Team

Damian Robinson

Director, Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology (OCMA)

Damian Robinson is an archaeologist from the University of Oxford. He is a professor and the Director of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology, which is a research centre within the School of Archaeology. Damian teaches maritime and classical archaeology and has research interests both at sea and on land.

Damian's first insight into archaeology underwater came as a student when he helped to record the remains of the Roman bridge that carried Hadrian's Wall over the River Tyne with the aid of a glass-bottomed bucket and some big rubber boots. He started to dive as the things he was interested in studying began to be found in increasingly deeper water and now he's swapped his rubber boots for a red wetsuit as part of Franck's missions. Damian is fascinated by the ‘big picture’ of the site and their long-term histories. In a recent study season, the discovery of Persian arrow heads amongst a group of Greek military equipment from Thonis-Heracleion revealed that a previously unknown battle was fought at the entrance to the city from the Nile during the Persian invasions. For Damian, they show how the smallest of finds can sometimes completely change our understanding of life in the ancient cities. 

In Oxford he co-ordinates the research team working on the post-excavation and publication of materials excavated from Franck's excavations and supervises the doctoral studies of our Hilti Foundation students. 

Damian feels very fortunate to work with the teams on the boat and on land, "there's just so much to learn from everyone" he says.