Robin Birley

About the Author:

Robin Birley was formerly the Director of Excavations at the Roman site of Vindolanda, and now heads the Vindolanda research committee. The son of Eric Birley (his family home was thus the Chesterholm Museum at Vindolanda), he worked as a Royal Marine and then a teacher before giving this up to run the Vindolanda Trust and excavate the site. He has over 50 years of excavation experience on that site (as well as directing numerous other excavations at other sites such as Housesteads), over thirty of which have been as director of the Vindolanda Trust (he is one of its founding members). Birley is perhaps best known for his discovery inthe 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s of the first Vindolanda writing tablets to be excavated. He is also responsible for the excavations of most of the remains visible on the site today.