University College London

Honorary Research Associate, Institute of Archaeology

Thesis Title: British Archaeologists, social networks and the emergence of a profession: the social history of British archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East 1870-1939

About

My doctoral research on the social history of archaeology from 1870 to 1939 centres on the lives and social networks of five British archaeologists: George Horsfield and Agnes Conway Horsfield, John Crowfoot and Grace Mary (Molly) Crowfoot, and John Garstang.  Using a combination of biography, prosopography and social network analysis to examine the role of personal, educational and professional links in the emergence of archaeology as a professional practice, I traced these archaeologists through the varied phases of their careers, exploring along the way:

• the development of archaeology at public schools and universities, the central role of the British Schools at Athens and Rome and the British Schools of Archaeology in Egypt and Jerusalem

• the role of architects and the importance of architecture in the conservation/preservation and management of archaeology through the history of antiquities services in Egypt, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and British Mandate Palestine and Transjordan

• the development or enhancement of university museum collections, the importance of London-based annual exhibitions to financing, publicity and recruitment, and the network of collectors, curators and art historians in the Burlington Fine Arts Club

• the role of financing to archaeology, including analysis of salaries and contracts, the role of ‘the Fund’ and public subscriptions in archaeological research, the power of private excavation committees and individual sponsors in archaeological networks, and the political implications of funding archaeology on Britain’s international reputation

• the investigation of what Annan terms the ‘intellectual aristocracy’, beginning with personal and educational networks, professional and training networks through overlapping memberships in learned societies and ‘excavation hopping’, social and informal networks through membership in gentlemen’s (and ladies’) clubs and attendance at dinners and conversaziones, and political networks, exploring the importance of British consuls and diplomats to archaeological work overseas

I also developed a method for illustrating different types of relationship within the archaeological network. 

Current explorations include archaeological links with the Society for Psychical Research, mediums and the Neo-pagans, literary and artistic London, and diplomats, expats and travellers in British Mandate Palestine, Transjordan and the Balkans.  I’m also interested in archaeological archives and their potential for social-historical research.

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