Arthur Bulleid
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Arthur Bulleid (1862–1951) was a British
antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...
, known for the excavation of Glastonbury Lake Village and Meare Lake Village. He was born in
Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...
, the sixth son of John Bulleid, the mayor and founder of the Glastonbury Antiquarian Society, and his wife Christina. He became a medical student but was interested in local history and archaeology. In 1900 he was married to Anna Elanor Austin. They lived at Dymboro, a house in
Midsomer Norton Midsomer Norton is a town near the Mendip Hills in Bath and North East Somerset, England, south-west of Bath, Somerset, Bath, north-east of Wells, Somerset, Wells, north-west of Frome, west of Trowbridge and south-east of Bristol. It has ...
built for them as a wedding present from Anna's father, and had six children. In his twenties he heard about the discovery of lake villages in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
and suspected that similar
Iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
or
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
settlements may exist on the
Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south ...
. He spent his summers searching for them and in 1892 identified a promising field at Godney and began to excavate it. He gave up his medical studies to concentrate on the site which became known as Glastonbury Lake Village, digging during the summer and describing and cataloging his finds during the winter. In 1898 he stopped the excavation and completed his medical studies before restarting the dig in 1904 with Harold St George Gray. He later went on to excavate, with Gray, another similar site the Meare Lake Village. His work is commemorated in the Glastonbury Lake Village Museum at The Tribunal, Glastonbury. Bulleid died in 1951 and is buried in the cemetery, Wells Road, Glastonbury.


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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulleid, Arthur People from Glastonbury English antiquarians 1862 births 1951 deaths