Evaluation and site setup
Reading approved Written Schemes of Investigation, setting out trenches with GPS, coordinating machine opening and establishing the site record from the outset.
Founder and named archaeologist
Adrian Wellard
Adrian Wellard is an archaeologist and the founder of Cambridge Development Archaeology, an independent practice supporting development-led archaeology in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire.
Adrian began commercial field archaeology with Pre-Construct Archaeology in 2018 and later progressed through assistant-supervisor and supervisor responsibilities with Oxford Archaeology. Since mid-2022, agency and self-employed work has broadened that experience across development sites in England and Wales.
His wider archaeological experience spans England, Ireland, Wales, Israel, Kenya. This is his personal field experience, rather than a claim that the practice operates in all five countries.
Adrian Wellard on LinkedIn ↗- Field experience
- From 2018
- Role
- Founder and archaeologist
- Field practice
- Excavation, recording and sampling
- Technical tools
- Surveying and QGIS
The next decision
Adrian’s practical field experience informs the site review. For an appointment, confirm his proposed involvement, the field/reporting responsibilities and any specialist support against the actual brief and programme.
Connect the named practitioner to the appointment
Provide the condition, brief, earlier reports and impact plan so the review can address your site rather than a generic service. At procurement stage, ask for the named roles, supervision, reporting arrangements and any specialist commissions needed for the proposed package.
The field photographs and experience record describe earlier professional practice. They are not evidence that Cambridge Development Archaeology delivered the third-party developments cited in the local guidance. Credential and company information should be checked for the appointment being procured.
Content updated .
Professional practice
Field capability that connects evidence to delivery
Development archaeology depends on disciplined recording in the ground and timely decisions around it. Adrian’s experience spans both the detailed field task and the coordination needed to keep work moving safely and coherently.
Excavation and recording
Hand excavation, context recording, measured information and archaeological photography across rural, urban and below-ground environments.
Samples, finds and flint
Environmental sampling, sample processing, finds recovery and the careful recovery of lithic material and other evidence needed for specialist assessment.
Supervision and coordination
Progression through assistant-supervisor and supervisor responsibilities, including work allocation, consistent records and communication on active sites.
Watching briefs and plant
Monitoring live groundworks, working with machine operators and responding proportionately when archaeological evidence is exposed.
Survey and site awareness
GPS, QGIS and field surveying supported by experience of construction controls, underground utilities and CAT and Genny scanning.
Field record
Methods practised across very different sites
These photographs show Adrian’s earlier professional field experience. They are presented as evidence of method and responsibility, not as Cambridge Development Archaeology commissions.
On your project
A named point of archaeological responsibility
The practice is built around direct practitioner involvement rather than an anonymous hand-off between sales, fieldwork and reporting teams.
- Review the planning condition, brief, existing reports and development programme before scope is committed
- Translate the archaeological requirement into a practical fieldwork sequence, with assumptions and constraints made visible
- Maintain clear communication as field evidence develops and flag programme or cost consequences early
- Keep the path from field records to reporting, archive and condition discharge in view from the outset
Experience record
Field and technical experience
- 2018 onward
- Excavation and recording at Pre-Construct Archaeology, followed by assistant-supervisor and supervisor responsibilities at Oxford Archaeology and broad agency/self-employed fieldwork from mid-2022 onward.
- Geographical experience
- Archaeological experience in England, Ireland, Wales, Israel and Kenya. This describes Adrian’s personal experience, not the practice’s service area.
- Field practice
- Evaluation, excavation, watching briefs, machine monitoring, context recording, archaeological photography, environmental sampling, finds and flint recovery.
- Coordination
- Field-team supervision, work allocation, fieldwork planning and communication within active site environments.
- Survey and digital
- GPS trench setup, field surveying, spatial information, QGIS-supported practice and underground-utility awareness.
- Continuing education
- Certificate in World Archaeology, University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, completed in 2025.
Archaeological range
Experience from early prehistory to the modern period
Adrian’s field record includes Mesolithic flint scatters and Neolithic features; later prehistoric settlements and monuments; Roman rural settlement and villa contexts; medieval settlement; post-medieval military remains; and modern industrial and mining archaeology. This breadth supports recognition of multi-period sites without presenting earlier employers’ work as company case studies.
- Evaluations, open-area excavation, watching briefs, quarries and linear or infrastructure settings
- Settlement evidence, agricultural processing features, extraction pits, monuments and burial-related contexts
- Deep urban stratigraphy, below-ground working environments and complex sequences extending to Roman levels
- Photography using controlled lighting, aperture and field-recording conventions
Professional record
Experience brought into the practice
Adrian’s earlier fieldwork was delivered with archaeological organisations before Cambridge Development Archaeology was founded. It informs the practical approach he now brings to the practice.
The public profile and course information below provide further professional context. Our editorial standards explain how technical guidance, practitioner information and project material are maintained.
Practitioner insight
Adrian’s approach to opening an archaeological site
Read Adrian Wellard’s practical field note on turning an approved method into a safe, recordable and deliverable site: checking the WSI, survey control, plant, services, sampling and team communication.
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Technical capability
How the practice scopes, manages and reports development archaeology.
Procurement information
The technical and company information available for tender returns.
Practitioner field note
Adrian’s working checks before archaeological fieldwork opens.
Project review
Send a condition, tender or site for a direct review.
Project review
Put the site in front of the archaeologist
Send the planning condition, brief, programme and available reports for a practical first review.