Lough Key Archaeological Project Staff

FinanDirector
Thomas Finan, PhD, FSA
Associate Professor of History
Chair of the Department of History
Saint Louis University

For nearly fifteen years Thomas Finan has been leading archaeological research projects in Ireland, mostly focussing on the medieval rural settlement of north Roscommon. He has published widely on the area with books and articles on Irish identity in the middle ages, bardic poetry, moated sites, and the excavations at Kilteasheen, which was a site that Finan co-directed with Christopher Read of IT-Sligo. Finan is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a Member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist in the United States.  Finan is Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of History at Saint Louis University

Associate Director of Excavations
Jimmy Schryver, PhD
Professor of Art History
University of Minnesota-Morris

Jimmy Schryver is Chair of the program in Art History and Archaeology at the University of Minnesota Morris. Schryver has directed excavations as far afield as Petra and Cyprus, and has completed a number of studies of Crusader castles in Cyprus. He was also a lead archaeologist at the Tulsk Archaeological Project of the Irish Discovery Programme.

John SoderbergAssociate Director of Zooarchaeology
John Soderberg, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Denison University

John Soderberg is Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Denison University, and is our project zooarchaeologist.  Soderberg has excavated widely in the United States and Ireland, and specializes in the analysis of butchered animal remains at high status medieval sites.  Soderberg is former President of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies, and has published in venues such as the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.

Excavation Consultant
Alan Hayden, MA

Alan Hayden finished BA and MA degrees in Archaeology from NUI-Galway, and has been a professional archaeologist working for a number of institutions in Ireland such as the National Monuments Service and the Office of Public Works. He has directed major castle excavation projects at Maynooth Castle and Trim Castle, and has excavated extensively on Skellig Michael.