John Moore - Director
John has been working continuously in archaeology for over 30 years. He set up John Moore Heritage Services taking over the services formerly offered by the Oxford office of an Edinburgh based company, of which he was a director. When funding for archaeological projects was changed from being Government based to being developer funded, John was the first archaeologist specifically appointed within an archaeological organisation to seek commercial projects.
The majority of John’s archaeological work has been in Southern England and the Midlands; he has also set up and managed many types of archaeological fieldwork projects including major urban excavations and evaluations in London, Oxford, Reading, Chertsey, and Newcastle, as well as rural excavations and evaluations throughout southern England and the Midlands.
For three years John held a fellowship at the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara where he directed a major excavation of Islamic and Hellenistic levels of Tille Hoyuk, as part of a large-scale international project. He has also worked in France, directed a fieldwork project in Ukraine, and undertaken consultancy work in Germany.
He has written, and co-authored, three books on the results of major excavations, and has produced numerous articles. He is an accredited member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) at MCIfA level.
Gavin Davis - Fieldwork Manager
Gavin has almost 20 years of experience in archaeology, commencing with studies at The University of Newcastle upon Tyne where he graduated with a first class honours degree in Ancient History and Archaeology in 2003. Following a period working on archaeological projects in the north of England he commenced further studies at The University of York and was awarded an MA in Medieval Archaeology in 2006.
Gavin joined JMHS in 2011 as a project assistant; he has made steady progress in his career at JMHS being promoted to Project Supervisor in 2012 and Project Officer in 2014, and is now the company’s Fieldwork Manager. He runs a variety of projects ranging from small watching briefs and archaeological evaluations to larger ongoing projects on a number of quarry sites. Gavin is interested in the archaeology of Roman Britain and Early medieval archaeology with a particular interest in Early medieval funerary archaeology.
Dr. Simona Denis - Post-Excavation & Archive Manager
Simona earned her PhD from the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ in 2009. She has held a variety of posts working in post-excavation and as an archivist in Italy. In addition to her many years experience working on excavations in the Near East, she has an unparalleled knack for organisation and keeps the office and archive running smoothly.
Simona started at JMHS in 2012 as a site assistant and has worked her way up to be our Post-Excavation & Archive Manager. She is the organisation guru and if you have questions, she is your first port of call.
Additionally, she has excellent small finds analysis skills and is handy with a mattock when you can get her out of the archive!
She is an accredited member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) at MCIfA level.
Alessandro Guaggenti - Operations & Geomatics Manager
Alex earned a BA in Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Reading in 2014, at which time he also began freelance illustration for archaeological publications. His inital work with commercial companies started in 2014, and he subsequently moved to JMHS as a site assistant.
In 2015 he undertook a Masters degree at University College London, at which point he developed further skills in the use of GIS software and computational modelling in archaeology. Following the completion of his Masters degree Alex rejoined JMHS, progressing from supervisor to project officer and geomatics specialist.
Alex has worked on a variety of research excavations stretching from the U.K to the Middle East, and has run a variety of projects from smaller watching briefs, evaluations and excavations to surveys, drone mapping and 3d photogrammetric recording.
Tom Gouldbourne - Heritage Manager
Tom earned his BSc from the University of Reading in 2012. He started his professional career working with a few commercial units in the UK, then joined JMHS in 2014 as a site assistant.
Since then he has worked his way up to Heritage Manager. Tom works to a high standard whether he's running excavations, performing historic buildings surveys, writing desk-based assessments, or simply helping out on site.
He is an accredited member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) at ACIfA level.
Chris Whitehead - Project & Geomatics Officer
Chris has a BA in Ancient History & Archaeology and has been working in the commercial sector since 2015. He started at JMHS in the summer of 2016 and rapidly excelled within the company due to his dedication, skill, and reliability.
Aimée Skillen-Thompson - Project Officer
Aimée has a BA in Archaeology from the University of Exeter, and an MA in Landscape Archaeology from the University of Bristol.
Since graduating she has worked within the museum and heritage sector with a focus on collection care and conservation. Before starting her commercial archaeology career, Aimée has worked on many archaeological research excavations in Southern England and America.
Aimée joined JMHS in 2021 and has worked on many different fieldwork projects, assisting in excavating, post-excavation and archives.
Iwona Brodzka - Illustrator
Iwona has a MA in Archaeology and has been working at JMHS since 2017.
Maxwell Talbot - Supervisor
Maxwell gained his BA from the University of Warwick in 2018. After graduating, he entered the heritage sector as a mosaic restorer, going on to work in various areas of conservation.
He began his career in commercial archaeology in 2021, working on varied fieldwork projects across the UK. He has particular interest in the development of bone tools from the Bronze Age to the Early Medieval period.
Maxwell joined JMHS in 2023, where he has been working on all aspects of the archaeological process, but is never happier than when he has a mattock in hand.
Graham Podbery - Freelance Machine Driver
Graham is the longest serving employee here at JMHS, starting not long after John hung out his shingle in 1999. He has worked in the building and farming trades for over 30 years but fell in love with machine driving for commercial archaeology after picking up a few odd jobs with John nearly 20 years ago! He has an excellent eye for archaeology and has often proven to be a vital part of the JMHS fieldwork team.