Michael Gordon Fulford, (born October 1948) is a British archaeologist and academic, specialising in the

British Iron Age The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric I ...

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

and landscape archaeology. He has been Professor of

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

since 1993.

Early life and education

Fulford was born in October 1948 in Hampshire, England. He was educated at

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rugby G ...

, then an all-boys

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

. He studied Archaeology and Latin at

Southampton University , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) degree in 1970 and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(PhD) degree in 1975.''Romanitas: essays on Roman archaeology in honour of Sheppard Frere'', ed. R.J.A. Wilson. Oxford: Oxbow, 2006. p. xxi. His doctoral thesis was titled "New Forest Roman Pottery".

Academic career

Between 1971 and 1974, he was employed as the personal research assistant of Professor Sir

Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, (born 10 December 1939), known as Barry Cunliffe, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been an Emeri ...

; first at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, then at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He joined the

as a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

in archaeology in 1974, and promoted to

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in 1985. He received a personal chair in 1988 and was made Professor of Archaeology in 1993. He has also been Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Social Sciences and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (1998–2004). Pevensey Castle and surrounding village

He served on both the Council and the Executive and Research Committees of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

.''Visions of antiquity: the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1707–2007'', ed. Susan Pearce. London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 2007. p. 436. . He is currently the Honorary Treasurer of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars s ...

.Officers of the Academy

. Retrieved 18 January 2010 Between 1994 and 1998, he was editor for the academic journal ''

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Grea ...

''. Fulford served as the President of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies from 2005 to 2008, and is an honorary vice-president of the society. For the period between 2003 and 2007, he was granted the Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. Fulford has served as chairman of the Roman Research Trust since 2009. Fulford has published widely on subjects relating to Romano-British and Roman archaeology, especially with regards to the dynamics of towns, landscape archaeology and the economy. He is probably best known for a series of digs conducted since 1974 at the site of the former Iron Age and Romano-British town of

Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...

(

Calleva Atrebatum Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain. The modern villa ...

), Hampshire. Fulford was appointed a Commissioner of English Heritage (now

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

) in 2014.

Honours

Fulford was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2011 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2011 were announced on 31 December 2010 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,New Zealand"New Year Honours 2011"(14 January 2011) 2 ''New Zealand Gazette'' 55. The Cook IslandsThe Cook Islands: Grenada,Grenada: ...

. In 1977, Fulford was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). In 1994, he was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # ...

(FBA). In 2013, a supplement of the Journal of Roman Archaeology was published in Fulford's honour. Fulford won the 2015 Archaeologist of the Year award at the ''Current Archaeology'' Awards, as voted for by the general public: the awards were announced on 27 February 2015 as part of the annual ''Current Archaeology Live!'' conference.''Current Archaeology'' Press Release
Retrieved 9 March 2015.

Selected writing

* (2015), with N. Holbrook. ''The Towns of Roman Britain. The Contribution of Commercial Archaeology since 1990.'' Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Britannia monograph series 27. London. *(2013), with E. Durham. '' Seeing Red: New Economic and Social Perspectives on Gallo-Roman Terra Sigillata.'' University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, London. *(2011), with A. Clarke. ''Silchester: City in Transition. The Mid-Roman Occupation of Insula IX c. A.D. 125-250/300. A report on excavations undertaken since 1997.'' Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Britannia monograph series 25. London. *(2006), with A. Clarke and H. Eckardt. ''Life and Labour in Late Roman Silchester: Excavations in Insula IX from 1997.'' Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Britannia monograph series 22. London. *(2006), with A.B. Powell, R. Entwhistle, F. Raymond. ''Iron Age and Romano-British Settlements and Landscapes of Salisbury Plain.''Wessex Archaeology Monograph 20. Wessex Archaeology. Salisbury. *(2000), with Jane Timby. ''Late Iron Age and Roman Silchester: Excavations on the Site of the Forum-Basilica, 1977, 1980–86.'' Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. *(1989) ''The Silchester Amphitheatre: Excavations of 1979–85''. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Britannia monograph series 10. London. *(1984), with Mark Corney. ''Silchester: excavations on the defences, 1974–80''. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Britannia monograph series. London. *(1975). ''New Forest Roman pottery: manufacture and distribution, with a corpus of the pottery types''. Oxford.

References

External links

Michael Fulford's webpage

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulford, Michael 1948 births Archaeologists from Hampshire Living people Academics of the University of Reading Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the British Academy Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford Alumni of the University of Southampton Presidents of The Roman Society