Leslie Johansen

YAC Volunteer Coordinator |

I am the YAC Administration Assistant, this means that I assist the Volunteer Leaders for the YAC Branches throughout the UK. I also provide administrative support for YAC events and activities. I love working in the field of archaeology, heritage, material culture and the built environment. Working with the Young Archaeologists’ Club, is a wonderful opportunity to be involved in an organisation which offers the opportunity for young people to learn about and engage in archaeology.

My interest in archaeology includes all time periods; from pre-historic to modern, but my main interest is in the 17th through to the 19th centuries, most particularly the archaeology of historic designed landscapes. But I have not always been an archeologist.

When I first started university I was studying Literature, Russian and Media Arts (TV and Film), but I have always had an interest in history and the past. My first step towards my career in Archaeology started with a Master of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation with The Savannah College of Art and Design, or SCAD. During my studies at SCAD I learned how to record standing buildings and how to conserve, preserve and/or restore existing architectural materials; like re-pointing brickwork, analyzing historic paint layers, as well as cleaning and restoring painted decorative plaster-work.

Although I am still interested in the history and protection of historic buildings, I wanted to know more about the history and story of lost-buildings, or ‘story lost beneath the ground’. So I moved to England and started a MA in Historical Archaeology with the University of York my research led me out of the Country House and into the surrounding designed landscape, and I fell in love. I completed my PhD which focused on the landowners of the North Riding, Yorkshire; their country houses; designed landscape parks and gardens; and their wider estates. I have had the chance to partake in field walking, excavations; and conduct topographical and geophysical surveys around the UK and in parts of Europe.