Nicholas Evans

Dr Nicholas Evans is a part-time Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen's School of Geosciences, specialising in Archaeology. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Glasgow and has held postdoctoral positions including the Hunter-Marshall Fellowship at Glasgow and roles in interdisciplinary archaeological projects like the Strathearn Environs and Royal Forteviot (SERF) project.

His research focuses on early medieval Celtic societies, particularly the Picts and Gaels of Scotland and Ireland, integrating textual analysis of chronicles, king-lists, and origin-legends with archaeological evidence, place-name studies, and environmental data. Current work involves the Leverhulme Trust-funded 'Comparative Kingship' project examining governance structures in early medieval Northern Britain and Ireland through sites like Cashel, Dunseverick, Burghead, and Rhynie.

Key publications include The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles (2010), An Historical Introduction to the Northern Picts (2014), and The King in the North: The Pictish Realms of Fortriu and Ce (2019). His work often bridges historical texts and archaeological findings to reconstruct political landscapes and identity formation.

Collaborations include projects with Dr Gordon Noble, exploring fortified sites and genetic analyses (e.g., PLoS Genetics 2023 paper on Pictish genomic continuity). He has advised on heritage sites like Kinneddar and contributed to debates on Pictish naming conventions and Roman frontier dynamics.