The archaeological conservator Mike Corfield, who has died aged 81, helped shape his profession and raised its profile in many heritage organisations. He was part of that first generation of conservators who stepped away from the skilful but straightforward mending and cleaning of antiquities to embrace a more thoughtful ethical approach, identifying and preserving the evidence sought by modern archaeology.
As head of conservation and technology at English Heritage from 1991, he advised on the preservation of the remains of the Rose theatre, in Bankside, London. There was significant public interest and considerable pressure from high-profile members of the acting profession to preserve the remains of this Elizabethan theatre, which was due to be buried when a large new office block was built.
As English Heritage lacked the funds to prevent development, Mike with others helped engineer a solution by which almost all the original remains have been preserved in the waterlogged conditions they need to survive, with the new building suspended on pile foundations above them so they can still be accessed.
With the preservation of remains in situ now a wider concern, Mike was instrumental in arranging funding for research, establishing the technique of sub-surface monitoring, instituting in 1996 a series of Preservation of Archaeological Remains in Situ (Paris) conferences, and contributing to publications on this theme. Such was his pivotal role in this area, he was considered the godfather of preservation in situ in the UK.
Later, he was faced with the challenges of Seahenge, the first prehistoric henge with surviving wooden posts to be discovered in Britain, which was uncovered by shifting sands and tides on the foreshore at Holme-next-the-Sea, near Old Hunstanton, Norfolk, in 1998. It was being eroded by the sea, and a wide range of vociferously expressed views, from pagans, local people and others, made reaching decisions on the best way to deal with the site difficult. Mike, pragmatic and diplomatic as ever, worke d with colleagues to organise the lifting and conservation of the wooden posts, some of which can be seen at Lynn Museum, and were part of the British Museum’s The World of Stonehenge exhibition in 2022.
Born in Rustington, Sussex, to Dorothy (nee Hencke) and Christopher Corfield, Mike spent his early childhood years in Tripoli, where his father, a doctor in the British army, was stationed. Returning to Britain in 1953, Mike was educated at Worthing high school, but left at 16 to join the army, where he worked with radar and guided missiles before becoming a medical dispenser.
After marrying Sheila Bates in 1963 and leaving the army, Mike joined the Ancient Monuments Laboratory (then part of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, now English Heritage) as a trainee conservator, achieving a diploma in the conservation of archaeological materials from the Institute of Archaeology, London, in 1973.
He was then appointed conservation officer for Wiltshire (1973-86), where he set up the county’s first archaeological conservation laboratory for Wiltshire Library and Museum Service, initially in Trowbridge, later relocated to Salisbury. The Wiltshire lab is fondly remembered by all the conservation students who had industrial placements there as a happy and industrious place. Mike was a great mentor – always patient, happy to talk ideas and encourage his placement students. He played a key part in founding the UK’s first professional conservation body, UKIC, in 1977 (now Icon, the Institute of Conservation), and was its chair in the late 80s.
In 1985 a Bronze Age gold foil lozenge from Bush Barrow, part of the Stonehenge complex, which had been on loan to the British Museum since 1922, was reshaped and given a clean and reflective appearance by the BM conservators. The owners of this object, the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, were shocked by this treatment, removed it and undertook further research that suggested a slightly different original appearance. The different approaches to the conservation work were published in the journal Antiquity (1988).
Mike, as chair of UKIC, pointed out that the lozenge’s dull and crumpled appearance may have been how it was deposited in the grave – part of the object’s history that had now been forever lost by the British Museum’s work. This debate was significant in emphasising the need for evidence of original appearance before metal objects are reshaped.
In 1986 Mike became senior archaeological conservator, then head of conservation, at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, where, concerned about the care of collections outside his usual remit of archaeology, he secured funding to recruit conservators in areas such as geology and botany. Around the same time, he was asked to join a Science Museum working group to develop conservation approaches to their scientific and industrial collections.
Following his appointment at English Heritage, he helped establish the York Archaeological Wood Centre in 1993. He became head of English Heritage’s Ancient Monuments Laboratory in 1995, overseeing its move to Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth, in 1998, and in 1999 became its first chief scientist. He also broadened the English Heritage approach to conservation, moving away from specialist teams simply dealing with archaeological artefacts, wall-paintings and oil paintings, to cover the full range of artefacts owned or managed by English Heritage (now Historic England).
Mike could see the bigger picture and that the world of developer-funded archaeology was upon us. To ensure that this commercial world could take advantage of the conservators, materials analysts, environmental archaeologists and geophysicists in universities around the country, he developed a series of regional science advisor posts. These continue to be an essential national resource, ensuring that archaeologists scientifically recover and record the ancient past; its artefacts, and its evidence.
He published numerous articles on many aspects of conservation, preservation in situ and ancient technology, was on the editorial boards of various journals, a trustee or on advisory boards of a number of heritage projects and organisations, and served as an external examiner at university conservation courses including Cardiff, Durham, West Dean (Sussex University) and the Institute of Archaeology. He was as effective in a committee as using a scalpel.
After retiring in 2002, Mike was a consultant advising Unesco on conservation of wall paintings in Ajanta and Ellora (in India) and earthquake damage in Bam (in Iran).
In 2016 Mike was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Slowly he lost touch with the world and those who knew him lost a valued friend and colleague.
Sheila died in 2023. They are survived by a son, John, two daughters, Barbara and Christine, and five grandchildren, Thomas, Jack, William, Adam and Luke.