Alan Mark Pollard (born 5 July 1954) is a British archaeological scientist, who has been the Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

since 2005. He is director of the

Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art The Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA) is a laboratory at the University of Oxford, England which develops and applies scientific methods to the study of the past. It was established in 1955 and its first director wa ...

, a Member of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Member of the

Oriental Ceramic Society The Oriental Ceramic Society (OCS) is one of the leading international societies for the study and appreciation of Asian art, with a special interest in ceramics. However its wider focus is the study and appreciation of all aspects of oriental a ...

. He has significantly contributed to many areas of archaeological science, most notably materials analysis, with hundreds of well-cited papers. In 2018 he was awarded the Pomerance Medal for scientific contributions to archaeology by the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...

. He has co-authored several key textbooks on archaeological science: ''Archaeological Chemistry'' (now in 3rd edition), ''Handbook of Archaeological Science'', and ''Analytical Chemistry in Archaeology''. Pollard is a Fellow of

Linacre College Linacre College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the UK whose members comprise approximately 50 fellows and 550 postgraduate students. Linacre is a diverse college in terms of both the international composition of its me ...

and has been the vice-principal since October 2020.

Early life

Pollard was born in

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

, New Zealand, on 5 July 1954 to Alan and Elizabeth Pollard, but emigrated to England at an early age. He completed his BA and PhD degrees at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

in the Department of Physics; however, his dissertation was already focusing on archaeological material. Awarded in 1979, it was entitled ''X-ray fluorescence and surface studies of glass, with application to the durability of mediaeval window glass'' and used the case study of the glass from

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archb ...

to assess both the analytical problems of surface analysis on vitreous materials, as well as what factors affected their durability. In 1993, he married fellow archaeologist, Rebecca Nicholson, and the couple have two daughters.

Academic appointments

Immediately upon completing his doctorate in 1978, Pollard was appointed by

Edward Thomas Hall Edward Thomas Hall, CBE, Hon. FBA, FSA (10 May 1924 – 11 August 2001), also known as Teddy Hall, was a British scientist and balloonist who is best remembered for exposing the Piltdown Man as a fraud. Life Edward Thomas Hall was born in L ...

as an analytical research officer at the Research Laboratory for the History of Art (RLAHA), where he remained until 1984. After this, he took up the appointment of 'New Blood' Lecturer in Chemistry and Archaeology, within the Schools of Chemistry and Applied Chemistry, at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. In 1988, he was appointed UK national co-ordinator for science-based archaeology, a post supported by SERC,

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

(

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

) and the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

, to improve liaison between funding bodies, improve communication flow and encourage the development and take-up of science-based techniques and results in archaeology. He retained this position until 2000. In 1990, he took up a professorship of archaeological science at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, bu ...

. In this same year, he was appointed head of the Department of Archaeology, replacing Arnold Aspinall. He remained in Bradford until 2004, during which time a great deal of cutting edge archaeological research was produced in Bradford, and Pollard supervised many students who went on to hold significant positions across academia, including Carl Heron, director of scientific research at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

. In 1999, Pollard was appointed pro-vice chancellor. In 2004, he returned to the RLAHA to replace the retiring

Mike Tite Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

as director, and to take up the chair of Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science. Since 2009, he has supervised 14 Oxford doctorates to completion, and co-supervised a further 23. As of January 2022, he has seven doctoral students.

Other appointments

Pollard is a trustee of the

Mary Rose Museum The Mary Rose Museum is a historical museum located at Historic Dockyards in Portsmouth in the United Kingdom run by the Mary Rose Trust. Overview The museum is dedicated to the 16th-century Tudor navy The Tudor navy was the navy of t ...

since 2019, was the associate head of the Social Science Division (Research) at the

. He was also previously a trustee of both the

Council For British Archaeology The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) is an educational charity established in 1944 in the UK. It works to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and futu ...

and the Institute of Field Archaeologists (now

Chartered Institute for Archaeologists The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) is a professional organisation for archaeologists working in the United Kingdom and overseas. It was founded in 1982, and at 21 July 2020 had 3,931 members overall, of whom 3,033 were accredited ...

). Pollard is also one of the managing editors of the journal ''Archaeometry'', as well as being a member of the board of trustees.

Related researchers

* Dr Carl Heron, Student, Director of Scientific Research at the

. * Dame

Jessica Rawson Dame Jessica Mary Rawson, (born 20 January 1943) is an English art historian, curator and sinologist. She is also an academic administrator, specialising in Chinese art. After many years at the British Museum, she was Warden (head) of Merton C ...

, Collaborator, Emerita Principal of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...

and noted Chinese Archaeologist. * Professor

Chris Gosden Christopher Hugh Gosden (born 6 September 1955) is a British and Australian archaeologist specialising in the archaeology of identity, particularly English identity. He is Professor of European Archaeology and Director of the Institute of Archa ...

, Collaborator, Professor of European Prehistory at the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Mark 1954 births Living people British archaeologists New Zealand archaeologists Fellows of Linacre College, Oxford People from Takapuna