Sean Bell

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Project Officer (ORCA)

Sean studied archaeology at the University of Liverpool, graduating with a BA Honours degree in 1991. After gaining some experience in commercial archaeology, he completed a MSc in ‘Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomy’ at the University of Sheffield, specialising in the analysis of faunal remains. He then continued working in commercial archaeology across northern England, the Midlands and Wales – and a brief stay in the Czech Republic. Sean was then employed at ARCUS (Archaeological Research and Consultancy at the University of Sheffield) for almost 10 years, working as a Project Officer on a large number of projects, ranging from rural sites in the Derbyshire Peak District to large-scale industrial sites across the urban centres of South and West Yorkshire, and north Derbyshire. Notable projects included excavations at Matthew Murray’s Round Foundry in Holbeck, Leeds – the world’s first engineering works; remedial and consolidation works at Sheffield’s Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, and; work along the corridor of the Sheffield Inner Relief Road which included a three-year long programme of excavation and recording close to the city centre. Following the closure of ARCUS, he worked on a self-employed basis supervising sites, undertaking zooarchaeological analyses and providing historic/ heritage interpretation services for a number of archaeological contractors, developers, social enterprise and heritage initiatives, and local volunteer archaeology/ history groups. During the summer of 2014, Sean moved to Orkney to take-up his current post with ORCA.

External memberships

  • Member of the Association for Environmental Archaeology
  • Member of the Association for Industrial Archaeology
  • Member of the Early Medieval China Group

Publications

Bell, S. and Godden, K. 2014 ‘Marine Mollusca’. In Parker Pearson, M. and Zvelebil, M. Excavations at Cill Donnain: A Bronze Age Settlement and Iron Age Wheelhouse in South Uist. Oxbow Books.

Bell, S. forthcoming. Archaeological Investigations along the Sheffield Inner Relief Road. Wessex Archaeology.