skip to content

Faculty of Classics

 

Research

As a Research Associate in the Faculty of Classics, I am primarily working on the Aldborough Roman Town Project, co-directed with Professor Martin Millett. We have been running the project since 2009, mapping the town using geophysical survey and drawing together past work on the site. I have carried out geophysical survey on a wide range of sites, including many Roman sites in Italy when working as an archaeologist for the British School at Rome (2005-2007).

I undertook my BA in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge (2002-2005) and went on to complete an MFA in Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art (2007-2009). Here I began developing narrative visual work around archaeological ideas and landscapes, working particularly with screenprinting. I continue to work as an illustrator, including Stonework with Mark Edmonds (2013), the Exeter Tree Map with Common Ground (2016). I won the Michael Marks Poetry Illustration Prize in 2017 for The Tender Map by Melanie Challenger (2016).

I completed my PhD in Cultural Geography in 2015. My thesis ‘Stone Exposures: A Cultural Geology of the Jurassic Coast’, explored how quarrymen and geologist work with and understand stone on the East Devon/West Dorset coastline. I’m continuing to work on cultural geology projects and publications.

Landscape archaeology; cultural geology; stone and quarrying; art and archaeology; geophysical survey; Roman towns.

Publications

Key publications: 

Media

Writer and Presenter of 'Gypsum and Alabaster' for Cornerstones on BBC Radio 3 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09kqh7m

Books

Ferraby, R. and Millett, M. (forthcoming). Isurium Brigantum: An Archaeological Survey of Roman Aldborough. London: Society of Antiquaries 

Ferraby, R., Johnson, P., Millett, M. and Wallace, L.M. (eds.) (in press). Thwing, Rudston and the Roman Period Exploitation of the Yorkshire Wolds. Yorkshire Archaeological Report.

Thomas, N., Rylands, F., Ferraby, R. and Cook, I. (eds.) (in press). Attentive Geographies. Axminster: Uniformbooks

Ferraby, R. and Millett, M. 2016. Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum), English Heritage Guidebook. London: English Heritage

Edmonds, M. and Ferraby, R. 2013. Stonework. Stromness: Group VI Press

 

Chapters

Ferraby, R. 2018. Gypsum and Alabaster. In Smalley, M. (ed.) Cornerstones. Little Toller Press

Ferraby, R. 2015. Narrating Change on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. In  Harvey, D.C. and Perry, J. (eds.) The Future of Heritage as Climates Change: Loss, Adaptation and Creativity. London: Routledge.

Downes, S., Ferraby, R., Graham, S., Keay, S.  and Millett, M. 2013. Chapter 5: The Finds. In Hay, S., Keay, S. and Millett, M. ‘Ocriculum (Otricoli, Umbria): An Archaeological Survey of the Roman Town’. Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome, 22: 122-125. London: The British Academy

Lloyd-Smith, L., Barker, G., Barton, H., Boutikas, E., Britton, D., Datan, I., Davenport, B., Farr, L., Ferraby, R., Nyiri, B. and Upex, B. 2013. ‘The Cultured Rainforest Project.: Preliminary Archaeological Results from the First Two Field Seasons in the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak, Borneo (2007, 2008)’. In Klokke, M.J. and Degroot, V. (eds.) Unearthing Southeast Asia’s Past: Selected papers from the International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, Volume 1. Singapore: NUS Press

 

Recent Journal Articles

Ferraby, R.  2017. Geophysics: Creativity and the Archaeological Imagination. Internet Archaeology, Special Edition: Digital Creativity

Ferraby, R. and Millett, M. (forthcoming). Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum): the origins and development of the Roman town. Journal of the Society of Antiquaries.

Barker, G., Barton, H., Boutsikas, E., Britton, D., Datan, I., Davenport, B., Ewart, I., Farr, L., Ferraby, R., Gosden, C., Hunt, C., Janowski, M. Jones, S., Langub, J., Lloyd-Smith, L., Nyíri, B.,  Pearce, K., and Upex B. 2009. The Cultured Rainforest Project: the second (2008) field season.  Sarawak Museum Journal 66 (New Series 87):119-184

Barker, G., Barton, H., Boutsikas, E., Britton, D., Datan, I., Davenport, B., Ewart, I., Farr, L., Ferraby, R., Gosden, C., Hunt, C., Janowski, M. Jones, S., Langub, J., Lloyd-Smith, L., Nyíri, B.,  Pearce, K., and Upex B. 2009. The Cultured Rainforest Project: Preliminary archaeological results from the first two field seasons (2007, 2008). Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists: Leiden September 1st-5th 2008. Leiden: IIAS

 

Books (as illustrator)

Challenger, M. 2016. Tender Maps. Guillemot Press

Smith, J. and Thompson, L. (eds.) 2016. Exeter Tree Tales. Common Ground/Little Toller

 

Research Associate
Co-Director: Aldborough Roman Town Project
Dr Rose  Ferraby

Contact Details

Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge
CB3 9DA
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Latest news

Teaching Associate in Ancient History [Temporary Cover]

8 May 2026

The Faculty of Classics is seeking to appoint a temporary Teaching Associate in Ancient History from 1 October 2026 for twelve months. The post is open to those at any stage of their career, with a primary research and teaching interest in any area of ancient history. The Faculty is particularly interested in applicants...

Phyle Project

5 May 2026

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Dr Daniel Sutton has won a Phyle Project Award, for scholars working on how democracy has been preserved, restored, or recovered across time. For more information please see the Phyle Project website .

Dr Benjamin Gray, Mid-Career Fellowship

21 April 2026

The Faculty is delighted to announce the award of a BA Mid-Career Fellowship to Ben Gray from September 2026 on 'Rejecting and Reinventing Citizenship: The Polis and its Critics between the Hellenistic and Modern Worlds'.

Dr Roko Rumora, Senior Curator, Mediterranean Antiquities (Fitzwilliam Museum) and Faculty of Classics

14 April 2026

The Faculty is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Roko Rumora (Assistant Curator of Ancient Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH) as Senior Curator, Mediterranean Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum, from 13th April 2026, in a linked appointment with the Faculty.