David Gaimster


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. Gaimster was the director of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, South Australia, in 2023 to 2024.

Early life and education

David Richard Michael Gaimster was raised in Cambridge, England, where he developed an interest in archaeology as a young child.
In 1984, he graduated from Durham University with a BA.
In 1991 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".

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. In 1991 while working at the museum, Gaimster received a PhD from University College London.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, Gaimster published works relating to medieval and early modern European archaeology, notably on ceramics and Hanseatic material culture. 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. 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. 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.
Gaimster moved with his family to Auckland, New Zealand in 2017, where he became the director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. During his time at the museum, he oversaw the construction of Te Ao Mārama, a redevelopment of the south atrium space, and managed the museum during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June 2023, Gaimster moved to Adelaide to take up the position of the director of the South Australian Museum, but stepped down from that role at the end of 2024. In June 2025, Gaimster returned to London to take up the position of the director of Strawberry Hill House.

Recognition and honours

Books

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Articles