- published: 14 Sep 2010
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Dr. Alan George Vince (30 March 1952 - 23 February 2009) was a British archaeologist who transformed the study of Saxon, medieval and early modern ceramics through the application of petrological, geological and archaeological techniques. He was also a passionate and conscientious teacher and a pioneer in the use of computers and the internet in archaeology.
Vince was born in Bath and moved to Keynsham in the early 1950s, where he attended Keynsham Grammar School. He went on to study archaeology at Southampton University, where he was influenced by Professor David Peacock, who was almost entirely responsible for the introduction of ceramic petrology techniques to the study of ceramics from the British Isles.
Vince's PhD thesis, The Medieval Ceramic Industry of the Severn Valley, made heavy use of artefacts characterised by petrological analysis, and served as justification for the use of this technique to assist with classification of pottery samples.
In 1984, Alan Vince and Martin Biddle of the Museum of London, working independently, identified an area to the West of the Roman walled city as the likely location of the middle Anglo-Saxon settlement in London.