George Nash

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Researcher

Résumé for George H. Nash:

Dr George Nash is an established archaeologist and researcher with extensive experience across both academic and commercial heritage sectors. He is a full member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (MCIfA) and has been associated with several British and European universities. He currently holds academic affiliations with the Geosciences Centre, IPT, University of Coimbra (Portugal) and the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.

In terms of fieldwork and research, George commenced his career in Southern Scandinavia, working alongside the late Christopher Tilley (at St David’s University College, Lampeter, Wales). Later, George completed a DPhil. at the Norwegian University of Science (NTNU) (supervised by the late Kalle Sognnes). The theme of his doctoral thesis was the study of underlying mechanisms within hunter-fisher-gatherer [Mesolithic] society, using the medium of rock art from coastal Norway, Sweden and Levantine Spain.

Since 2018, George has been an active member of the First Art and Origins research teams. Between 2022 and 2024, he led a series of expeditions with the First Art team to Bacon Hole on the Gower Peninsula, where significant discoveries of painted rock art were made, with George acting as Principal Investigator. He was also part of the First Art Team involved in the exploration of Rising Star Cave in South Africa during 2023 and 2024. Since 2022, George has continued field investigations in Wadi Rum and Petra, Jordan, contributing to ongoing research into painted and engraved rock art.

More recently, George, alongside Anna Clark and Andy Beardsley, has been undertaking fieldwork in and around Rowtor Rocks in Derbyshire, where rare figurative engraved rock art has been identified. Additional fieldwork at Thor’s Cave has revealed probable early prehistoric engravings, further contributing to understanding symbolic expression in the region.

George has over 40 years’ experience in the commercial heritage sector. His past employers include Babtie (now Jacobs), Gifford & Partners, Pre-Construct Archaeology, and SLR Consulting. He has directed and project-managed numerous high-profile heritage projects, including Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster in London, as well as academic fieldwork on Neolithic burial and ritual monuments such as La Hougue Bie and Delancey Park in the Channel Islands, Arthur’s Stone (Herefordshire), and Perthi Duon, Trefael and Trellyffaint in Wales. His commercial portfolio also includes large-scale infrastructure projects such as the A465 Abergavenny to Hirwaun road dualling scheme and major excavations in Salisbury and Southampton.

In 2008, George was appointed Priory Archaeologist at St Mary’s Priory Church, Abergavenny, where he has directed multiple excavations within the transept and nave. Since 2010, his work has increasingly focused on historic buildings and structures, particularly ecclesiastical and military sites, with clients including BAE Systems, the UK Ministry of Defence and National Air Traffic Systems (NATS En-Route).

Internationally, George has undertaken projects across Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. These include the Vâdastra Fragmentation and Experimentation Project in Romania (funded by the World Bank), projects in Chile, Israel, Brazil, Portugal, Malaysia, Sardinia, and Namibia, as well as ongoing rock art prospection work in the Jordan and UAE under the Origins Project. His work frequently addresses both tangible and intangible heritage, including sacred landscapes and living traditions. Currently, George is involved in an AI project, setting-up a LLM dedicated to Palaeoanthropology and Archaeology (PM’ed by Genevieve von-Petzinger). This project should be online by mid-2026. One of the current themes of this project is to identify potential Upper Palaeolithic rock art sites in the southern part of Ireland (County’s Clare, Cork, Kerry, Waterford and Wexford). In June 2026, an expedition will commence at selective sites, based partially on predictive modelling.

Between 2014 and 2018, George co-directed the Tilley Timber Project, one of Britain’s largest dendrochronology studies, examining the development of 35 medieval and post-medieval timber-framed buildings. This project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and exemplifies his success in securing and managing external research funding.

Over the past 26 years, George, along with Dr Aron Mazel (University of Newcastle) and Charlotte Vendome-Gardner (University of Exeter) has convened the British & Irish Rock Art Group meetings in various locations across the UK. In addition, and with colleagues from the Geosciences Centre has presented numerous academic papers at UISPP and EAA conferences, focusing on scientific methods associated with rock art fieldwork.

George has an extensive publication record, including 52 authored, edited, or co-edited books and over 160 peer-reviewed papers. His research focuses on the palaeoanthropology of art and gesture, rock art studies, contemporary street art, and mortuary architecture. Recent publications include The Calderstones, Liverpool (2022), Las manifestaciones gráficas prehistóricas en el dolmen de Soto (2022), Signalling and Performance: The Prehistoric Rock Art of Britain and Ireland (2022), The Prehistoric Rock Art of Portugal (2023), and Neolithic Tombs of Wales (2024). The Prehistoric Rock Art of Wales and the Welsh Marches will be published towards the end of 2026, along with an edited book on Archaeoacoustics (with Professors’ Fernando Coimbra and Dragos Gheorghiu).

Alongside his research career, George lectures part-time within the Geosciences Centre, ITP, University of Coimbra (Adjunct Professor grade), where he teaches landscape theory, prehistory and art, and intangible archaeology, while also supervising MA and PhD students. Prior to this, he lectured at the University of Bristol from 1998 to 2016, contributing to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and supervising doctoral research. Whilst at Bristol, George served on several academic boards (admissions, examinations and review) and was also responsible for the latter part of the BA programme.

George also contributed to academic publishing as a member of several editorial boards, including the journal Time & Mind (Routledge). Beyond academia, he has worked with major broadcasters including the BBC and ITV, contributing to television and radio programmes such as Marking Time, Monsters We Met, The Art of Wales and BBC Radio 4’s The Drawings on the Wall. Currently, George is one of three podcast presenters that promotes palaeoanthropology.

In 2020, George was invited to join the Rock Art Network (RAN), supported by the Getty Museum and the Bradshaw Foundation. In 2025 George joined the Bradshaw Foundations’ Advisory Board. His current research interests include the application of geoscience techniques to dating rock art, and the study of intangible archaeologies -particularly the social and political frameworks that underpin artistic expression in both prehistoric and contemporary contexts.

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