Alex Bayliss facts for kids

Alexandra Bayliss is a British archaeologist and a professor. She is a top expert in dating ancient sites at Historic England. She also teaches about archaeological science at the University of Stirling in Scotland.

Alex helps us understand when ancient events happened. She uses special methods to figure out the exact age of old sites. Her work mainly focuses on sites from the Neolithic period in Europe. This was a time when people started farming. She uses a method called radiocarbon dating and special math to get very precise dates.

Alex worked with Alasdair Whittle from Cardiff University. They studied ancient circular areas called causewayed enclosures in the UK and Ireland. Their research was published in a book called Gathering Time. This book won an award in 2012 for being the "Book of the Year" at the British Archaeological Awards.

From 2012 to 2017, Alex and Alasdair led a big project. It was called "The Times of Their Lives." This project helped them figure out exact timelines for many Neolithic sites across Europe.

Alex has also studied other old sites in the UK, Europe, and Turkey. She uses the same dating methods to learn more about their history.

Becoming an Archaeologist

Alex Bayliss studied at University College London. She earned her first degree and then her PhD there. A PhD is a very high degree you can get at a university.

Discovering Ancient Times

Since 2000, Alex Bayliss and Alasdair Whittle have worked together. They have done many projects to figure out the age of ancient sites. Their first study looked at long burial mounds from the early Neolithic period in Southern England. Later, they focused on the causewayed enclosures in the UK and Ireland.

From 2012 to 2017, Alex and Alasdair led a major research project. It was called The Times of their Lives. This project used special dating methods to study ancient sites across Europe. They looked at sites from the 6th to the 3rd century BC. They studied places in Spain, Malta, France, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Scotland, and England.

One part of the Times of Their Lives project looked at how Neolithic settlements grew in Orkney, Scotland. Alex and Professor Colin Richards published their findings in a journal. Their research changed what people thought about the timeline of prehistoric life in Orkney.

Alex is currently working on a long-term project in Çatalhöyük, Turkey. This is a very old Neolithic settlement. She is studying the buildings and spaces found there. Her work helps create a detailed timeline of the site over many generations.

Recently, Alex's research at Avebury in the UK made an exciting discovery. She found that two ancient wooden circles are 800 years older than people thought. These huge wooden structures are near Stonehenge. They are over 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) long and were built with more than 4,000 trees. By using modern radiocarbon dating, Alex found that the circles were built around 3300 BC. This was much earlier than the previous guess of 2500 BC.

Awards and Recognition

Alex Bayliss has received several awards for her important work:

• In 2015, she won the Shanghai Archaeological Forum Research Award. This was for her work on "The Times of Their Lives" project.
• In 2014, she was nominated for "Archaeologist of the Year" by Current Archaeology magazine.
• In 2012, her book Gathering Time won the British Archaeological Awards "Book of the Year."

See also

In Spanish: Alex Bayliss para niños