Professor Sally Foster

Professor

History University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Professor Sally Foster

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About me

About me

During 2023-24 I have been awarded a 12-month Senior Research Fellowship by the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust to work on https://thestone.stir.ac.uk/. My teaching duties are being undertaken by Dr Annalisa Christie. A further month of research time (AHRC-funded) is being devoted to the ECCLES project https://earlychristianchurchesandlandscapes.wordpress.com/.

I work in Stirling's History, Heritage and Politics Division as a Professor in Heritage and Conservation. I am a member of our cross-Faculty Environment, Heritage and Policy Centre and an active contributor to the University's Cultural Heritage research programme. From January to August 2023, I was the Faculty of Arts and Humanities' Deputy Dean of Research for Impact (Dr James Morrison is assuming this role 2023-24).

I spent over 20 years working in cultural heritage - mainly for Historic Scotland - before returning to academia in 2010. Graduating from University College London with a degree in Medieval Archaeology, I completed my archaeology PhD at the University of Glasgow. Before joining Stirling in 2014, I was an archaeology lecturer at Glasgow and Aberdeen universities.

My research is cited in the context of the archaeology and heritage of most of the world's continents and I have delivered talks in countries including Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, the USA and in all part of the UK.

Award

St Andrews Preservation Trust Murray Prize for History 2015

Prize for Foster et al 2014


Consultancy

Factual reviewer for Smithsonian Channel Program


Event / Presentation

Invited discussant ('Beyond spolia' session) and speaker (Runes, Monuments and Memorial Carving Network round table), EAA Annual Meeting Belfast 1 September 2023
European Association of Archaeologists

Invited speaker: Scottish Medievalists: Authenticity's child: contemporary meanings and future destinies for the Stone of Scone

66th conference of The Scottish Medievalists (The Society for Scottish Medieval and Renaissance Studies)

Invited talk as part of Largo Parish Church 400th Anniversary

29 September

Co-organiser of EAA Executive Board-sponsored Roundtable at European Archaeological Association, Budapest, September

https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2022/Programme.aspx?Program=3
Session 208 : Telling Stories about Impacts of Academic Research in Archaeology on Society: Wider Lessons from the UK Research Excellence Framework Experience

Invited Chair: Common Ground - A Conference in Honour of Anna Ritchie, 5-6 March 2022

Invited co-chair: Columba and Iona - An Interdisciplinary Conference, session on modern legacy of Columba and Iona, organised by University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow

https://iona-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/conferences/

Invited keynote speaker: Early Medieval Sculpture in its International Context conference, 31 Aug-4 Sep 2022, University of Durham

Travels with carved stones: in search of new meanings and values

Invited speaker: Gotland 2nd Picture Stone Symposium, Sweden, August 2022

Letting stones ʻspeakʼ: a Scottish perspective on the benefits and implications of exploring contemporary social value

Invited speaker: Scottish Church Theological Society annual conference, January 2022, Peebles

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…ets-208580729577

Invited host: Deep-time dialogues: reflections on the SERF project, organised by Council for British Archaeology

https://t.co/lC8yqdpA9X?amp=1
Organised by Council for British Archaeology, with speakers Neil Redfern, Sally Foster (host), Stephen Driscoll, Kenny Brophy, Rebecca Jones and Ewan Campbell.

Invited panellist: Celebrating Scotland's Rock Art Workshop 2: A Future for Scotland’s Rock Art? Organised by the AHRC-funded Scotland's Rock Art Project

https://www.rockart.scot/events/scrap-conference/

Invited speaker: Pictish Arts Society/Society for Northern Studies, Picts in the North conference, 14 March, online

https://www.youtube.com/…Z&index=6&t=989s
Letting St John's Cross and its Replica speak

Invited speaker: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Monuments Matters series of online talks, Panel 4: Monuments and Community Identity, 16 June 2021

http://rsai.ie/monuments-matter/
‘The human story’: social value, biography and carved stones. Recorded talk available on YouTube but initially, at least, restricted to subscribers to series: https://youtu.be/gvdgA3uVAI0 .

Invited Chair: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland public event, Creating Scotland: Assembling a Medieval Kingdom” an in-conversation event with Hamish Torrie FSAScot, Dr Heather Pulliam FSAScot and Dr Adrian Maldonado FSAScot, Edinburgh, 14 October 2020

https://www.socantscot.org/resources/

Invited speaker: talk to Appin Historical Society about My Life as a Replica

Delivered in Port Appin in October 2021, postponed from 2020 because of pandemic.

Invited speaker: UCL Authenticity Reading Group, 13 November, in relation to authenticity and replicas in context of archaeology, heritage and museums
University College London

Invited Chair: V&A Celebrating Reproductions: Past, Present and Future conference, 17-19 January 2019, V&A London

https://www.vam.ac.uk/…ultural-heritage

Invited keynote: Lasting Impressions 2019. Making and Re-Making the Replica. AHRC-funded Study Day. Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. Available on YouTube. See also @lastingimpression_ #lastingimpressions19
University of Oxford

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyph444IvUgzexPmxHQWJwQ
My Life as a Replica: the role of materiality and craft in letting a replica 'speak'

Invited keynote: Making it Real. Historical Authenticity in Museums and Collections in the UK, Germany, and Europe, Cambridge, 3-5 December 2019, What replicas can tell us about authenticity, if we let them speak

Invited speaker: The Art of Anglo-Saxon Sculpture: Its Presentation, Curation and Care, King’s Manor, University of York. 27-28 September, Displaying early medieval sculpture
University of York and Durham University

http://www.ascorpus.ac.uk/

Invited speaker: University of Edinburgh Art History Seminar, My Life as a Replica: understanding the values and meanings of the St John’s Cross, Iona, from creation to present, 17 October

‘I can’t think of anything more worthwhile doing’: contemporary attitudes to the Iona St John’s Cross replica. Public lecture as part of Concrete and Non-Concrete project

Presentation of the preliminary results of the 2017 fieldwork for the Concrete and Non-Concrete: An Ethnographic Study of the Contemporary Value and Authenticity of Historic Replicas project. Dr Stuart Jeffrey of Glasgow School of Art presented co-produced digital models of carved stones in Iona, including what the school children had produced in a Workshop the day before. With kind permission of Murdo MacKenzie, we presented his 1970 cinefilm of the creation and erection of the replica.

Concrete and non-concrete: an exploration of how replicas ‘work’, acquire meaning and can develop storytelling potential

http://www.criticalheritagestudies.org/hangzhou-conference/
Lecture at Association of Critical Heritage Studies conference, Hangzhou, China, 31 Aug-6 Sep 2018 in Session 069.

Invited respondee: Intangible Matters: Mackintosh, Authenticity & Conservation
University of Glasgow and Glasgow School of Art

One-day symposium on 20 October 2018, Kelvin Halls, Glasgow, highlighting the recent conservation projects on Mackintosh Heritage. Jointly organised by The Glasgow School of Art and The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.

Listen to the Stones: Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland. HES staff lunchtime seminar
Historic Environment Scotland

http://www.scottishheritagehub.com/ftcss_listen
Presentation of the results of the Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland project, and promotion of its resources, including website and Listen to the Stones booklet. Targeted at relevance to heritage practitioners with a view to how they can use it themselves, and help others to do so. Co-presented with Dr Susan Buckham, University of Stirling, and Dr Katherine Forsyth, University of Glasgow

Participant in Round Table on 'How have perceptions of Iona evolved since Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation?'. BBC Civilisations Festival
Friends of Govan Old

http://www.thegovanstones.org.uk/news.html
A two-part event presented as part of the BBC Civilisations Festival. Dr Ewan Campbell (Archaeology, University of Glasgow) delivered the Reverend Tom Davidson Kelly lecture, titled ‘New Light on Columba’s Monastery on Iona’, at the Friends of Govan Old Annual meeting. Afterwards, Dr Heather Pulliam (History of Art, University of Edinburgh) lead a round table discussion on the question: ‘How have perceptions of Iona evolved since Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation?’ Panellists: Dr Katherine Forsyth, Peter Yeoman, Dr Ewan Campbell, Dr Adrian Maldonado, Dr Sally Foster. This was attended by c. 50 people.

St John's Cross Iona: a case study in the contemporary value and authenticity of replicas at heritage sites. HES staff lunchtime seminar
Historic Environment Scotland

Presentation of the preliminary results of the 2017 fieldwork for Concrete and Non-concrete: an Ethnographic Study of the Contemporary Value and Authenticity of Historic Replicas project (funded by Royal Society of Edinburgh and Historic Environment Scotland). The event combines outreach with seeking feedback from heritage practitioners in advance of publication.

The story of Iona's St John Cross. Project workshop with Iona Primary School

https://sketchfab.com/…8cdd057f67835dd6
This full-day Workshop, co-presented with Dr Stuart Jeffrey of Glasgow School of Art, combined outreach for the Concrete and Non-Concrete project with ethically-approved research into children's perspectives on Iona's high crosses, particularly the story of the St John's Cross replica. On 23 February, we followed this up with a walk to the crosses in Iona Abbey with the whole school.

Untold stories: the biography of a replica
University of East Anglia

12 November 2018 presentation at University of East Anglia's Medieval History Seminar programme

Concrete and non-concrete: an ethnographic study of the contemporary value and authenticity of historic replicas. 8th International Insular Art Conference
University of Glasgow

http://www.gla.ac.uk/…nces/insularart/
Poster introducing ongoing research project with Professor Sian Jones, funded by Royal Society of Edinburgh, supported by Historic Environment Scotland

Expiscation! George Buist and the early duplication of Pictish monuments and artefacts in Fife. Pictish Arts Society Annual Conference
Pictish Arts Society

http://www.thepictishartssociety.org.uk/
Lecture

Inchinnan: releasing the potential. Launch of project '597 St Conval to All Hallows 1420 years and counting'
Inchinnan Historical Interest Group

https://sites.google.com/…l-interest-group
Short presentation on the significance of Inchinnan in the early medieval period and the potential of its surviving archaeology to answer important questions. Reference was made to the Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland: A Research Framework, the objectives of which the All Hallows Project will contribute towards.

Launch of 'Listen to the Stones'; Workshop: Talking Stones - Carved Stones Research Framework. Scotland's Community Heritage Conference
Historic Environment Scotland

https://archaeologyscotland.org.uk/…d-contributions/
Launch of 'Listen to the Stones', an initiative to promote wider audience engagement with Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland: A Research Framework. Workshop to explore community interests in working with carved stones in the context of the Framework.

Listen to the Stones. Rock-art, public engagement and the future of the Cochno Stone workshop
University of Glasgow

Short introduction to Listen to the Stones, and the Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland project

Material diasporas: an island perspective on the place and value of replicas. Our Islands, Our Past
University of the Highlands and Islands

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/…conference-2017/
The paper, presently jointly with Professor Sian Jones, presented preliminary findings of the Concrete and non-concrete: an ethnographic study of the contemporary value and authenticity of historic replicas. It was accompanied by a poster.

Scottish material evidence. Early Christian Churches and Landscapes: Academic Conference 1
University of Chester

https://earlychristianchurchesandlandscapes.wordpress.com/
First event as part of ECCLES AHRC Network.

The Scottish experience of the place of value. Global Challenges in Cultural Heritage
University of Stirling and Historic Environment Scotland

https://www.stir.ac.uk/…ltural-heritage/
This paper offered an introduction to the Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland project, in which understanding value has been central. It promoted the wider significance of this project, inviting wider critical review by heritage professionals and other users of this new model for a research framework, which is structured around the heritage cycle /  a government strategy for the historic environment. See Framework at http://www.scottishheritagehub.com/content/future-thinking-carved-stones-scotland, Section 1.4 for the approach taken. The paper was presented on behalf of the Framework's co-authors, Dr Katherine Forsyth (University of Glasgow), Dr Susan buckham (University of Stirling) and Dr Stuart Jeffrey (Glasgow School of Art).

Authentic replicas: the untold stories. Museums - Places of Authenticity
Leibniz Research Alliances

http://web.rgzm.de/…uthenticity.html
An international conference of the Leibniz Research Alliance "Historical Authenticity" Together with:  Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum - Archaeological Research Institute, Mainz, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum , Deutsches Museum, München,  National Maritime Museum - Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum, Bremerhaven, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Senckenberg Nature Research Society - World of Biodiversity, Frankfurt am Main, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig - Leibniz Institute for Animal Biodiversity, Bonn, Knowledge Media Research Center - Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen

Celtic collections: the curatorial appetite for 'Celtic crosses' in nineteenth-century Scotland. Celtic Revival: Authenticity and Identity conference
University of Edinburgh and British Museum

http://www.britishmuseum.org/…spx?eventId=2642
The conference examined the Celtic Revival as a rewriting, recreation and re-imagining of the past, from the medieval period to the twentieth century. Leading art and design historians, archaeologists and curators discussed the themes of authenticity and innovation, the role of the copy, cultural heritage and reimagined identities. It was linked to the Celts: Art and Identity exhibition at the British Museum / National Museums Scotland.

Picts, Gaels and Scots: What's new?. Public lecture
Tullibody History Group

Public lecture to Tullibody History Society

Replicas of early medieval sculpture. The art and science of replication. Copies and copying in the interdisciplinary museum, National Museums Scotland
National Museums Scotland

NMS Collections Research Seminar. An informal discussion of the role of models across disciplinary boundaries. Organised by Dr Sam Alberti.

Replication of things: the case for composite biographical approaches. Victorians Institute Conference 2016, Raleigh, North Carolina
Victorians Institute & Journal

https://vi2016.wordpress.ncsu.edu/

A 'cemetery of bric-a-brac' or a 'nursery of living thoughts'? Why replicas of archaeological material culture matter. Glasgow Archaeology Seminars Autumn 2014
University of Glasgow

Discovery, recovery, replication and display: representing the medieval in nineteenth-century Scottish museums. European Association of Archaeologists Annual Conference 2015, Glasgow
European Association of Archaeologists

http://eaaglasgow2015.com/
Medieval Europe Research Committee Forum: one of three speakers.

Eigg's early church archaeology in context. The St Donnan's Seminar, Eigg

Organiser (PI) and Chair. Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland: Workshop 2. At the door of the church? Research and carved stones at ecclesiastical sites, Govan Old Church

https://www.stir.ac.uk/…nd/rseworkshop2/

PI for project; Chair. Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland: Workshop 1. Digital recording of carved stones for research. Where are we and where can we go? Glasgow School of Art
University of Glasgow

https://www.stir.ac.uk/…nd/rseworkshop1/

PI for project; Chair. Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland: Workshop 4. ScARF for carved stones in Scotland, University of Stirling

https://www.stir.ac.uk/…nd/rseworkshop4/

PI for project; Chair.. Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland: Workshop 3. New thinking on carved stones in Scotland.

https://www.stir.ac.uk/…nd/rseworkshop3/

Picts, Gaels and Scots: What's new?. Landscape Encounters II: Exploring Environmental and Heritage Histories of Scotland

Lecture as part of Landscape Encounters II , the second in a series of free public lectures designed to showcase some of the past and current research projects undertaken by the staff at the Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy at the University of Stirling to a wider audience.

Poster: Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland. European Association of Archaeologists Conference 2015, Glasgow
University of Glasgow and European Association of Archaeologists

http://eaaglasgow2015.com/
LV30 ARTISTIC LEGACIES SESSION

Smashing casts: replication of early medieval sculpture as a case study in the fragility of cultural value. Destroy the Copy! II, Berlin
Freie University Berlin, Cornell University and Archaeological Institute of America

http://www.archaeological.org/events/18583
Sponsored by Free University Berlin, Cornell University Thursday, October 8, 2015 - 8:00am to Saturday, October 10, 2015 - 5:00pm Location:Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany

A 'cemetery of bric-a-brac' or a 'nursery of living thoughts'? Why replicas of archaeological material culture matter. Centre for Environment, History and Policy Seminars

CARE Isles: ECCLES. Pre-Romanesque architecture in Scotland in its European context. European Association of Archaeologists Annual Conference 2014, Istanbul
European Association of Archaeologists

Picts, Gaels and Scots - What's New?. Appin Historical Society lecture programme 2014-15
Appin Historical Society

http://www.appinhistoricalsociety.co.uk/page3.htm
Lecture on new developments in understanding the Picts, Gaels and Scots, following publication of 3rd editon of 'Picts, Gaels and Scots. Early Historic Scotland'.

The Thing about Replicas: Why Historic Replicas of Archaeological Material Matter. Mini-symposium on 19th-Century Replication and the Prehistory of Virtual Reality, Fort Worth, Texas

"19th Century Replication and the Prehistory of Virtual Reality," a mini-symposium, will take place 2:30-4:30 p.m., Nov. 7, 2014 (Debate Chamber, Scharbauer Hall). Funded by TCU's Research and Creative Activity Fund

Embodied energies, embedded stories: releasing the potential of casts of early medieval sculptures. Making Histories: The Sixth International Insular Art Conference 2011

http://www.york.ac.uk/…xth-insular-art/

Physical evidence for the early church in Scotland. Buildings for Worship in Britain: Celtic and Anglo-Saxon
University of Oxford

https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/…_Application.pdf


External Examiners and Validations

External for Archaeology Periodic Subject Review, University of Glasgow

External Examiner for UG Archaeology, Glasgow University

MPhil externalling: University of Cork (2017)

MRes examination: Universities of Cork (2016), Glasgow (2019) and Strathclyde (2016)

PhD externalling: Universities of Cork (2014), Glasgow (2016, 2019), Manchester (2019), Northumbria (2021); Leicester (2021); Glasgow School of Art (2022); Trinity College Dublin (2023); University College London (2023)


Other Academic Activities

REF 2021 Panel C15 Archaeology Impact Assessor (UK-wide nomination process)

https://www.ref.ac.uk/panels/panel-membership/

Chair, National Committee on Carved Stones in Scotland

Council Member/Trustee, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Trustee, Kilmartin Museum

Workshop co-organiser: Historic replicas in north-west Europe: current research, future prospect

Historic replicas in north-west Europe: current research, future prospects (Foster and Jones), University of Stirling, 8 January 2020.

Workshop co-organiser: Replicas in museums and heritage contexts: putting theory into practice
National Museums Scotland and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)

SGSAH Heritage Hub event. Partnership with National Museum of Scotland and ICOMOS (Foster & Jones). 28-29 November 2019.

Invited member of Advisory groups for major projects and organisations: Ancient Images 2.0 [Gotland Picture Stones]; Iona's Namescapes; Scotland's Rock Art Project (-2021); George Bain Collection Advisory Panel (Groam House Museum, 2022-); Digital Atlas of Early Irish Carved Stones (2022-)

Invited member: The Stone of Destiny Expert Panel, Perth and Kinross Council, chaired by Sir Mark Jones


Professional Career

Hon Secretary, Medieval Europe Research Community

Elected Hon Editor of Medieval Archaeology

Elected Secretary of European Association of Archaeologists


Professional membership

FSA (Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London)

Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists


Professional qualification

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority
Higher Education Academy
Fellowship reference number: PR142119.


Supervision of Research Assistants

PhD supervision: Rhona Ramsay (submitted Dec 2021), James Johnson, Tim Meek, Alex Hiscock and Neil Roy (University of Stirling), Georgina Ritchie (University of Edinburgh)


University Contribution

Co-organiser Divisional Seminar Series

Organiser Centre for Environment Heritage and Policy Tuesday Lunchtime Seminar Series

Divisional Chief Examiner

Deputy Associate Dean for Research - Impact ('Impact Champion) for Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Stirling University representative on the SGSAH Archaeology, Art History, Classics, Museums Studies Panel and the Cultural and Museums Studies Discipline+ Catalyst, now Archaeology and Classics.


Research (8)

My background as an academic and heritage practitioner shapes how my interdisciplinary research focuses on generating meaningful and impactful narratives about the value and significance of places and things for people. This involves evidencing how heritage resources are, and could be, relevant to the present and future. Examples include New Future for Replicas (https://replicas.stir.ac.uk) and Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland (https://scarf.scot/thematic/future-thinking-on-carved-stones-in-scotland/).

My current research focuses on a project entitled Authenticity's Child: current meanings and future destinies for the Stone of Scone [the Stone of Destiny] (https://thestone.stir.ac.uk). I am also working on the ECCLES project, see https://earlychristianchurchesandlandscapes.wordpress.com/.

My research is multifaceted, and I am keen to supervise students wanting to adopt similar approaches. It:

  • cuts across heritage and museum discourses and practices
  • is explicitly about putting heritage theory into practice
  • works with and bridges ‘traditional’ and ‘social’ knowledge, discourse and methodologies, looking for new ways to work with diverse communities of practices to create new understandings, awareness, attitudes and practices
  • champions the undervalued and often ignored
  • celebrates and employs temporal dimension of values not just contemporary
  • combines and seeks to balance understanding of heritage resources from local, national and international perspectives
  • seeks to inform and add to international perspectives, whatever its geographical focus.

Key words in my current research include:

  • authenticity, value, significance
  • historic replicas
  • cultural / composite biographies
  • histories of heritage bodies and museums
  • carved stones (all periods but especially early medieval)
  • early medieval church in Scotland (see www.earlychristianchurchesandlandscapes.wordpress.com)
  • Picts and their northern European early medieval neighbours.

My publications include single-authored, multi-authored and edited books, articles in international peer-reviewed journals and guidebooks. My bestseller Picts, Gaels and Scots is now in its third edition and this has been reprinted several times. My most recent book (with Sian Jones) is My Life as a Replica: St John's Cross, Iona, which you can preview at https://issuu.com/casematepub/docs/foster_jones2020

I am the recipient of grants including: Anderson Dunlop Fund; AHRC Network Grant; British Academy Small Grant; British Academy / Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship; Henry Moore Foundation; Historic Environment Scotland PIC Archaeology Projects; Iona Cathedral Trustees; Royal Society of Edinburgh Network Grant, and Small Project Grants; Scottish Universities Insight Institute; Society of Antiquaries of London; Society of Antiquaries of Scotland; Strathmartine Trust.

Projects

Early Christian Churches and Landscapes (ECCLES): Co-creating a public digital resource
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council

Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage (NIKU) Visiting Research Fellowship
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research

My Life as a Replica: St John's Cross, Iona
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: Historic Environment Scotland and Iona Cathedral Trust

Concrete and non-concrete: an ethnographic study of the contemporary value and authenticity of historic replicas
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: Historic Environment Scotland

Concrete and non-concrete: an ethnographic study of the contemporary value and authenticity of historic replicas
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: The Royal Society of Edinburgh

The Biography of a National Collection: the Acquisition of Casts of Sculpture by the National Museum of Scotland
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: The Henry Moore Foundation

Future Thinking on Carved Stones in Scotland - workshop
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: Historic Environment Scotland and The Royal Society of Edinburgh

The Biography of a National Collection: the Acquisition of Casts of Sculpture by the National Museum of Scotland
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: The Henry Moore Foundation

Outputs (94)

Outputs

Article

Foster S (2023) Stone of Destiny Study. Westminster Abbey Review, 14 (Summer), pp. 17-21.


Book Chapter

Foster S (2022) Smashing casts: replication of early medieval sculpture as a case study in the fragility of cultural value. In: Alexandridis A & Winkler-Horacek L (eds.) Destroy the Copy – Plaster Cast Collections in the 19th–20th c.: Demolition, Defacement, Disposal in Europe and Beyond. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 375-400. https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110757965/html


Book Review

Foster S (2021) Review of Conceiving a Nation. Scotland to AD 900. Review of: Conceiving a Nation. Scotland to ad 900. (The New History of Scotland Volume 1).: By Gilbert Márkus. 14 x 22 cm. xiv +295 pp, 13 b&w figs. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017. isbn 978-0-7486-7899-0.. Medieval Archaeology, 65 (1), pp. 206-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2021.1923890


Book Chapter

Foster S & Jones S (2020) The concrete and non-concrete. In: My Life as a Replica: St John's Cross, Iona. Oxford: Windgather Press / Oxbow Books, pp. 1-4. https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/my-life-as-a-replica.html


Authored Book

Foster S & Jones S (2020) My Life as a Replica: St John's Cross, Iona. Oxford: Windgather Press / Oxbow Books. https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/my-life-as-a-replica.html


Article

Foster S (2020) New Futures for Replicas. News in Conservation, (80), pp. 14-19. https://www.iiconservation.org/system/files/publications/journal/2020/b2020_5.pdf


Audio

Foster S (2020) The lives and value of replicas. AskHistorians Podcast Episode 157 [Podcast] 24.09.2020. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/iz5xmu/askhistorians_podcast_episode_157_the_lives_and/


Other

Foster S & Jones S (2020) Rethinking replicas. Collections Trust [Blog Post] 27.08.2020. https://collectionstrust.org.uk/blog/rethinking-replicas/


Newspaper Article

Foster S & Jones S (2020) My Life as a Replica [St John's Cross replica 50th anniversary]. History Scotland, 20(3). 10.04.2020, pp. 37-39.


Website Content

Foster S (2020) Letting the St John's Cross speak. Iona Research Group [Blog post] 13.01.2020. https://ionaresearchgroup.arts.gla.ac.uk/index.php/2020/01/13/letting-the-st-johns-cross-iona-speak/


Other

Graham E, Hambly J, Robson L, Rockman M, Gao Q, Foster S, Miller S & Dawson T (2018) Learning from Loss Climate Stories. [Web]. https://issuu.com/joannahambly/docs/learning_from_loss_climate_stories


Book Chapter

Foster S (2018) Society for Medieval Archaeology. In: Smith C (ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2


Book Chapter

Foster S (2018) Replication of things: the case for composite biographical approaches. In: Codell J & Hughes L (eds.) Replication in the Long Nineteenth Century: Re-makings and Reproductions. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 23-44. https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-replication-in-the-long-nineteenth-century-hb.html


Book Chapter

Foster S (2017) Icolmkill: the ruins of Iona. In: Carter M, Lindfield P & Townsend D (eds.) Writing Britain's Ruins. London: British Library, pp. 158-161. http://bookshop.nationalarchives.gov.uk/9780712309783/Writing-Britain%27s-Ruins/


Other

Hobma H, O'Donnell D, Karkov C, Foster S, Graham J, Osborn W, del Turco R, Broatch R, Broatch S, Callieri M & Dellepiane M (2016) Modern impact on the fabric of the Ruthwell Cross. Old English Newsletter, 46 (1). http://www.oenewsletter.org/OEN/issue/ruthwell.php


Conference Proceeding

Foster S (2015) Physical evidence for the early church in Scotland. In: Barnwell P (ed.) Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 300-950. Buildings for Worship in Britain: Celtic and Anglo-Saxon, Oxford, 08.01.2010-10.01.2010. Donington: Paul Watkins Publishing, pp. 68-91. https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/infosysfiles/O09P125HCR_1_Application.pdf


Book Review

Foster S (2015) The Hirsel Excavations. Review of:
R Cramp, Leeds, Society for Medieval Archaeology, 2014, 359pp, ISBN 978 1 909662 35 3.. Speculum, 90 (1), pp. 233-235. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0038713414003066


Book Chapter

Foster S (2014) Medieval Archaeology. In: Smith C (ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. New York: Springer, pp. 4736-4737. http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1774


Book Chapter

Foster S (2014) Society for Medieval Archaeology. In: Smith C (ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. New York: Springer, pp. 6775-6776. http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1787


Book Chapter

Foster S (2012) Piktiska paraller til Gotland’s bildstenar?. In: Karnell M (ed.) Gotlands Bildstenar – Järnålderns Gåtfulla Budbärare. Meddelanden från Föreningen Gotlands Fornvänner, 84. Visby: Fornsalen Publishing, Gotland Museum, pp. 171-182.


Book Chapter

Foster S (2012) Pictish parallels for Gotland’s picture stones?. In: Karnell M (ed.) Gotland's Picture Stones: Bearers of an Enigmatic Legacy. Reports from the Friends of the Historical Museum Association, 84. Visby, Sweden: Fornsalen Publishing, Gotlands Museum, pp. 171-182. http://shop.textalk.se/en/article.php?id=18478&art=14310497


Book Review

Foster S (2011) Historic Whithorn: Archaeology and Development. Review of: Historic Whithorn: Archaeology and Development (The Scottish Burgh Survey), R D Oram, P F Martin, C A McKean and T Neighbour, York: Historic Scotland/Council for British Archaeology, 2010, 69pp. ISBN 978 1 902771 82 3. Medieval Archaeology, 55 (1), pp. 402-403. https://doi.org/10.1179/med.2011.55.1.378


Book Review

Foster S (2011) Churches in Early Medieval Ireland. Review of: Churches in Early Medieval Ireland. Architecture, Ritual and Memory, Tomas Ó Carragain, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2011, 400pp. ISBN 978 0 300 15444 3. Medieval Archaeology, 55 (1), pp. 343-344. https://doi.org/10.1179/174581711X13103897378726


Book Chapter

Foster S (2010) Shaping up rock art in Scotland: past progress, future directions. In: Barnett T & Sharpe K (eds.) Carving a Future for British Rock Art. New Directions for Research, Management and Presentation. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 82-93. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/carving-a-future-for-british-rock-art.html


Book Review

Foster S (2010) West Over Sea. Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement before 1300. Review of: West Over Sea. Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement before 1300. A Festschrift in honour of Dr Barbara E. Crawford, ed Beverley Ballin Smith, Simon Taylor and Gareth Williams, Leiden: Brill, 2007; 586pp. ISBN 978 90 04 15893 1. English Historical Review, CXXV (512), pp. 139-141. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cep388


Book Chapter

Clarke DV & Foster S (2008) The Project. In: James H, Henderson I, Foster S & Jones S (eds.) A Fragmented Masterpiece. Recovering the Biography of the Hilton of Cadboll Pictish Cross-slab. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, pp. 1-11. http://www.socantscot.org/partnumber.asp?pnid=236437


Book Chapter

Foster S & Jones S (2008) Recovering the biography of the Hilton of Cadboll cross-slab. In: James H, Henderson I, Foster S & Jones S (eds.) A Fragmented Masterpiece. Recovering the Biography of the Hilton of Cadboll Pictish Cross-slab. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, pp. 205-284. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/sas_books_2016/bookcontents.cfm?mono=1369067


Book Chapter

Foster S (2007) The topography of people’s lives: geography until 1314. In: Clancy T & Pittock M (eds.) The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature, Volume 1. From Columba to the Union (until 1707). Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 44-51. http://www.euppublishing.com/book/9780748616152


Book Chapter

Foster S (2006) Kisimul Castle: recent work by Historic Scotland. In: Kruse A & Ross A (eds.) Barra and Skye: Two Hebridean Perspectives. Edinburgh: Scottish Society for Northern Studies, pp. 47-65. http://www.ssns.org.uk/publications/books.html


Book Chapter

Foster S (2005) Introduction. Able Minds and Practised Hands: historical fact, 21st-century aspiration. In: Foster S & Cross M (eds.) Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland’s Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century. Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph, 23. Leeds: Maney for Society for Medieval Archaeology, pp. 1-12. http://www.maney.spiralcom.co.uk/index.php/books/sma23/


Book Chapter

Foster S (2005) Know your properties, recognise the possibilities: Historic Scotland’s strategy for the interpretation of early medieval sculpture in its care. In: Foster S & Cross M (eds.) Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland’s Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century. Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph, 23. Leeds: Society for Medieval Archaeology per Maney, pp. 315-323. http://www.maney.spiralcom.co.uk/index.php/books/sma23/


Book Review

Foster S (2003) Lane and Campbell, Dunadd: An early Dalriadic Capital. Review of: Dunadd: an early Dalriadic Capital, Alan Lane and Ewan Campbell, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2000, pp.295. ISBN 978-1842170243. Scottish Historical Review, 82 (1), pp. 130-131. http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/shr.2003.82.1.130; https://doi.org/10.3366/shr.2003.82.1.130


Article

Foster S & Stevenson JB (2002) 'The Auchenlaich long cairn’ in G Barclay, K Brophy and G MacGregor ‘Claish, Stirling: an early Neolithic structure in its context’. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 132, pp. 114-119. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_132/132_065_137.pdf


Book Chapter

Foster S (2002) Analysis of spatial patterns in buildings. In: Carr G & Stoddart S (eds.) Celts from Antiquity. Antiquity Papers, 2. Cambridge: Antiquity Publications Ltd, pp. 303-314. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/celts-from-antiquity.html


Book Chapter

Foster S (2002) Carved Stones Policy – new developments. In: Dakin A (ed.) Conservation of Historic Graveyards. Guide for Practitioners, 2. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland, pp. 1-4. http://conservation.historic-scotland.gov.uk/publication-detail.htm?pubid=7158


Book Chapter

Foster S (1998) Discovery, recovery, context and display. In: Foster S (ed.) The St Andrews Sarcophagus: A Pictish Masterpiece and its International Connections. Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 36-62.


Book Chapter

Foster S (1997) The Picts: ''Quite the darkest of the Peoples of Dark Age Britain”?. In: Henry D (ed.) The Worm, the Germ and the Thorn. Pictish and Related Studies Presented to Isabel Henderson. Balgavies: Pinkfoot Press, pp. 5-17. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/the-worm-the-germ-and-the-thorn.html


Book Chapter

Foster S (1997) The Early Historic period. In: Barclay G (ed.) State-funded ‘Rescue’ Archaeology in Scotland. Past, Present and Future. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland, pp. 32-33.


Authored Book

Foster S (1996) Picts, Gaels and Scots. London: Batsford/Historic Scotland.


Book Chapter

Foster S & Hingley R (1995) The potential and significance of field system remains. In: Foster S & Smout T (eds.) The History of Soils and Field Systems. Aberdeen: Scottish Cultural Press, pp. 135-144.


Book Chapter

Foster S (1992) The state of Pictland in the age of Sutton Hoo. In: Carver M (ed.) The Age of Sutton Hoo. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, pp. 217-234. http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=6687


Book Chapter

Barrett J & Foster S (1991) Passing the time in Iron Age Scotland. In: Hanson W & Slater E (eds.) Scottish Archaeology: New Perceptions. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, pp. 44-56.


Article

Alcock L, Alcock EA & Foster S (1986) Reconnaissance excavations on Early Historic fortifications and other royal sites in Scotland, 1974-84: 1, Excavations near St Abb's Head, Berwickshire, 1980. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 116, pp. 255-279. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_116/116_255_279.pdf


Teaching

Teaching

In 2023-24 my undergraduate and taught postgraduate teaching is being undertaken by Dr Annalisa Christie.

Normally, I mostly teach on the MSc Heritage, but I also provide the BA Heritage and Tourism core Heritage module, and a History option. I supervise PhDs and also have experience of being an Industry Co-Supervisor.

Teaching

ENHPPPD Dissertations and Work-based Projects

HISUJ06 Picts in Perspective: Archaeology for Historians

ARTUHT5 Heritage Protection: Theory and Practice (module co-ordinator)

HERPP02 Research Skills (module co-ordinator)

HERPP03 Heritage as Practice: Conservation, Management and Interpretation

HERPP07 Understanding and Managing Historic Environments: a Scottish Perspective (module co-ordinator)

HERPPD1-4 Dissertation/Work-Related Dissertation (module co-ordinator and supervision)

HISU9X5/6/7/8 Dissertation (supervision)

HISUHX7 Heritage portfolio (supervision)


Research programmes

Research centres/groups

Research themes