John Henry Pull (25 June 1899 – 10 November 1960) was an amateur archaeologist. After service as a soldier in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, where he learnt surveying skills, he worked as a gramophone salesman, a postman, and later a security guard, but his main interest was always

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. He was a key member of th
Worthing Archaeological Society
He was responsible for the finding and excavation of some of the most important

neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

sites in Southern

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

including the flint mines at

Blackpatch Blackpatch is an archaeological site in West Sussex, England, about west of the village of Findon and about north-west of Worthing. It is the site of a Neolithic flint mine, and Bronze Age barrows. The site is a scheduled monument. Descript ...

, Harrow Hill, Church Hill,

Cissbury Cissbury Ring is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Worthing in West Sussex. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated a Scheduled monument for its Neolithic flint mine and Iron Age hillfort. Cissbury Ring is ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, in 1922. Because he was not a professional archaeologist, he was unpopular with some of the experts in the field at the time, who constantly shrugged off Pull's work as amateur and unimportant. In the end, much of Pull's work and findings were given to

Worthing Museum and Art Gallery Worthing Museum and Art Gallery is in the centre of Worthing near the grade II* listed St Paul's. The building, which celebrated its centenary in 2008, was originally designed to house the town's library as well as the museum, the library sec ...

which holds a large archive. The main results of the Pull's excavations at Blackpatch, Church Hill and Cissbury between 1922 and 1956 housed in the archive were finally published in 2001 by Miles Russell of

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The universi ...

.Miles Russell (ed) 2001 ''Rough Quarries Rocks and Hills: John Pull and the Neolithic Flint Mines of Sussex'', Oxbow Books (Oxford) The earthworks comprising his first investigated site at

were bulldozed over in the 1950s. Fifty years later, a ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

'' episode focused on the area of Pull's work and was able to confirm some of his presumptions about the site. Pull was killed and his work cut short when he was shot during a bank robbery while working as a bank guard at Lloyds Bank, Durrington, Worthing.

References

External links

Time Team website about their excavation
English archaeologists 1960 deaths 1899 births {{UK-archaeologist-stub

Further reading

References

External links