From test pits in rural villages to major infrastructure schemes – as well as a certain king buried beneath a car park – for the last 30 years University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) have played a major role in transforming our understanding of both the history of their home city and the wider Midlands region. Today an award-winning commercial unit, its origins were not easy: ULAS was born after the local authority Leicestershire Archaeological Unit was closed down in 1995, and two LAU archaeologists, Richard Buckley and Patrick Clay, co-founded a new organisation with the support of the University of Leicester and the then-Head of School, Professor Graeme Barker.
Despite these early challenges, the fledgling unit was fortunate in a number of ways. It was based in a city rich in Roman and medieval remains, with widespread evidence for a long history of occupation in the county, which had been steadily revealed through the efforts of the long-established Leicestershire Fieldworkers (who celebrate their 50th anniversary next year). Together with a suite of dedicated museums in the city and county market towns, and the tireless efforts of individuals from Kathleen Kenyon, who excavated the Jewry Wall in the 1930s, to the former County Archaeologist Peter Liddle, ULAS began their work in an area which already had a strong framework of archaeological investigation. Leicester is said to be one of the most-excavated cities in the UK, and over the last three decades ULAS has added many new chapters to this story.
ULAS’ relatively unusual position, being one of only a small number of independent commercial units that are also embedded in universities, has been a key strength, too. Based within the School of Archaeology and Ancient History (which was recently renamed the Kathleen Kenyon Building), the team can draw on cutting-edge analytical resources as well as the insights of academics working in related fields. With the recent addition of colleagues from Museum Studies, following a merger of the two departments, ULAS are looking forward to even more fruitful and interdisciplinary collaborations.
