Stephen Potten MA
Operations Manager (York)
Stephen currently manages AOC Archaeology’s York office after having spent several years in the field excavating sites and managing projects. He has wide experience in commercial archaeology and has supervised many major rural and urban excavations. In particular, he has worked on a number of large-scale infrastructure projects, including evaluative works for HS2 and excavations ahead of the Beverley Southern Relief Road and the Brough Relief Road (both East Yorkshire). At Beverley Stephen directed the excavation of extensive Iron Age and Roman settlement remains, and at Brough he managed the excavation of a complex sequence of early Roman remains. More recently he directed the excavation of deeply stratified medieval and post-medieval settlement evidence in central Hull. His experience covers a range of site types and periods, from Neolithic pit clusters through to post-medieval housing and mills. Although Stephen has a particular interest in the archaeology of East Yorkshire, and has worked extensively in that area, he has also worked widely across the country, acquiring a broad knowledge of regional archaeological traits and research priorities, and an understanding of different geologies.
Stephen has successfully managed many large-scale archaeological projects, including significant urban excavations in Sheffield as well as greenfield projects. He is therefore skilled at managing archaeological fieldwork successfully within a commercial, developer-funded environment, whilst working closely with developers, consultants, construction crews and planning officials. His experience includes road construction, housing development schemes, reservoir construction, flood alleviation works, and the recording and re-development of standing buildings (including Listed Buildings). He is SMSTS trained and is responsible for Health and Safety, risk management, EDI and environmental management for all projects run from the York office. Stephen is also widely experienced at producing client reports, including post-excavation assessments for several major excavations and desk-based assessments.
Stephen is a certified First Aider, has SMSTS and CSCS certification, and is experienced in the use of Total Stations, survey-grade GPS and AutoCAD.
Selected Bibliography
Pollington, M and Potten, S 2014. ‘Three Recent Excavations in Yorkshire by AOC Archaeology’, CBA Forum (New Series) vol. 1, 103-114
Key Projects
Hull Fruit Market, evaluation, 2015
Brough Relief Road, open area excavation, 2014
Beverley Southern Relief Road, evaluation and open area excavation, 2013
Pendleton Way, Salford, evaluation and open area excavation, 2012
First Point Business Park, Doncaster, open area excavation, 2011
