Chris McLees is an archaeologist and researcher, employed in NIKU since 1995.

Based at NIKUs office in Trondheim, his chief area of responsibility is the planning and supervision of archaeological excavations and surveys in the medieval town of Trondheim and its region. McLees has managed and directed urban archaeological projects in Trondheim, Tønsberg and Tromsø, as well as church excavations and churchyard surveys in the counties of South-Trøndelag, Nordland and Møre and Romsdal. He has also acted as advisor to excavations in the mining town and UNESCO World Heritage site of Røros. In 2009 he was awarded a PhD stipend affiliated to a major interdisciplinary research project funded by the Norwegian Research Council and led by NIKU (The post-medieval archaeological resource in and around Norwegian towns: heritage potential, protection and management), which examined the management of, and research into, post-medieval archaeology in Norway.

McLees’ publications cover a number of areas within the sphere of historical archaeology, including gaming, monastic archaeology, metalworking, minting, archaeological theory and method, the major excavations in the Archbishop’s Palace, Trondheim and Tønsberg’s harbour area, and the management of, and research into, post-medieval archaeology. In addition he has written about traces of pre-urban Iron-age settlement found within the city of Trondheim.

Prior to being employed by NIKU, McLees had acquired a number of years’ experience of archaeological fieldwork in Norway and abroad. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in archaeology from The Queen’s University, Belfast, and a PhD in historical archaeology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim.