research focuses on medieval social archaeology, especially medieval religion, gender, magic, burial and religious communities, including detailed studies of Glastonbury Abbey and Norwich Cathedral.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve shared my research with non-academic audiences through television and radio broadcasts and prestigious public lectures series including the Dalrymple Lectures (2011) and the Rhind Lectures (2017). My AHRC-funded research on Glastonbury Abbey has been shared through co-created resources including an AR app and heritage trail, digital reconstructions, schools\u2019 packs and a guidebook for visitors to the abbey. I was voted Current Archaeology\u2019s \u2018Archaeologist of the Year\u2019 in 2016.<\/p>\n<h3>Education and training<\/h3>\n<p>D Phil, University of York, 1991<br \/>\nBA (Hons) Archaeology, University of York, 1986<\/p>\n<h3>Areas of interest<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Gender and social archaeology.<\/li>\n<li>Medieval material culture.<\/li>\n<li>Burial archaeology.<\/li>\n<li>Magic and religion.<\/li>\n<li>Heritage.<\/li>\n<li>Digital Humanities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Research projects<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Glastonbury Abbey: Storytelling through Immersive Heritage Practice, PI, AHRC Follow-on Funding Scheme (2022-3).<\/li>\n<li>Glastonbury Abbey: Archaeology, Legend and Public Engagement, PI, AHRC Follow-on Funding Scheme (2015-16).<\/li>\n<li>Glastonbury Abbey Archaeological Archive Project, PI, AHRC (2009-12).<\/li>\n<li>Glastonbury Abbey Pilot Project, PI, British Academy (2007-8).<\/li>\n<li>Archaeology of the Medieval Life Course, Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2007-10).<\/li>\n<li>The Cemeteries of London\u2019s Medieval Religious Houses, PI, AHRC (1999-2003).<\/li>\n<li>The Archaeological Assessment of Norwich Cathedral Close, PI, English Heritage (1996-8).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Selected publications<\/h3>\n<p>Gilchrist R., 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/00766097.2022.2003610\">\u2018Voices from the Cemetery: the Social Archaeology of Late-Medieval Burial\u2019<\/a>, <em>Medieval Archaeology<\/em> Vol 66, 2022, Issue 1, pages 120-50.<\/p>\n<p>Gilchrist R., 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/9781108678087\"><em>Sacred Heritage: Monastic Archaeology, Identities, Beliefs<\/em><\/a>, Cambridge University Press, 256pp.\u00a0 Open Access Monograph.<\/p>\n<p>Gilchrist, R. and Green, C., 2015, <a href=\"https:\/\/library.oapen.org\/handle\/20.500.12657\/32051\">Glastonbury Abbey: Archaeological Excavations 1904-1979<\/a>, London: Society of Antiquaries Monograph, xxii + 501pp.<\/p>\n<p>Gilchrist, R., 2014, \u2018Monastic and Church Archaeology\u2019, Annual Review of Anthropology 43, 235-50.<\/p>\n<p>Gilchrist, R., 2012, Medieval Life: Archaeology and the Life Course, Boydell and Brewer, 336pp.<\/p>\n<p>Gilchrist, R., 2008, \u2018Magic for the dead? The archaeology of magic in later medieval burials\u2019, Medieval Archaeology 52, 119-59.<\/p>\n<p>Gilchrist, R. and Sloane, B., 2005, Requiem: The Medieval Monastic Cemetery in Britain. London: Museum of London Archaeology Service Monograph, 273pp.<\/p>\n<p>Gilchrist, R., 1994, Gender and Material Culture. The Archaeology of Medieval Religious Women. London: Routledge, 222pp.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Principal Investigator<br \/>\nDepartment of Archaeology, University of Reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":853,"featured_media":488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[21,22],"coauthors":[15],"class_list":["post-588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meet-the-team","tag-all-merit-staff","tag-principal-investigator"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Roberta Gilchrist - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Roberta is MeRit project principal investigator, leading research and working closely with all members of the project team.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Roberta Gilchrist - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Roberta is MeRit project principal investigator, leading research and working closely with all members of the project team.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-06T13:19:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-05T13:51:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2023\/09\/Roberta_Glastonbury_Merit-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1547\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire Costin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire Costin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/\",\"name\":\"Roberta Gilchrist - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-06T13:19:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-05T13:51:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/48c977e0e83235da66a7e00ca355fbbd\"},\"description\":\"Roberta is MeRit project principal investigator, leading research and working closely with all members of the project team.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Roberta Gilchrist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/\",\"name\":\"MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/48c977e0e83235da66a7e00ca355fbbd\",\"name\":\"Claire Costin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/d63360946b0d0347acb1e43733376d40\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/67513e91eb03e974985879a99f11178e9b2759fbb0380968b925c5fe2fd99586?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/67513e91eb03e974985879a99f11178e9b2759fbb0380968b925c5fe2fd99586?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Claire Costin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/author\/ccostin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Roberta Gilchrist - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","description":"Roberta is MeRit project principal investigator, leading research and working closely with all members of the project team.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Roberta Gilchrist - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","og_description":"Roberta is MeRit project principal investigator, leading research and working closely with all members of the project team.","og_url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/","og_site_name":"MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","article_published_time":"2023-09-06T13:19:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-05T13:51:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1547,"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2023\/09\/Roberta_Glastonbury_Merit-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Claire Costin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Claire Costin","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/","name":"Roberta Gilchrist - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-09-06T13:19:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-05T13:51:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/48c977e0e83235da66a7e00ca355fbbd"},"description":"Roberta is MeRit project principal investigator, leading research and working closely with all members of the project team.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/roberta-gilchrist\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Roberta Gilchrist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/","name":"MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/48c977e0e83235da66a7e00ca355fbbd","name":"Claire Costin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/d63360946b0d0347acb1e43733376d40","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/67513e91eb03e974985879a99f11178e9b2759fbb0380968b925c5fe2fd99586?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/67513e91eb03e974985879a99f11178e9b2759fbb0380968b925c5fe2fd99586?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Claire Costin"},"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/author\/ccostin\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Roberta Gilchrist","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/853"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1532,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions\/1532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}