:''Alternative meaning:
Richard Atkinson (educator)''
Richard John Copland Atkinson
CBE (22 January 1920 – 10 October 1994) was a British
prehistorian
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
and
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, ...
.
Biography
Atkinson was born in
Evershot, Dorset, and went to
Sherborne School
Sherborne School is a full-boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 located beside Sherborne Abbey in the Dorset town of Sherborne. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by Ald ...
and then
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...
, reading
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...
. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, his
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
beliefs meant that he was a
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
. In 1944, he became Assistant Keeper of Archaeology at the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...
. In 1949, he was appointed a lecturer at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
.
Atkinson directed excavations at
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
for the
Ministry of Works between 1950 and 1964. During this period he helped to bring theories about the origins and construction of Stonehenge to a wider audience: for example, through the BBC television programme, ''Buried Treasure'' (1954), which, among other things, sought to demonstrate, using teams of schoolboys, how the stones might have been transported by water or over land. He also produced a theory on the creation of Stonehenge.
He also investigated sites at
Silbury Hill,
West Kennet Long Barrow
The West Kennet Long Barrow, also known as South Long Barrow, is a chambered long barrow near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Probably constructed in the thirty-seventh century BC, during Britain's Early ...
, and
Wayland's Smithy and was a friend and collaborator of Peggy Piggott,
Stuart Piggott
Stuart Ernest Piggott, (28 May 1910 – 23 September 1996) was a British archaeologist, best known for his work on prehistoric Wessex.
Early life
Piggott was born in Petersfield, Hampshire, the son of G. H. O. Piggott, and was educated ...
and
John F.S. Stone. His Silbury work was part of a
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
documentary series ''
Chronicle
A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...
'' on the monument. In 1958, he moved to
University College, Cardiff, to become its first professor of archaeology. He remained at Cardiff until he retired in 1983. He served on the
University Grants Committee. He received the
CBE in 1979. Atkinson worked tirelessly to promote and develop science-based British archaeology, and was famous for his practical contributions to archaeological technique and his pragmatic solutions to on-site problems, which were listed in the handbook he wrote called ''Field Archaeology''.
Legacy
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 ...
holds Atkinson's collection of over 2,000 record photographs in the public
English Heritage Archive
The Historic England Archive is the public archive of Historic England, located in The Engine House on Fire Fly Avenue in Swindon, formerly part of the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway.
It is a public archive of architectural and arc ...
. A selection of around 200 photographs can be viewed online on the ViewFinder website.
ViewFinder – Home
/ref> The Wessex Gallery of Archaeology, which opened at the Salisbury Museum
The Salisbury Museum (previously The Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum) is a museum in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It houses one of the best collections relating to Stonehenge and local archaeology.
The museum is housed in The King's Hou ...
in summer 2014, displays Bronze Age artefacts discovered by Atkinson in July 1953.
Unfortunately, because of an extremely heavy administrative burden arising from service on many committees throughout his career, including a period as Deputy Principal of University College, Cardiff, Atkinson's written reports of the excavations at Stonehenge were not complete before serious illness, mainly caused by overwork, forced total retirement.
References
Newcastle University obituary
Further reading
*
External links
View Atkinson's photos of Stonehenge held by English Heritage
1920 births
1994 deaths
Academics of Cardiff University
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
English archaeologists
English prehistorians
British conscientious objectors
British Quakers
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
People educated at Sherborne School
People from Sherborne
Archaeologists of Stonehenge
20th-century Quakers
{{UK-archaeologist-stub