About
My doctoral research is an investigation of the archaeology and history of sarsen stone use in southern Britain.
Funded by the South, West, and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership, I am co-supervised by Professor Martin Bell (University of Reading) and Professor Josh Pollard (University of Southampton).
My study area extends from Dorset to Kent, and expect my specific case studies to be in south-west Dorset, north Wiltshire, the Oxfordshire/Berkshire border, south Buckinghamshire, and the Medway Valley in Kent.
A heritage professional for a number of year, I work for Historic England, the UK public body that helps people care for, enjoy, and celebrate England’s historic environment. With strengths in archaeological archives, aerial photography, and historic mapping, my current role is in heritage protection. Education
2016 –
University of Reading, PhD candidate
2009 – 2010
University of Exeter, MA (Experimental Archaeology)
1991 – 1994
University of Cambridge, MA (Archaeology and Anthropology) Publications
WHITAKER, K.A. (in press) ‘Sarsen stone quarrying in southern England’ for
Post-Medieval Archaeology
NASH, D.J. et al (2020) ‘Origins of the sarsen megaliths at Stonehenge’
Science Advances
WHITAKER, K.A. (2020) ‘”Sarsen stones in Wessex”: a Society of Antiquaries project contextualised and renewed.’
The Antiquaries Journal
WHITAKER, K.A. (2020) ‘Sarsen-working at Stonehenge’ and ‘The history of thought about sarsen origins for Stonehenge’ In Parker-Pearson, M.
et al(2020)
Stonehenge for the Ancestors. Part 1: Landscape and Monuments.Leiden: Sidestone Press
WHITAKER, K.A. (2019) Gitte Hansen and Per Storemyr, eds. Soapstone in the North: Quarries, Products, and People 7000 bc–ad 1700 (University of Bergen Archaeological Series 9, Bergen: University of Bergen, 2017, 408pp., 113 colour and 61 b/w illustr., hbk, ISBN 978-82-90273-90-8, ISSN 0809-6058) [review]
European Journal of Archaeology 22(3):430-433 DOI:
10.1017/eaa.2019.30
WHITAKER, K.A. (2019) Sarsen stone quarrying in southern England: an introduction’ In Teather, A. et al
Extracting more than rock? Insights into the acquisition of stone and flint in the Neolithic Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers. Oxford: Oxbow
WHITAKER, K.A. (2018) ‘What if none of the building stones at Stonehenge came from Wiltshire?’
Oxford Journal of Archaeology 38(2) 10.1111/ojoa.12161
WHITAKER, K. (2014) ‘The Wild Heerbrugg A5 in Britain in 2014’
Photogrammetric Record29(148): 456-462
CRAWFORD, J., WHITAKER, K., AND WILLIAMS, A. (2014)
Aerofilms. A History of Britain from Above. Swindon: English Heritage
Upcoming Talks and Conferences
15 October 2022, ‘Sarsen extraction.’ Wiltshire Industrial Archaeology Conference, Devizes.
9 June 2022, ‘Hard stone, hard labour? Post-medieval sarsen stone quarrying in southern England.’ Basingstoke Archaeological and Historical Society.
26 April, 2022, ‘A new methodology for recording old stone’, Chartered Institute for Field Archaeologists Conference (online).
10 April 2022, West Woods archaeology and history walk, CBA Wessex. Memberships
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
