ABSTRACT
Archaeology in Britain is a young profession but a long-standing discipline. Its origins in the United Kingdom lie in antiquarian activity in the 16th and 17th centuries. Very few antiquarians or archaeologists were employed as such. The first Keeper of Archaeology in a museum in Britain was employed in 1683 at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford; a position held by the celebrated Welsh antiquarian Edward Lhuyd from 1690 to 1709. The British Museum was not created until the middle of the 18th century (1753), at which time antiquarians began to organise themselves in national societies. The Society of Antiquaries was formed in 1707, to be followed by equivalent bodies in Scotland and Wales, as well as a British Archaeological Association, and a Royal Archaeological Institute by 1844. The 19th century saw the formation of the county archaeology societies, 32 being founded between 1836 and 1878. Archaeological activity and membership of these societies in the 18th and 19th centuries was largely the preserve of the intellectual or gentleman amateur, as exemplified by William Stukeley, Sir Richard Colt Hoare and Thomas Bateman (Daniel 1975). Archaeology was overwhelmingly male, and upper or upper middle class. The first university to appoint an archaeologist was Cambridge with the Disney Professor of Archaeology in 1851. Male domination continued well into the 20th century. Dorothy Garrod became Disney Professor of Archaeology in 1938, causing much controversy at a time when Cambridge University would not allow women to graduate with degrees. Archaeology became a field profession for the first time with the appointment of General Augustus PittRivers as Inspector of Ancient Monuments in 1882, while the Royal Commissions on Ancient and Historical Monuments were formed in 1908. Along with the Ordnance Survey and the Ministry of Works, these were the main employers for archaeologists well into the 20th century. As late as 1961, Dame Kathleen Kenyon could enumerate only 189 professional archaeologists in Britain outside museums
(Kenyon 1961). In the voluntary sector, the period after World War II saw the foundation of over 150 local archaeological societies, at a more local level than the county (and possibly with a wider social base?). Until the mid-1970s, most archaeology was carried out either by universities or by the amateur societies.
