A memorial service was held for Dr Phil Mills at the Birmingham and Midland Institute on Saturday, 20th of September. Phil was a leading expert on roman ceramic building materials (CBM). He began his career at Bradford, where completed a degree in Archaeological Sciences, and a Masters in Computer Science, between 1986-1990. Following field projects in Britain and Europe, he worked in the major excavations in Beirut and Carthage from 1995. The results of that work formed the basis of a PhD at Leicester, supervised by Professor David Mattingley. The author of numerous finds reports, Phil was also active in the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists, where he served on the committees for Validation and the Finds Group. He was the secretary for the Study Group for Roman Pottery (2006-9). Phil’s academic network and influence on the discipline was demonstrated in the range of presentations provided at his memorial conference.

Programme
Ulla Rajala – ‘Phil as a private person 16/11/1967-12/3/2024’.
David Mattingley – ‘Phil as a PhD student’
Duncan Brown – ‘Not subliminal’
Hilary Cool – ‘Glasses, pots and beer. Exploring glass use in Meroitic Nubia’
Colin Wallace – ‘Sorting Pottery In the Dark – how I met Phil Mills … and was led to the light’
Peter Warry – "The Brandier Tilery: 3 kilns, 9 drains, 218 stamped tiles "
Kevin Butcher – ‘The afterlife of ancient coins’
Reuben Thorpe – “Beirut, Phil, and a man in Time Out.”
Nick Beaudry – “A city behind the frontier: the late Roman fortress of Zaldapa, Bulgaria”
Alice Lyons – ‘Recent work and new discoveries – a view from the east of England’
Ian Rowlandson – ‘By fire and violence? A review of the pottery from Adrian Oswald’s excavations at Norton Disney villa in the 1930’s’
Pete Wilson – ‘Building understanding: Phil and Roman North Yorkshire’
Martin Millett – “Patterns of deposition at Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum)”
Jerry Evans & Phil Mills – ‘Big data on Romano-British pottery and dating – a first attempt’