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ology were started. The Institute remained Sixty years on: essentially a small research community somewhat isolated from the heart of the the Institute of Archaeology, 1937-97 University in , in the pleasant surroundings of Regent's Park. David R. Harris It had long been intended that the Insti­ Th e editor looks back over th e historyof th e In stitute tute should eventually move to Blooms­ bury, an event that was hastened by the ith the launching of Second World War. Kathleen Kenyan be­ expiry of the lease on St John's Lodge in ArchaeologyIn ternational came Acting Director while Wheeler was 1 951.Z The University offered space in some we reach another mile­ serving in the North African and Italian existing houses on the north side ofGordon stone in the eventful life campaigns. He had been expected to return Square, and when adjacent space was of­ W fered to the Institute of Classical Studies it of the Institute. Since the as Director after the war, but instead formal opening of its first home - St John's accepted the post of Director General of was decided to demolish the houses (in ret­ Lodge in Regent's Park - on 29 April 1 93 7, Archaeology for India. This led to the ap­ rospect, an act of vandalism) and erect the the Institute has grown from a small, if pointment ofGordon Childe, who resigned building that the Institute occupies today capaciously housed, research institution the Abercromby Chair of Archaeology at (Fig. 2). Gordon Childe retired in 19563 to to become the largest (in terms of staff to become the Institute's first return to his native Australia (where he and students) university "department" of full-time Director in 1946 - an event that ended his life in October 1957), and W. F. archaeology in Europe. It has done so by a had been preceded in October 1945 by the ("Peter") Grimes moved from the Museum series of steps, some planned, others more appointment of Frederick Zeuner, who of to succeed Childe as Director. fortuitous, that have led from a staff com­ was already an Honorary Lecturer in Geo­ As a member ofthe Institute's Management plement of five or six in the 1930s, with chronology at the Institute, to a part-time Committee, Grimes had already been in­ even fewer registered students, to today's Chair in Environmental Archaeology. volved in planning the Institute's part of totals of 70 academic staff, 291 undergrad­ In the "Childe decade", from 1946 to the new building,' which was formally uates and 252 registered postgraduates 1956, the Institute became firmly estab­ opened by the Queen Mother, Chancellor (138 master's-degree and 114 research stu­ lished as a research, and to a lesser extent of the University, on 29 April1958, exactly dents). But despite this prodigious growth, a teaching, institution, and its interna­ 21 years after the original opening ofthe In­ some ofthe characteristics of today's Insti­ tional reputation grew. During the decade stitute had taken place at St John's Lodge. tute - e.g. our commitment to archaeology several more academic staff appointments The move to , and the overseas as well as in Britain, to field were made, notably to a beginning of Professor Grimes' Director­ archaeology, to environmental archaeol­ (part-time) Chair in Western Asiatic Archae­ ship, ushered in a radically new phase in ogy and to professional training in conser­ ology, Kathleen Kenyan to a Lectureship in the development of the Institute. During vation - can trace their roots to the then Palestinian Archaeology, and I an Cornwall the 1 960s the number of academic staff and visionary ideas of the Institute's founder to a Lectureship in Environmental Archae­ their range of expertise were increased, and first (Honorary) Director, Dr (later Sir) ology. But, although some teaching was while existing strengths, as in field archae­ Mortimer Wheeler. 1 provided for under­ ology and conservation, were reinforced. The Institute enjoyed little more than graduates in ancient history and anthro­ But the most significant change was the two years in its elegant home in Regent's pology, and several diploma courses were introduction, in 1968, of undergraduate Park (Fig. 1) before research and teaching offered to students registered at the Insti­ BA (and shortly thereafter BSC) degrees in was interrupted by the outbreak of the tute, no undergraduate degrees in archae- archaeology,5 which, although delayed by opposition from thosein the University who regarded archaeology as unsuitable as an undergraduate subject,6 soon replaced the by then outmoded postgraduate diplomas. The numbers of students admitted and the range of courses offered increased fur­ ther during the Directorship of Professor John Evans, who, from holding the Chair of at the Institute, succeeded Professor Grimes on his retire­ ment in 1973. During his time as Director, Professor Evans established, as part of the Institute, the Sussex (now the Field) Ar­ chaeology Unit and introduced postgrad­ uate training in museum studies. Despite increasing financial difficulties, as the In­ stitute's core funding fromthe University began to suffer successive cuts in the 1980s, he also succeeded in adding some new academic posts to the Institute's rep­ ertoire, notably a "New Blood" Lecture­ ship in and others in Archaeobotany, Ceramic Technology and Quantitative Techniques. By far the most significant development Figure 1 Th e first home of the In stitute ofArchae ology: St John's Lodge, Regent's Park, at this time was, however, the incorpora­ in 1937. tion of the Institute into University College

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Figure 2 Th e building occupied by the Institute of Archaeology today, seen from Cordon Square.

London (UCL), its nearest academic neigh­ the integration ofthe Institute and the Col­ eval archaeologists (then members of the bour and the largest multifaculty school of lege was "deferred" for over 50 years. Department of History) and of the UCL the University. This took place in 1986, One important outcome of the negotia­ Departments of and while Sir James Lighthill was Provost of tions that led to the Institute becoming part .8 These changes were accom­ UCL, and was preceded by complex nego­ of UCL was the creation in the College of an plished by 1993, with the transfer of nine tiations on the academic, financial and ad­ Archaeology and Ancient World Studies members of staff and the concomitant ministrative implications of the "merger" Committee, which brought together repre­ extension ofthe Institute's academic exper­ -a rather mechanistic term for what was in sentatives from 20 UCL arts and science tise to encompass the reality the long-delayed realization of part departments and helped to coordinate teach­ of northwestern Europe, Greek archaeology of Mortimer Wheeler's original vision for ing and stimulate research across conven­ (Roman archaeology already being estab­ his Institute.7 During the protracted dis­ tional academic boundaries. For its firstfour lished in the Institute), and Egyptology. cussions that followed Wheeler's original years the "AAW S" Committee was chaired These additions could not be accommodated approach to the University in 1927, Uni­ by the author, who became Director of the within the already overcrowded confines versity College had appointed him to a part­ Institute in 1989 following Professor Evans' of the Institute building in Gordon Square, time Lectureship in Prehistoric Archaeol­ retirement, while continuing to hold the and so the Provost agreed to a request for ogy and had agreed to transfer its Egyptol­ chair first held by Zeuner at the Institute additional space in three of the early nine­ ogy and Classical Archaeology Collections and later renamed the Chair of Human Envi­ teenth-century houses owned by the Col­ to the proposed new Institute of Archaeol­ ronment. lege on the west side of the Square. ogy. In 1934 the College even offered space During the early 1990s further Another important, and more enduring, for the Institute at a nominal rent in a developments took place at the Institute. space-related development took place in former stable it had acquired in Foster Student enrolment more than doubled (to the early 1990s: the creation ofthe Wolfson Court (where the Petrie Museum of Egyp­ totals of c. 300 undergraduates and c. 150 Archaeological Science Laboratories in the tian Archaeology is now housed); an offer postgraduates) and additional Lecture­ basement of the Institute. This achieve­ that was, however, soon eclipsed by the ships were secured in Anthropological ment was the result of several years of un­ more alluring prospect of much more spa­ Archaeology, Classical Art and Archaeol­ remitting fund-raising which, thanks largely cious accommodation in St John's Lodge. ogy, Latin American Archaeology, and to the efforts of our then Development So, the Egyptology and Classical Archae­ Museum Studies. At the same time, nego­ Director, Cathy Giangrande (a former Insti­ ology collections remained at UCL (where tiations took place, following initiatives tute graduate in conservation), succeeded chairs in both subjects had been estab­ taken by the new Provost of UCL, Dr (now in raising over £400,000 to convert much of lished in the late nineteenth century) and Sir) Derek Roberts, which led to the inte­ the basement into a suite of state-of-the-art gration into the Institute of the UCL medi- laboratories and a large secure artefact

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Laser particle analysis

Sedimentology Scanning electron Research students Library store laboratory microscopy

AC plant

Sectioning Instrumental laboratory analysis Collections and artefact store

c____ --l The Robert Kiln room: sample sorting and Sectioning demonstration laboratory

Entrance lobby Wet chemistry laboratory

Library store

Figure 3 Plan of the Wolfson Archaeological Science Laboratories in the basement of the Institute, opened in 1991.

store (Fig. 3). The Wolfson Laboratories Dean of Arts, to come to the Institute. He (3) and Palestine (2); and were officially opened by Lord Young of succeeded the author in August 1996 and, the group included several students who Graffham on 11 July 1991, in the presence following full discussion with colleagues, went on to become distinguished profes­ of Lord Wolfson and the Provost, and, with has already introduced important changes sional archaeologists, e.g. Amanda Clar­ idge, Rosemary Ellison, Susan Walker the subsequent addition of several new in the curriculum and in the Institute's in­ (nee Cook) and Ian Hodder. items of equipment, notably an electron ternal organization, as well as redefining 6. See p. 22 of Professor Evans' article, microprobe for quantitative elemental analy­ its academic mission- as he explains in his referred to in n. 1. sis, they have enabled us to undertake more contribution on p. 6. The Institute enters 7. In 1927 Wheeler organized an exhibition advanced scientific research in many as­ its seventh decade confident in its role as at UCL of the results of recent archaeolog­ pects of archaeology as well as introduce one of the world's leading centres of ar­ ical fieldwork in Britain, and in his auto­ students to a range of sophisticated analyt­ chaeological teaching and research. biography he explains how to achieve ical techniques. "the Institute of Archaeology of my In addition to the redevelopment of the dreams ...the University of London, Notes through University College (of which I basement, some other parts of the Institute 1. Readers interested in the foundation and was a Fellow), had to be led gently into the building were improved during the early early years of the Institute are referred to garden and up the right path" (see pp. 84, 1 990s: a computing laboratory was created the detailed account of the period by Pro­ 87 and 88 in Still digging, Mortimer on the third floor, a new reception area was fessor J. D. Evans: "The first half century Wheeler (London: Michael Joseph, 1955). built in the entrance hall, and display cab­ -and after", which was published in 1987 8. It is interesting to note that in a statement inets were installed in the ground-floor in the Bulletin of the Institute of Archae­ on the future needs of the Institute sub­ "gallery" leading to the Lecture Hall. The ology 24, 1-25. mitted to the University early in 1944 by latter area has since been the scene of suc­ 2. See p. 18 in Professor Evans' article a subcommittee consisting of Wheeler, referred to in n. 1. cessive exhibitions designed and mounted Stephen Glanville (Sir 's 3. Childe retired one year before he was due successor as Edwards Professor of Egyp­ annually by students taking the MA in to do so to allow his successor, Professor tology at UCL), Sir Cyril Fox, Kathleen Museum Studies. The exhibitions have pre­ Crimes, to start his Directorship in the Kenyan and Miss Whinney of the Cour­ sented a wide variety of subjects, including new building on Cordon Square (see Pre­ tauld Institute, it was suggested that the several that have highlighted aspects of the historian: a biography of V. Cordon relocation of the UCL Departments ofEgyp­ Institute's history, notably, in 1996, Six Childe, Sally Green, p. 142 (-on­ tology and Classical Archaeology to the Decades and Seven Directors, and, in 1993, Avon: Moonraker Press, 1981). Institute of Archaeology "eventually ... 4. From the start, the Institute of Archaeol­ Ahead in their Field: Women at the Insti­ may be found desirable" (see p. 15 in Pro­ ogy shared the new building with the tute ofArchaeo logy, which featured, among fessor Evans' article referred to in n . 1). Institute of Classical Studies and the others, Kathleen Kenyan, lone Gedye and Examination Halls of the University. . 5. Eighteen undergraduates (14 women and A new phase in the life of the Institute 4 men) were admitted in 1968 to take the began under its present Director, Peter Ucko, full-time BA degree. They variously spe­ who left the University of Southampton, cialized in prehistoric and environmental where he was Professor ofArchaeology and archaeology (7), Roman archaeology (6),

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