Michael Shapland has been an archaeologist for twenty years, specialising in historic architecture. His job is to record old buildings before they are changed or demolished, and to excavate lost buildings from beneath the ground. He currently works for Archaeology South-East, part of University College London, and is the archaeologist for Chichester Cathedral. He teaches at the Weald and Downland Museum in Sussex, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. In 2025 he made headlines as part of the team which discovered King Harold's hall, depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry.
Michael has previously published academic books on trees, castles and medieval churches, and is finishing a fourth book on Victorian barracks. He has written articles on everything from pubs, dragons, swords and witch-marks to the origins of English kingdoms. He is currently working on Haunting Houses, to be published by Canongate, which is about the lives that old buildings lead, their deaths, and the memories they hold. He lives with his family in Lewes, East Sussex, where once a year he enjoys setting things on fire and watching them explode.