Gabor Thomas

My research explores early medieval life through the archaeology of places, as revealed by ambitious field-based projects, and through the social and cultural meanings of objects. I have directed a series of large-scale research excavations exploring early medieval monastic and elite settlements and also have a long-standing interest in understanding how dress and personal adornment mediated cultural interaction between the peoples of Britain and neighbouring regions.

Cookham, Berkshire

I am currently directing research excavations on the site of an early medieval monastery on the River Thames at Cookham, that also serves as a Field School for the Department of Archaeology.Initiated in 2021, the excavations are revealing the nuances of a well preserved monastic landscape dating to the 8th and 9th centuries A.D., embracing a planned waterfront production zone and a monastic cemetery.  Cookham is nested within a wider collaborative initiative, The Middle Thames Archaeology Partnership, of which I am a founding member and lead investigator, which aims to unlock the archaeological potential of this previously neglected stretch of the Thames through collaborative partnerships. Watch me being interviewed about the Cookham excavations here. 

Lyminge, Kent

I led large-scale excavations at the documented early medieval royal centre and monastery of Lyminge, Kent, 2007-19 supported by a major grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/J006068/1). Currently undergoing analysis, the results are shedding fresh light on the detailed mechanics of kingdom formation and Christianisation in Kent and the wider North Sea world. Significant discoveries include one of the best preserved examples of a royal residence in pre-Viking England, a detailed view of domestic and industrial life from the outer precinct of an 8-9th-century monastery, and exceedingly rich artefactual and ecofactual assemblages, the analysis of which has sustained several funded PhD projects.

Several publications have emerged from the research, most recently an edited volume placing Lyminge in its international context: Early medieval monasticism in the North Sea Zone: proceedings of a conference held to celebrate the conclusion of the Lyminge excavations 2008-15, and an article in the journal Antiquity discussing the earliest example of a plough coulter from Anglo-Saxon England: Technology, ritual and Anglo-Saxon agrarian production: the biography of a seventh-century century plough coulter from Lyminge, Kent

The Lyminge Project has garnered widespread media attention over the years, featuring in TV programmes such as 'Digging for Britain'; radio broadcasts such as BBC Radio 4's 'Making History'; and in The Guardian.

Watch an AHRC film about the project here.

Comparative perspectives on early medieval rulers' residences

In 2015 I established a two-year academic network on the subject of early medieval rulers' residences directed in association with Dr Gordon Noble at the University of Aberdeen. Funded through the AHRC's Networking Scheme (AH/N000218/1), and engaging closely with early medieval specialists at the Universities of Oxford, Durham, and UCL, the project brought together leading scholars from different countries and disciplinary backgrounds to build comparative perspectives around a major influx of archaeological evidence for sites of royal residence across early medieval Britain. 

Selected discussions and conclusions from the Network have been published in a special section of the Norwegian Archaeological Review.  

Medieval religious transformations

I have been closely engaged with an international network seeking to advance comparative and theoretically-informed approaches to medieval religious transformation and belief, conceived in collaboration with Professor Roberta Gilchrist and Professor Aleks Pluskowski at the University of Reading. The network has involved partners at the Universities of Stockholm, Bologna, Granada, Tubingen, Budapest and Tartu and has published an agenda paper in the journal Medieval Archaeology, for which I was lead author: Religious transformations in the Middle Ages: towards a new archaeological agenda.

Personal adornment and early medieval identities

My interest in the early medieval period was initially nurtured through a fascination in the art and decorative ornament of the early medieval period, leading me to undertake doctoral research on late Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age dress accessories. Much of my research in this area has exploited data generated through the Portable Antiquities Scheme to explore processes of cultural interaction and identity formation, as, for example, my paper Carolingian culture in the North Sea world: rethinking the cultural dynamics of personal adornment in Viking age England. I have also researched and published important collections of early medieval metalwork derived from hoards and settlement excavations.