Michael Lewis

Deputy Head, Portable Antiquities and Treasure

Portable antiquities (small archaeological finds) from Britain and Treasure finds

Department: Portable Antiquities and Treasure

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 8611
Email: mlewis @ thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Michael joined the Portable Antiquities Scheme www.finds.org.uk in 2000 as Finds Liaison Officer for Kent. Thereafter he succeeded Richard Hobbs as Outreach Officer; a post that mutated (with the expansion of the Portable Antiquities Scheme to the whole of England and Wales) to Deputy Head of the Portable Antiquities & Treasure.

As such, he is deputy to Roger Bland (Head of Portable Antiquities & Treasure) coordinating the work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, its Finds Liaison Officers and is an advocate for the Scheme. Michael is also editor of the Portable Antiquities Scheme Annual Report, the Secretary of the Portable Antiquities Advisory Group and the main liaison between the Scheme and eBay.     

Michael has a BA (hons) in History/Theology (University of Surrey), MA in Medieval Studies (University of York) and a PhD in History (University of Kent). His PhD thesis was on the ‘Archaeological Authority of the Bayeux Tapestry’, which has been published by British Archaeological Reports (British Series 404).

Michael’s main research interests are the Bayeux Tapestry, eleventh-century  material culture and eleventh-century art history.

Current British Museum projects

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Previous British Museum projects

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External fellowships/ honorary positions/ membership of professional bodies

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London

Member of the All Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group (Advisory Group)

Member of the Council for British Archaeology’s Portable Antiquities Working Group

Member of the Institute of Archaeologists Finds Research Group. 

Publications

Most recent publications

M. Lewis, ‘Identity and Status in the Bayeux Tapestry: the iconographic and artifactual evidence’, Proceedings of the Battle Conference, 29, (forthcoming 2007)

M. Lewis, ‘A new date for ‘Class A, Type 11A’ stirrup-strap mounts, and some observations on their distribution’, Medieval Archaeology, 51 (forthcoming 2007)

M. Lewis, The Archaeological Authority of the Bayeux Tapestry, British Archaeological Reports 404 (Oxford, British Archaeological Reports, 2005)

M. Lewis, ‘The Bayeux Tapestry and Eleventh-Century Material Culture’, in. G. R. Owen-Crocker (ed.) King Harold II and the BayeuxTapestry (Woodbridge, Boydell & Brewer, 2005), pp. 179-94

M. Lewis, Portable Antiquities Scheme Annual Report 2005-6 (London, British Museum, 2006)