Meet The Team
Our approachable, straightforward, and customer-centric approach makes us easy to work with, dependable, and committed to delivering results.
Senior Leadership
Ed Danaher
BSc (Hons), MIAI, MCIfA
Managing Director & Principal Archaeologist
Labhaoise McKenna
BA, HDip, MSc
Strategy, Policy & Governance
Fintan Walsh
BSc (Hons), MIAI MCIfA
Excavation Manager
Steve Lancaster
BSc (Hons), PhD, ACIfA, FSA(Scot)
UK Manager
Dan Atkinson
BA (Hons), MLitt, PhD
Department Head
Dr Mara Tesorieri
MSc PhD MCIfA MIAPO
Head Of Post-Excavation & Osteoarchaeologist
Cristina Ocejo
BSc MSc
Administrator
Marie Hehir
BCom, ACA
Finance Manager
Environmental Impact Assessment
Steve Lancaster
BSc (Hons), PhD, ACIfA, FSA(Scot)
UK Manager
Jonathan Monteith
MA, MIAI, MCIfA, FHEA
Senior EIA Consultant
Consultancy
Josh Cameron
BSc (Hons), PCIfA,
Senior Archaeological Clerk Of Works (ACoW)
Geophysics & Remote Sensing
Dr. James Bonsall
BA (Hons) MSc MIAI
Archaeological Geophysics & Remote Sensing Manager
Liamóg Roche
Director of Archaeological Geophysics & Remote Sensing
Jeff O’Neill
Archaeological Geophysics & Remote Sensing Supervisor
Finn Melia
Archaeological Geophysics and Remote Sensing Assistant
Coastal, Marine and Inland Waters
Dan Atkinson
BA (Hons), MLitt, PhD
Department Head
Dr Conn Herriott
BA, MA, PhD
Maritime Archaeologist
Excavations
Fintan Walsh
Head Of Excavation
Dr Mara Tesorieri
MSc PhD MCIfA MIAPO
Head Of Post-Excavation & Osteoarchaeologist
John Channing
Senior Project Officer
Pese Salinas
BSc (Hons) Geology & Stratigraphy
Senior Archaeologist
Seán Tiffin
Project Officer
Experience
Ed is a highly experienced archaeologist and project manager with over 25 years of experience supporting major infrastructure projects across the UK and Ireland.
Currently the Historic Environment Advisor to Transport Scotland, Ed has also contributed to key national frameworks, including guidance for trunk roads and the development of standard archaeological contract specifications for Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
His previous roles at Jacobs and Mouchel saw him lead archaeological work streams across a range of large-scale projects. While his early career included major excavations in Ireland, Ed’s focus today is on high-level planning and strategy, risk management, project delivery, and ensuring best practice in heritage management.
Expertise
Ed is our lead expert in archaeological risk mitigation and management, ensuring all our clients receive clear advice at every stage of the project. His meticulous analysis identifies potential issues early, allowing projects to move forward with confidence.
He is a skilled researcher and author with extensive publication experience. His depth of knowledge, leadership in excavation projects, and dedication to documenting archaeological discoveries allow him to bring unparalleled expertise to every project.
Ed is known for his commitment to client collaboration and partnership, an ethos he has embedded across the team.
Experience
Fintan specialises in project management, report and publication production, editing and post-excavation management. He has project managed numerous large-scale archaeological excavations and projects throughout Ireland with teams in excess of 70 field archaeologists. Most recently these projects have included the N69 Listowel Bypass, and the N70, N72 and N86 Road Projects in Co. Kerry. Other major road schemes include the M7 Naas–Newbridge Bypass Upgrade, M7 Osberstown Interchange in Co. Kildare and the A31 Magherafelt Bypass in Co Derry.
Expertise
On these schemes, Fintan managed all aspects of archaeological fieldwork, Health and Safety (PSCS), programming of site works, quality control, client liaison and post-excavation. He has widely published his work and has presented the results of this work at numerous conferences. He is a full member of the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland (MIAI) and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (MCIfA).
Experience
Labhaoise brings more than 15 years of senior-level experience across local, regional and national government bodies, specialising in strategy, policy, HR and corporate governance. She has worked at European level representing the Irish Member State on various European Programme Monitoring Committees.
With a strong background in the cultural heritage sector, Labhaoise previously worked as a Heritage Officer in local authorities, where she specialised in community engagement and public participation in policy and planning.
She has successfully led a range of European-funded projects with particular emphasis on inland waterways, sustainability and the environment.
Before moving into governance and policy, Labhaoise worked as a coastal and marine archaeologist in both Ireland and the UK and qualified as a commercial diver. She is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, University College Cork and National University of Ireland, Galway.
Expertise
As our lead on Environment, Sustainability and Governance (ESG), Labhaoise provides strategic direction on policy and governance.
She is also highly skilled in stakeholder engagement and has led large-scale community participation events, making sure diverse voices are heard in decision-making. As our Social Value Champion, she actively looks for practical ways to benefit our people, the environment and the communities where we operate. Her work ensures that social value is not just a box-ticking exercise but a real and measurable part of how we do business.
Experience
Jonathan is a highly experienced archaeologist and heritage consultant with over 20 years in commercial archaeology, research, and project management across the UK and Ireland. He specialises in managing archaeological risk and heritage considerations at all project stages, from initial assessments to on-site excavations. Jonathan has successfully led over 100 projects across renewable energy, road infrastructure, and housing developments.
As a Senior Heritage Consultant, he carefully guides clients through the planning process, delivering desk-based assessments, mitigation strategies, and written schemes of investigation. His extensive experience working with local planning authorities, consultants, and contractors ensures seamless project integration and management.
Expertise
Jonathan’s career spans academia, commercial practice, and local government, with fieldwork experience in the UK, Ireland, Albania, and Ethiopia. He founded Bournemouth University’s Archaeological Research Consultancy, integrating research and professional training into commercial projects and helped secure accreditation for the university’s archaeology degree programmes with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists.
From 2020 to 2024, Jonathan led the £2.7 million Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership Scheme for Cranborne Chase National Landscape/Wiltshire Council, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, delivering a wide range of heritage-based projects on a landscape scale.
Experience
Steve has undertaken EIA work on a wide range of projects carrying out all aspects of the process from initial scoping to producing EIAR/ES chapters and devising mitigation strategies. EIA projects that Steve has worked on range across on- and offshore windfarms, quarries/surface mines, biomass plants, cable routes, nuclear power, harbour regeneration and road schemes. His EIA work involves all aspects of the EIA process, including undertaking setting impact assessments.
Expertise
In addition to working on EIAs, Steve has acted as geoarchaeological consultant on infrastructure projects, especially road schemes, gas pipelines, energy from waste facilities and offshore cable routes, applying his geoarchaeological expertise to develop deposit models and develop suitable sampling and recording strategies to enable the most effective mitigation of impacts on cultural heritage.
Experience
Dan has over 25 years of professional archaeological experience, including 15 years specialising in the marine sector.
With a strong academic background and extensive commercial experience, he has built a solid reputation for consistently guiding clients through the archaeological and cultural heritage aspects of projects with precision and care.
Dan has successfully managed and delivered more than 50 major projects across a wide range of sectors. This includes renewable energy; ports and harbours; capital dredging; flood alleviation and coastal protection; aggregates extraction; energy transmission (marine cables and interconnectors, onshore grid connection); infrastructure; oil and gas; defence; and national and regional heritage bodies and museums.
Expertise
Dan is renowned for bringing expert knowledge and insight to every project, ensuring they are delivered to the highest standards while minimising risks. Known for his calm, pragmatic approach and focus on practical solutions, he is often described by clients as a safe pair of hands.
In addition to his project work, Dan is a leading expert in wooden boat and ship archaeology and has contributed to numerous committees and specialist groups. He played a pivotal role in advancing marine archaeology in Scotland as Convenor of the Maritime Taskforce for the Built Environment Forum for Scotland and as former Co-Chair of the Marine and Maritime Panel of the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF). His leadership in this role contributed to the development of sustainable research agendas for Scotland’s marine heritage.
Experience
Mara has been working in archaeology for over 15 years throughout Ireland and Britain in both fieldwork and post-excavation as an Osteoarchaeologist and Post-Excavation Project Manager. In 2009 Mara began her doctoral research at University College Cork where she focused on regional health patterns in early medieval Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. She has provided osteological reports for archaeological consultancies, county councils, museums and universities, from single site excavations and monitoring sites to large scale projects.
Mara has collaborated on several research projects including the INSTAR Project: People of Prehistoric Ireland; a synthesis of osteoarchaeological reports on prehistoric skeletal remains, The Poulnabrone Project; the re-analysis of one of Ireland’s most famous Neolithic Portal tombs, and the Spike Island Archaeological Project: the investigation of 19th century prison life in Ireland.
Expertise
Mara specialises in osteoarchaeology and has supervised a range of archaeological excavations for both small scale research projects and large-scale infrastructure schemes, urban church sites and crypt archaeology. Mara has analysed and produced over 50 specialist reports for cremated skeletal remains, articulated inhumations and disarticulated remains. In addition to providing and maintaining specialist guidance on the excavation and processing of human skeletal remains, she is responsible for identifying and submitting samples for C14 dating, aDNA and stable isotope analyses.
Mara is a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), Irish Association of Professional Osteoarchaeologists and the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology.
Experience
Josh has worked in archaeology since 2016, beginning his career as a Field Archaeologist and Supervisor on major infrastructure projects, including the A14, East Anglia One, and Wylfa Power Station. His fieldwork experience spans trial trenching to full mitigation. He has extensive experience across all stages of archaeological projects, from project design to post-excavation reporting and review.
In 2019, Josh transitioned to the Historic Environment Research and Delivery Strategy (HERDS) team with Fusion on the central section of HS2, where he played a key role in managing the delivery of a large-scale and complex archaeology programme.
Since joining AMS in 2023, Josh has been working on the Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet Road Improvement Scheme as an Archaeological Clerk of Works (ACoW). He is currently overseeing the archaeological mitigation programme on the A47/A11 Thickthorn Junction Improvement Scheme.
Expertise
Josh’s experience across fieldwork, project management, and large-scale infrastructure delivery gives him an informed perspective on archaeology within complex, multidisciplinary environments. He has honed his expertise in both day-to-day operations and strategic oversight, ensuring efficient project delivery within strict deadlines and budgets.
His ability to collaborate across disciplines has helped project teams navigate the complexities of archaeological excavation, and seamlessly integrate into broader construction programmes.
As an accredited PRINCE2 Project Management Practitioner, Josh quickly integrates into project teams, effectively managing project structures and processes.
Experience & Expertise
Marie is a member of the Chartered Accountants Ireland and is an experienced finance professional in accounting, financial management, financial reporting, budgeting, and internal control. After training with a large Irish audit practice, Marie has previously worked with an Irish catering company and with a state-owned sport facilities management company.
Experience
James is a leading archaeological geophysicist with over 20 years of experience where he has seamlessly combined academic research with professional consultancy. Highly regarded for his expertise, he provides clients with exceptional insights into complex archaeological and forensic investigations.
For almost two decades, James was the co-owner and director of a private sector consultancy, where he worked as a senior geophysicist. Here, he provided consultancy services to the Serious Crime Review Team of An Garda Siochána (Irish police), conducting forensic geophysical surveys.
Alongside this, he lectured at Sligo Institute of Technology and carried out peer reviews for esteemed publications, including the European Journal of Archaeology and Archaeological Prospection. He has also worked on the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project.
In 2023, James established AMS’s Geophysical Survey and Remote Sensing Department, bringing together some of the best talent to deliver cutting-edge solutions for clients.
Expertise
James specialises in legacy data, 4D time-lapse assessments, electromagnetic induction and induced polarisation. He has extensive expertise working in challenging environments and variable geological backgrounds, upland archaeology, conflict archaeology and archaeological deposits threatened by coastal erosion.
His leadership in the field is reflected in his appointments to several national and international committees including the International Society for Archaeological Prospection and the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland. He has co-authored guidelines on the use of geophysics and machine learning for LiDAR.
Experience
Expertise in archaeological geophysics and remote sensing. Directed major infrastructure projects and published on UAV-acquired imagery (thermal, LiDAR, orthophotography). Creates 3D visualisations for archaeological sites.
Experience
Eight years of archaeological fieldwork experience, including pre-development assessments, large-scale road projects, and monitoring of solar/wind farms. Extensive excavation experience and recent focus on geophysical surveys.
Experience
Eleven years of experience in archaeological fieldwork, progressing to site supervisor and now specialising in geophysics. Expertise in data collection and processing for infrastructure schemes.
Experience
With over 20 years of archaeological experience, Conn is a licence-eligible site director and HSE Part III commercial diver, specialising in both underwater and terrestrial archaeology. He has led and contributed to projects across Ireland and internationally, including academic research and excavations in the UK, Portugal, Greece, USA, and Turkey as well as commercial excavations in Australia and Israel.
Conn has authored and edited a variety of archaeological publications, from monographs and academic papers to specialist reports on lithics, material culture, and the archaeology of religion. His work includes peer-reviewed articles, conference presentations, public talks, and archaeological illustrations and reconstruction drawings. Recently, he contributed to AMS reports on the N5 roadway realignment in Co. Roscommon, Ireland, and edited Archaeological Survey of Ireland field reports for the Irish National Monuments Service.
Expertise
Conn specialises in marine and underwater archaeology and has extensive experience in client-facing roles in consultancy, project management, fieldwork, and report writing. He also directs terrestrial projects and contributes to research, public outreach, and specialist reporting on lithics and material culture. Highly regarded by clients for his attention to detail and collaborative approach, Conn is a trusted partner in delivering successful projects. His strong academic background and passion for high-quality research allow him to bring valuable insight and expertise to every project.
Experience
John combines over 30 years experience in commercial archaeology with 100+ licensed excavations with a love of visual communication and graphic design. He likes bringing technical data to life visually, making it accessible.
Experience
Pese is a highly experienced archaeologist with nearly 25 years in commercial archaeology, working in Ireland, Spain, and the UK. He has led and participated in excavations across a wide range of urban and rural sites, spanning the Neolithic and Bronze Age to the Medieval and Post-Medieval periods.
Pese began his archaeology career in Ireland in 2001 and has since contributed to major infrastructure projects, including the Northern Motorway Excavations Project (Co. Meath) and the Gas Pipeline to the West (Co. Limerick and Co. Clare). He has also worked on the A46 Newark Bypass in the UK, specialising in monitoring, testing, excavation, fieldwalking, and metal detecting.
Currently, Pese is a Senior Director leading excavations on several medieval and post-medieval sites as part of the Foynes to Limerick Road and Adare Bypass Scheme in Co. Limerick, Ireland.
Expertise
As a specialist in geoarchaeology, stratigraphy and sedimentology, Pese’s expertise is invaluable in identifying and interpreting archaeological features and anthropogenic deposits. His research and fieldwork have contributed to significant Roman and Medieval excavations, and he has actively shared his findings through scientific publications and conferences.
Pese is a skilled leader and mentor, guiding teams and supporting early-career archaeologists as they develop in the profession. A strong advocate for health, safety and wellbeing on-site, he is committed to maintaining the highest standards across all projects.
Experience
Seán has over 5 years’ experience working in the commercial archaeology sector in Ireland and the UK, involving a broad range of infrastructural, residential and commercial projects. Seán is experienced in all aspects of archaeological research, fieldwork and excavation, post-excavation analysis and report writing.
Experience
Cristina has over 15 years of experience in a wide range of administrative and project support roles in Spain, Scotland and Ireland. Her expertise spans multiple sectors, including the health service, the European airline industry, and a global data and technology company.
Expertise
Cristina has developed a strong skill set in office management, coordination, and organisational efficiency, working in fast-paced and dynamic environments.
With a keen eye for detail and excellent problem-solving abilities, she supports all our teams with logistics, equipment and other requirements to ensure the smooth running of AMS.
