{{short description|British archaeologist, Head of Scientific Dating at Historic England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Alex Bayliss | birth_place = | fields = {{hlist|Archaeology|chronology}} | workplaces = {{plainlist| * Historic England * University of Stirling<ref name="Univ of Sterling Faculty" />}} | alma_mater = University College London | thesis_title = | doctoral_advisor = | known_for = ''Time of their Lives'' research project}}
'''Alexandra Bayliss''' is a British archaeologist and academic. She is Head of Scientific Dating at Historic England,<ref name="Historic England">{{cite web|title=Scientific Dating|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/methods/archaeology/scientific-dating/|website=Historic England|accessdate=5 January 2018}}</ref> and a part-time Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Stirling in Scotland.<ref name="Univ of Sterling Faculty" /> Her research focuses on the construction of exact chronologies of European Neolithic archaeological sites, through the application of Bayesian statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates.
Partnered with Alasdair Whittle from Cardiff University, Bayliss has conducted extensive research on causewayed and related enclosures in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The results of that study, a book co-authored by Bayliss, Whittle and Frances Healey, Cardiff University, titled ''Gathering Time: dating the early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland'' was named the British Archaeological Awards book of the year in 2012.
From 2012 to 2017, Bayliss and Whittle led a project funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The project named "The Times of Their Lives" was a series of studies in precise chronologies and their implications, across several regions and phases of Neolithic Europe.<ref name="British Academy">{{cite web|title=Professor Alasdair Whittle|url=https://www.britac.ac.uk/users/professor-alasdair-whittle|website=British Academy|accessdate=7 January 2018}}</ref>
Bayliss has conducted research on additional historic sites in the United Kingdom, Europe and Turkey, using the same methodology of statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates.<ref name="Chinese Arch" />
==Education==
Bayliss obtained a BA (Honours) and a PhD at University College London.<ref name="Univ of Sterling Faculty">{{cite web|title=Professor Alex Bayliss|url=https://www.stir.ac.uk/natural-sciences/staff-directory/academic/alexbayliss/|website=University of Stirling|accessdate=5 January 2018}}</ref>
==Archaeological career==
Since 2000, Bayliss and Whittle have collaborated on a number of research projects pertaining to the chronology of archaeological sites. Their initial study examined early Neolithic long barrows in Southern England. Additional studies focused on causewayed enclosures in the UK and Ireland.<ref name="Chinese Arch">{{cite web|title=The Times of Their Lives : High-resolution Radiocarbon-based Chronological Analysis of the European Neolithic, through Formal Modelling|url=http://www.kaogu.cn/en/Special_Events/dierjieshanghailuntan/2015/1225/52550.html|website=Chinese Archaeology|publisher=Institute of Archaeology Chinese Academy of Social Sciences|accessdate=5 January 2018}}</ref>
Starting in 2012 and continuing until 2017, Bayliss and Whittle led a series of studies funded by the European Research Council. The project, named ''The Times of their Lives: Towards precise narratives of change in the European Neolithic through formal chronological modelling'', consisted of a number of investigative studies using Bayesian chronological modelling of archeological sites across Europe, from the 6th to the 3rd century BC. Case studies were conducted in Spain, Malta, France, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Scotland and England.<ref name="Chinese Arch" />
One of the studies undertaken as part of the''Times of Their Lives'' project, was an investigation into the development of Neolithic settlements in Orkney, Scotland. The findings of the study, co-authored with Professor Colin Richards of the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute, and published in ''Antiquity'' journal, challenge the previously determined timeline for prehistoric life on Orkney.<ref name="Orkney">{{cite web|last1=Lisle|first1=Sean|title=Scientific dating research unravels the story of life in prehistoric Orkney|url=https://archaeologyorkney.com/2017/09/26/scientific-dating-research-unravels-the-story-of-life-in-prehistoric-orkney/|website=ArchaeologyOrkney|publisher=University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeological Institute|accessdate=6 January 2018|date=2017-09-26}}</ref>
Bayliss is currently working on a long-term research project at a Neolithic settlement in Çatalhöyük, Turkey. The study, led by Professor Ian Hodder, from Stanford University, is funded by a grant from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and the US National Science Foundation. Bayliss's work involves investigating the structures and spaces uncovered by the archaeological site's 1960s excavations and compiling a detailed, multi-generation chronology of the site.<ref name="Discover Turkey">{{cite web|last1=Hattam|first1=Jennifer|title=What Happened to Turkey's Ancient Utopia?|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2016/sept/10-paradise-lost|website=Discover Magazine|accessdate=6 January 2018}}</ref>
In a study recently conducted by Historic England at the prehistoric site of Avebury, Bayliss's research revealed that two prehistoric timber circles are 800 years older than previously thought. The wooden structures, 20 miles north of Stonehenge, extend over 4 km (2.5 miles) and were built with more than 4,000 trees. Applying current radiocarbon dating techniques to charcoal samples. Bayliss was able to determine that the wooden circles were built in 3300 BC, instead of the 2500BC as estimated earlier.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|title=Date breakthrough at prehistoric site in Avebury|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-40187343|accessdate=7 January 2018|date=2017-06-08}}</ref>
==Selected publications==
*{{cite journal|last1=Bayliss|first1=Alex|last2=Marshall|first2=P|last3=Whittle|first3=A|display-authors=1|title=Islands of history: The Late Neolithic timescape of Orkney|journal=Antiquity|date=2017|volume=91|issue=389|pages=1171–1188|doi=10.15184/aqy.2017.140|doi-access=free|hdl=1893/26151|hdl-access=free}} *{{cite journal|last1=Bayliss|first1=Alex|last2=Brock|first2=Fiona|last3=Hodder|first3=Ian|last4=Taylor|first4=R.E.|display-authors=1|title=Getting to the Bottom of It All: A Bayesian Approach to Dating the Start of Çatalhöyük|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|date=2015|volume=28|pages=1–26|doi=10.1007/s10963-015-9083-7|s2cid=161890074|url=https://www.researchgate.net/search/publications?q=alex%252Bbayliss&page=5|accessdate=7 January 2018}} *{{cite journal|last1=Bayliss|first1=Alex|title=Quality in Bayesian chronological models in archaeology|journal=World Archaeology|volume=47|issue=4|date=2015|pages=677–700|doi=10.1080/00438243.2015.1067640|hdl=1893/22534|s2cid=56392914|url=http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/22534/1/Bayliss%202015.pdf|hdl-access=free}} *{{cite book|editor-last1=Hines|editor-first1=John|editor-last2=Bayliss|editor-first2=Alex|last=|first=|title=Anglo-Saxon Graves and Grave Goods of the 6th and 7th Centuries AD: A Chronological Framework (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph)|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1909662063|pages=616}} *{{cite book|last1=Whittle|first1=Alasdair|last2=Whittle|first2=Alasatair|last3=Healy|first3=Frances|display-authors=1|title=Gathering Time: Dating the Early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland|date=2011|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=9781842174258|pages=992|url=https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/gathering-time.html}}
==Awards and honours==
*2015 Shanghai Archaeological Forum Research Award ''The Times of Their Lives: High-resolution Radiocarbon-based Chronological Analysis of the European Neolithic, through Formal Modelling ''<ref name="Chinese Award">{{cite web|title=The Second Shanghai Archaeology Forum opened, World's Major archaeological discoveries and researches announced|url=http://www.kaogu.cn/en/News/Academic_activities/2015/1214/52376.html|website=Chinese Archaeology|publisher=Institute of Archaeology. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences|accessdate=7 January 2018}}</ref> *2014 Current Archaeology, ''Archaeologist of the Year'', Nominee<ref name="Archaeologist of the year">{{cite web|title=Archaeologist of the Year 2014|url=https://www.archaeology.co.uk/awards/previous-years/archaeologist-of-the-year-2014-nominees.htm|website=Current Archaeology|accessdate=7 January 2018|date=2013-12-02}}</ref> *2012 British Archaeological Awards, Book of the Year, ''Gathering Time: Dating the Early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland''<ref name="British book award">{{cite web|title=2012 Winners. Best Archaeological Book|url=http://www.archaeologicalawards.com/2012/07/10/best-archaeological-book-2012/|website=BritishArchaeological Awards|accessdate=7 January 2018|archive-date=24 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724140538/http://www.archaeologicalawards.com/2012/07/10/best-archaeological-book-2012/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayliss, Alex}} Category:British women archaeologists Category:Alumni of University College London Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:European Research Council grantees