David Richard Michael Gaimster is a British archaeologist and museum executive. During the 1990s, Gaimster published extensively on medieval to early modern European archaeology, notably on ceramics and Hanseatic material culture, including the 1997 book German Stoneware, 1200–1900: Archaeology and Cultural History. Gaimster became the director of the Hunterian at the University of Glasgow from 2010 to 2017, after which he moved to New Zealand, becoming the director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum from 2017 to 2023. As of August 2024[update] Gaimster is the director of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, South Australia.
Early life and education
David Richard Michael Gaimster[1] was raised in Cambridge, England, where he developed an interest in archaeology as a young child.[2]
In 1991[3] he earned a PhD from University College London, with his thesis entitled "Pottery Supply and Demand in the Lower Rhineland c. 1400–1800: an Archaeological Study of Ceramic Production, Distribution and Use in the City of Duisburg and Its Hinterland".[1]
Career
Gaimster began working for the British Museum in 1985, working as a field archaeologist, an assistant keeper in the Medieval & Later Antiquities department and briefly as the caretaker of the Secretum.[5][6][7] In 1991 while working at the museum, Gaimster received a PhD from University College London.[3]
During the 1990s and early 2000s, Gaimster published works relating to medieval and early modern European archaeology, notably on ceramics and Hanseatic material culture.[3] In 1997, Gaimster published German Stoneware, 1200–1900: Archaeology and Cultural History, one of the most significant works on European ceramics published in the 20th Century.[8][9] From 2002 to 2004, Gaimster worked as a senior policy advisor for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, when he worked on measures to prevent trafficking of cultural objects through market reduction approach laws.[3][2] From 2004 to 2010, Gaimster worked as the General Secretary and Chief Executive for the Society of Antiquaries of London, and in September 2010 became the director of the Hunterian museum in Glasgow.[3]
Gaimster moved with his family to Auckland, New Zealand in 2017, where he became the director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.[10] During his time at the museum, he oversaw the construction of Te Ao Mārama, a redevelopment of the south atrium space,[11] and managed the museum during the COVID-19 pandemic.[12][13]
2019: Appointed honorary adjunct professor at the University of Auckland, in Museum and Cultural Heritage[11]
Selected publications
Books
Gaimster, David; Redknap, Mark; Wegner, Hans-Helmut, eds. (1988). Zur Keramik des Mittelalters und der beginnenden Neuzeit im Rheinland, Medieval and later pottery from the Rhineland and its markets. BAR International Series (in English and German). ISBN0-86054-567-9. WikidataQ104384554.
Gaimster, David; Stamper, Paul, eds. (1997). The Age of Transition: The Archaeology of English Culture, 1400-1600. Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series. Oxbow Books. ISBN978-1-900188-55-5. WikidataQ64214989.
Gaimster, David (1994). "The archaeology of post-medieval society, c 1450–1750: material culture studies in Britain since the war". Building on the Past: Papers Celebrating 150 Years of the Royal Archaeological Institute: 283–312. WikidataQ118943639.
^Julia E. Poole (September 1999). "David Gaimster et al. German stoneware 1200-1900. 430 pages, 40 colour plates, 425 b&w plates & figures. 1997. London: British Museum Press; 0-7141-0571-6 hardback £45". Antiquity. 73 (281): 715–716. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00065406. ISSN0003-598X. WikidataQ59128602.
^Allan, John (September 1999). "German Stoneware 1200–1900: Archaeology and Cultural History. By David R Gaimster. 275mm. Pp. 430 471 pls and figs, 30 col pls. London: British Museum Press, 1997. ISBN 0-7141-0571-6. £45.00". Antiquaries Journal. 79: 423–424. doi:10.1017/S0003581500044863. ISSN0003-5815. WikidataQ59177249.
