We are delighted to announce that Michael Fulford is the winner of this year’s prestigious Archaeologist of the Year award.
Professor Michael Fulford has directed excavations at Silchester, a major Roman and Iron Age site in Hampshire, for almost 20 years. The project ended last summer, and has revealed a wealth of information about how the town evolved, and what life was like within its walls.
Michael Fulford is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1994 (currently serving as its Treasurer), and was appointed CBE in the 2011 New Years Honours for Services to Scholarship. He was appointed a Commissioner of English Heritage last May and in that role chairs the English Heritage Advisory Committee. For the past 18 years he has directed the recently-concluded Silchester Town Life Project, and is also director of a five-year Leverhulme Trust-funded project on the Rural Settlement of Roman Britain.
Accepting the award, Michael Fulford said:
‘Thank you for this great award, and I would also like to thank all the students I have taught through Silchester and all the other projects, it is them who make us what we are today. I would also like to thank Amanda Clarke who has been a mainstay of Silchester for about a million years.
Below are all the nominees in this category:
Michael Fulford
Michael is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1994 (currently serving as its Treasurer), is Vice-President of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, and was appointed CBE in the 2011 New Year Honours for Services to Scholarship. He was appointed a Commissioner of English Heritage in May this year, and in that role chairs the English Heritage Advisory Committee. For the past 18 years, he has directed the Silchester Town Life Project, which ended this summer after revealing a wealth of information about the Roman town Calleva Atrebatum in Hampshire. He is also directing a five-year Leverhulme Trust-funded project on the Rural Settlement of Roman Britain.
Neil Holbrook
Neil is Chief Executive of Cotswold Archaeology, one of the UK’s largest commercial units. He previously directed excavations on Hadrian’s Wall for English Heritage, before joining Exeter Museum to work on Roman finds. Neil has published numerous papers and reports, and is currently writing up the results of an important Roman cemetery excavation in Cirencester. His is a visiting research fellow at the University of Reading, and has worked for the last five years with Prof. Michael Fulford on a major project examining how developer archaeology over the last 25 years has changed understanding of Roman Britain. For 14 years, Neil regularly directed excavations on Time Team.
Simon Thurley
Simon is Chief Executive of English Heritage, where he has championed archaeology and secured a new future for Stonehenge. Prior to that he directed the Museum of London, opening of the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) in 2002, and from 1989-1997 was Curator of Historic Royal Palaces. He has presented numerous archaeological and historical television and radio programmes, and written several important books. He will step down from English Heritage after 12 years, when the organisation splits in two next year.