Rafael Soler Rocha BA MA MSc

Project Supervisor

Rafa has over 10 years’ experience of excavation on multi-period sites in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and a further four years of continuous experience working on commercial archaeological sites in the UK. This work has included a mix of deeply stratified urban sites in central London, such as the Blossom Street excavations, as well as rural based infrastructure projects such as the A14 enabling works in Cambridgeshire. Rafa was a Team Leader supervising the excavation of different targeted areas such as an Iron Age ditched enclosure at the TEA 13, A14 site.

Since joining AOC, Rafa has completed a number of archaeological evaluations and watching briefs in addition to mitigation projects. Most recently Rafa has led a team of 10+ archaeologists at the Stour Park site in Kent. This excavation was conducted across 10 areas and contained archaeology of high significance including a Saxon burial ground, Bronze Age enclosures, and a Roman period industrial site.

In April 2021, Rafa moved from Fieldwork to join the Survey & Geomatics Team as a GIS & Geomatics Project Officer. He has extensive site surveying experience and provides survey support to AOC’s field teams as well as geospatial expertise to various sectors in the company.

Selected Bibliography

Soler Rocha, R. (2017), "Professional Archaeology in Spain. A Qualitative Synthesis", in Aparicio Resco, P. (Eds), Archaeology and Neoliberalism, JAS Press, Madrid, 31-46.

Soler Rocha, R. (2017), "Radiocarbon Dates as a means of studying the Transition to the Chalcolithic in Andalusia. A Bayesian Chronology approach”, Arqueologia y Territorio 13, Granada, 15-39.

Soler Rocha, R. and Sánchez Bandera, P. J., (2015), "The Nymphaeum of the Fish. Religiousness and Social Promotion through this singular architectonic building", U.E. 0, Publicación digital en Arqueología, 1, Malaga, 59-75.