Jonathan Gardner

I am an archaeologist and heritage researcher who studies the material traces of the contemporary world.

I joined ECA in October 2020 as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow and am undertaking a four year research project studying the creation and use of waste-modified landscapes (Reimagining British Waste Landscapes). Understanding the use of waste materials in landscape modification as a form of creative practice, I examine different varieties of land-reclamation, artificial hill building, dumping, and land-art across the UK and how they are used and valued as creative spaces.

Prior to joining ECA, I was a Teaching Fellow in Heritage and Museum Studies between 2017 and 2019 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (UCL).

I gained my PhD in 2017 (also from the Institute of Archaeology) which traced the material remnants of mega events like the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Great Exhibition of 1851. This resulted in my first monograph, A Contemporary Archaeology of London’s Mega Events: From the Great Exhibition to London 2012 (2022, UCL Press: open access). Prior to my doctorate, I completed an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies, following an undergraduate degree in Archaeology, both at the UCL Institute of Archaeology.

I have also worked extensively as a commercial archaeologist excavating on construction sites across London and south-east England since 2007. I continue to work on archaeological fieldwork projects whenever I can.