Neil Faulkner

Neil was a Cambridge and UCL educated archaeologist and historian, who took his PhD in Roman Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology. A Hegelian Marxist, his acute political insights were foundational to all his work. He worked prolifically as a freelance lecturer, editor, writer, excavator, and occasional broadcaster and lectured in archaeology, ancient history, and classical civilisation at many universities, adult education colleges, and local societies, as well as on cultural tours of archaeological sites in the Mediterranean.

In the past he had been an Honorary Lecturer at our Institute, and was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He was Features Editor of the popular magazine Current Archaeology for many years. His many field projects at home and abroad included the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project in north-west Norfolk – which not only produced significant insights into the Anglo Saxon period but introduced hundreds of people to archaeological excavation and research, and the Great Arab Revolt Project, which investigated the sites associated with Lawrence of Arabia’s campaigns in Southern Jordan.  

Neil authored numerous articles and academic papers, and several books including The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain, Apocalypse: the great Jewish revolt against Rome, AD 66-73, Hidden Treasure: digging up Britain’s past (written to accompany the BBC archaeology series), The Sedgeford Hoard (with Megan Dennis), Rome: empire of the eagles, and In Search of the Zeppelin War: the archaeology of the First Blitz (with Nadia Durrani). 

Our thoughts are with his family, his partner Lucy Harris and their three children Tiggy, Rowena, and Finnian during this extremely sad time. 

 - Professor Sue Hamilton, Director, UCL Institute of Archaeology
 

Obituaries

• Archaeology Worldwide
• Eastern Daily Press
• The Guardian
• The Left Berlin
• The Telegraph 

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neil_3_Polly_Heffer.jpg