Julian Bennett (9 June 1949 – 29 January 2025) was a British

archaeologist 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, ...

Life and career

After leaving secondary school, Bennett worked as a freelance archaeologist in England and Germany, before entering the University of Durham as a mature student where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Archaeology in 1978. After preliminary graduate study at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

, he was appointed an Excavations Director for

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

, continuing with part-time graduate studies to eventually be awarded his PhD in 1991. The title of his PhD thesis was ''The Setting, Development and Function of the Hadrianic Frontier in Britain''. From 1985 to 1995, Bennett worked for a New York travel company, guiding for institutions such as the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and working as Tour Leader and Archaeological Guide Lecturer on boat cruises around Europe and Scandinavia, the Mediterranean World, and South America. In 1995 Bennett became a professor at

Bilkent University Bilkent University () is a private non-profit research university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by İhsan Doğramacı, the first president of the Council of Higher Education and the head of the prominent Doğramacı family, with th ...

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. His areas of expertise were: provincial and military Roman archeology, late Roman and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

architecture in Turkey, the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

and the Roman army and the study of Late Antique and Medieval architecture. He published numerous monographs and articles on various aspects of Roman and Medieval Britain and the Roman army, and was the author of two books, ''Towns in Roman Britain'' (1980) and ''Trajan. Optimus Princeps. A Life And Times'' (1997). The latter has been translated into Romanian and Russian. Bennett's fieldwork experience extended from rural and urban salvage excavations in Britain, Romania, and Germany to a later research project, studying the architecture of the Moldavian and Ottoman castle of Belgorod-Akkerman, in Ukraine. He was elected a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

in 2002, becoming only the third person in Turkey to receive that distinction. Bennett appeared in many TV documentaries for the BBC, The History Channel and National Geographic. Bennett had one daughter, Laura I. H. Bennett (b. 1984) and two sons, Alexander Ş. W. Bennett (b. 2006), Arthur K. W. Bennett (b. 2009). He died on 29 January 2025, at the age of 75.Bilkent Mourns the Loss of Prof. Julian Bennett, faculty member of the Faculty of Humanities and Letters, Department of Archaeology
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Works

* ''Trajan. Optimus Princeps. A Life And Times''. 1997, 2. edition, Routledge, London 2001, . *''Towns in Roman Britain''. 1980, 4. edition, Shire 2001,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Julian 1949 births 2025 deaths British archaeologists Academic staff of Bilkent University Alumni of Newcastle University Year of birth missing Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham