Mike Parker Pearson

Last updated

Mike Parker Pearson

FSA FSA Scot FBA
Born
Michael Parker Pearson

(1957-06-26) 26 June 1957 (age 66)
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Known for Stonehenge Riverside Project
Academic background
Alma mater University of Southampton
King's College, Cambridge
Thesis Death, society and social change: the Iron Age of southern Jutland 200 B.C.-600 A.D.  (1985)
School or tradition Post-processual archaeology
Institutions
Doctoral students Melanie Giles

Michael Parker Pearson, FSA , FSA Scot , FBA (born 26 June 1957) [1] is an English archaeologist specialising in the study of the Neolithic British Isles, Madagascar and the archaeology of death and burial. A professor at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, he previously worked for 25 years as a professor at the University of Sheffield in England, and was the director of the Stonehenge Riverside Project. [2] A prolific author, he has also written a variety of books on the subject.

Contents

A media personality, Parker Pearson has appeared several times in the Channel 4 show Time Team in particular in one looking at the excavation of Durrington Walls in Wiltshire. He also appeared in the National Geographic Channel documentary Stonehenge Decoded, along with the PBS programme Nova: Secrets of Stonehenge. [3]

Early life and education

Parker Pearson was born in 1957. [4] He would later inform interviewers that he first took an interest in the past when searching for fossils in his father's driveway gravel aged 4, extending that interest into the human past aged 6 when he read a library book entitled Fun with Archaeology. [5] Deciding to study the subject at the undergraduate level, he attended the University of Southampton, attaining a first class BA with honours in Archaeology in 1979. [6]

He obtained his PhD from King's College, Cambridge in 1985, for a thesis titled "Death, society and social change: the Iron Age of southern Jutland 200 BC – 600 AD" in which he discussed what was known about the bog bodies of Iron Age Denmark; it would remain unpublished. [6] [7] [8] Supervised by Ian Hodder as a post-graduate at Cambridge, Parker Pearson was a contemporary of Sheena Crawford, Daniel Miller, Henrietta Moore, Christopher Tilley and Alice Welbourn; these students were influenced by Hodder's ideas, then a pioneering part of the post-processualist current within archaeological theory.

Parker Pearson became interested in Marxism. In the 1984 anthology Ideology, Power and Prehistory, edited by Daniel Miller and Christopher Tilley, Parker Pearson published a paper in which he examined the pre-state societies of Jutland from a Marxist perspective. At the start of this paper, he noted that it had repercussions for Marxism in that its findings discerned "a certain blurring between capitalism and non-capitalism". [9]

Early career

From 1984 through to 1990, Parker Pearson worked as an Inspector of Monuments for English Heritage, [6] and in 1989 he received membership to the Institute for Archaeologists. [6] In 1990, he secured an academic teaching position at the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, where he would work for the next 21 years. [6] In 1991 he was admitted as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and in 1996 then became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. [6]

Stonehenge Riverside Project and UCL

From 2003 through to 2009, Parker Pearson directed the Stonehenge Riverside Project. The project garnered three major archaeological awards: the Andante Travel Archaeology Award (2008), the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries Award (2009), and the UK Archaeological Research Project of the Year (2010). [6] His work in leading the project also led to Parker Pearson being personally awarded the UK Archaeologist of the Year award in 2010. [6]

Parker Pearson and his team of researchers played a key role in the discovery of a new henge site along the River Avon that links to Stonehenge. This new site was uncovered through excavation during the Stonehenge Riverside Project and was given the name "BlueStoneHenge" or "BlueHenge" because traces of bluestones were found during the excavation.

During 2017 and 2018, excavations by his UCL team led to a proposal that the site at Waun Mawn, in the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire, had originally housed a 110 m (360 ft) diameter stone circle of the same size as the ditch at Stonehenge [10] [11] The archaeologists also postulated that the circle also contained a hole from one stone which had a distinctive pentagonal shape, very closely matching the one pentagonal stone at Stonehenge (stone hole 91 at Waun Mawn and stone 62 at Stonehenge). Both circles appear, according to some researchers, to be oriented towards the midsummer solstice. [10] [12] [13] and reported in New Scientist on 20 February 2021. [14]

Other activities

From 2006 through to 2009, he served as the Vice-President of the Prehistoric Society. [6] Interacting with various parts of the media, Parker Pearson has published articles in a variety of different sources, such as on the BBC website, [8] has given interviews to groups such as Pagans for Archaeology [5] and most recently discussed his career in an interview with Papers from the Institute of Archaeology . [15]

In 2012, Parker Pearson left the University of Sheffield and began teaching at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, as Professor of British Later Prehistory. [6]

On 16 July 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). [16]

Bibliography

TitleYearCo-author(s)PublisherISBN
Bronze Age Britain1993n/aEnglish Heritage and B.T. Batsford 978-0713468564
Architecture and Order: Approaches to Social Space1994Colin Richards
(edited volume)		Routledge 978-0415067287
The Archaeology of Death and Burial 1999n/aSutton Publishing 978-0890969267
Between Land and Sea: Excavations at Dun Vulan, South Uist1999Niall Sharples, Jacqui Mulville, Helen Smith,
(edited volume)		Sheffield Academic Press 978-1850758808
In Search of the Red Slave: Shipwreck and Captivity in Madagascar2002Karen GoddenSutton Publishing 978-0750929387
Food, Culture and Identity in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age2003British Archaeological Reports 978-1841714950
Fiskerton: An Iron Age Timber Causeway with Iron Age and Roman Votive Offerings2003Naomi FieldOxbow 978-1842170649
South Uist: Archaeology and History of a Hebridean Island2004Niall Sharples and Jim SymondsThe History Press 978-0752429052
Warfare, Violence and Slavery in Prehistory: Proceedings of a Prehistoric Society Conference at Sheffield University2005I.J.N. Thorpe
(edited volume)		British Archaeological Reports 978-1841718163
From Stonehenge to the Baltic: Living with Cultural Diversity in the Third Millennium BC2007Mats LarssonBritish Archaeological Reports 978-1407301303
Pastoralists, Warriors and Colonists: The Archaeology of Southern Madagascar2010Karen Godden
(edited volume)		British Archaeological Reports 978-1407306803
If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge2010Marc AronsonNational Geographic Society 978-1426305993
Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Enigma2012n/aSimon & Schuster 978-0857207302
From Machair to Mountains: Archaeological Survey and Excavation in South Uist2012(edited volume)Oxbow 978-1842174517

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonehenge</span> Ancient monument in England

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodhenge</span> Neolithic henge and timber circle monument near Stonehenge

Woodhenge is a Neolithic Class II henge and timber circle monument within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, England. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of Stonehenge, in Durrington parish, just north of the town of Amesbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avebury</span> Neolithic henge monument in Wiltshire, England

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durrington Walls</span> Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure

Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshire. The henge is the second-largest Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure known in the United Kingdom, after Hindwell in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aubrey holes</span> Ring of chalk pits at Stonehenge

The Aubrey holes are a ring of 56 chalk pits at Stonehenge, named after seventeenth-century antiquarian John Aubrey. They date to the earliest phases of Stonehenge in the late fourth and early third millennium BC. Despite decades of argument and analysis, their purpose is still unknown, although an astronomical role has often been suggested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Sanctuary</span> Prehistoric site in Wiltshire, England

The Sanctuary was a stone and timber circle near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Excavation has revealed the location of the 58 stone sockets and 62 post-holes. The ring was part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders.

Records of archaeological excavations at the Stonehenge site date back to the early 17th century.

In Arthurian legend, Mount Killaraus is a legendary place in Ireland where Stonehenge originally stood. According to the narrative presented in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, King Ambrosius Aurelianus embarks on a quest to construct a memorial for the Celtic Britons who were treacherously slain by Anglo-Saxons. When conventional methods fail to produce an awe-inspiring monument, Ambrosius turns to the renowned wizard Merlin for guidance. In response, Merlin advises the king to transport a stone circle known as the Giant's Ring from Mount Killaraus in Ireland, attributing magical and healing properties to these stones, which were believed to have been brought from Africa by giants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theories about Stonehenge</span> Theories on the origin and purpose of Stonehenge

Stonehenge has been the subject of many theories about its origin, ranging from the academic worlds of archaeology to explanations from mythology and the paranormal.

The Stonehenge Riverside Project was a major Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded archaeological research study of the development of the Stonehenge landscape in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain. In particular, the project examined the relationship between the Stones and surrounding monuments and features, including the River Avon, Durrington Walls, the Cursus, the Avenue, Woodhenge, burial mounds, and nearby standing stones. The project involved a substantial amount of fieldwork and ran from 2003 to 2009. It found that Stonehenge was built 500 years earlier than previously thought. The monument is believed to have been built to unify the peoples of Britain. It also found a previously unknown stone circle, Bluestonehenge.

C. Joshua Pollard is a British archaeologist who is a professor of archaeology at the University of Southampton. He gained his BA and PhD in archaeology from the Cardiff University, and is a specialist in the archaeology of the Neolithic period in the UK and north-west Europe, especially in relation to the study of depositional practices, monumentality, and landscape. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bluestonehenge</span> Prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England

Bluestonehenge or Bluehenge is a prehistoric henge and stone circle monument that was discovered by the Stonehenge Riverside Project about 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. All that remains of the site is the ditch of the henge and a series of stone settings, none of which is visible above ground.

Julian Stewart Thomas is a British archaeologist, publishing on the Neolithic and Bronze Age prehistory of Britain and north-west Europe. Thomas has been vice president of the Royal Anthropological Institute since 2007. He has been Professor of Archaeology at the University of Manchester since 2000, and is former secretary of the World Archaeological Congress. Thomas is perhaps best known as the author of the academic publication Understanding the Neolithic in particular, and for his work with the Stonehenge Riverside Project.

Timothy Darvill OBE is an English archaeologist and author, best known for his publications on prehistoric Britain and his excavations in England, Wales, and the Isle of Man. He is Professor of Archaeology in the Faculty of Science and Technology Bournemouth University in England. In April 2008 he co-directed excavations within Stonehenge, together with Professor Geoffrey Wainwright and Dr Miles Russell, to examine the early stone structures on the site. The work featured heavily in a BBC Timewatch programme which examined the theory that Stonehenge was a prehistoric centre of healing. He was appointed OBE in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Pitts (archaeologist)</span> English freelance journalist and archaeologist

Michael W. Pitts, is an English freelance journalist and archaeologist who specialises in the study of British prehistory. He is the author of several books on the subject, and is the editor of British Archaeology, the publication of the Council for British Archaeology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany</span> Megalithic tradition of monuments

The stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany are a megalithic tradition of monuments consisting of standing stones arranged in rings. These were constructed from 3300 to 900 BCE in Britain, Ireland and Brittany. It has been estimated that around 4,000 of these monuments were originally constructed in this part of north-western Europe during this period. Around 1,300 of them are recorded, the others having been destroyed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Gaffney</span> British archaeologist

Vincent Gaffney is a British archaeologist and the Anniversary Chair in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bradford.

Craig Rhos-y-felin is a rocky outcrop on the north side of the Preseli Mountains in Wales, which is designated as a RIGS site on the basis of its geological and geomorphological interest. It is accepted by some in the archaeological community that it is the site of a quarry, used together with one at Carn Goedog, for gathering stones used at Stonehenge, most notably as the source of some of the foliated rhyolite found in the Stonehenge "debitage". This is disputed by others, who believe that all of the features at the site, apart from evidence of intermittent occupation over a long period, are of natural origin. Some believe that the site was used as a quarry in both the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, around 4000 to 5000 years ago, and the rock's shape, like a pillar, allowed the stones to be quarried with relative ease compared to stones taken from other places. Others argue that if prehistoric men had wanted to obtain monoliths for use as standing stones, all they had to do was collect them from the abundant glacial erratics littering the landscape.

Tisbury Stone Circle and Henge was a stone circle and henge in Tisbury, Wiltshire. Archaeologists believe that it was likely erected during the Bronze Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waun Mawn</span> Dismantled neolithic stone circle in Pembrokeshire,

Waun Mawn is the site of a possible dismantled Neolithic stone circle in the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire, Wales. The diameter of the postulated circle is estimated to be 110 m (360 ft), the third largest diameter for a British stone circle.

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "PARKER PEARSON, Prof. Michael George". Who's Who 2014 (online ed.). A & C Black, Oxford University Press. 2014. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U258069.
  2. ↑ "Professor Michael Parker Pearson". Department of Archaeology. University of Sheffield . Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  3. ↑ "'Secrets of Stonehenge' from PBS's Nova Television Series (2010)" . Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "Parker Pearson, Michael 1957–". WorldCat Identities. OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  5. 1 2 Yewtree and Parker Pearson 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 UCL 2012.
  7. ↑ Parker Pearson 1999. p. 234.
  8. 1 2 Parker Pearson 2011,
  9. ↑ Parker Pearson 1984. p. 69.
  10. 1 2 Pearson, Mike Parker; Pollard, Josh; Richards, Colin; Welham, Kate; Kinnaird, Timothy; Shaw, Dave; Simmons, Ellen; Stanford, Adam; Bevins, Richard; Ixer, Rob; Ruggles, Clive; Rylatt, Jim; Edinborough, Kevan (February 2021). "The original Stonehenge? A dismantled stone circle in the Preseli Hills of west Wales". Antiquity. 95 (379): 85–103. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2020.239 .
  11. ↑ England's Stonehenge was erected in Wales first
  12. ↑ "Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed". BBC Two. 12 February 2021. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  13. ↑ Pearson, Mike Parker; Bevins, Richard; Ixer, Rob; Pollard, Joshua; Richards, Colin; Welham, Kate; Chan, Ben; Edinborough, Kevan; Hamilton, Derek; Macphail, Richard; Schlee, Duncan; Schwenninger, Jean-Luc; Simmons, Ellen; Smith, Martin (December 2015). "Craig Rhos-y-felin: a Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge". Antiquity. 89 (348): 1331–1352. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2015.177 .
  14. ↑ George, Alison (20 February 2021). "Stonehenge may be a recycled Welsh structure". New Scientist. p. 16.
  15. ↑ Williams and Koriech 2012
  16. ↑ "British Academy Fellowship reaches 1,000 as 42 new UK Fellows are welcomed". British Academy. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.