- Francis Pryor
Francis Pryor is a British archaeologist who is famous for his role in the discovery of
Flag Fen , aBronze Age archeological site nearPeterborough , and for his frequent appearances on theChannel 4 television series "Time Team ".He has now retired from full-time field archaeology, but still appears on television and writes books as well as being a working farmer. His specialties are in the Bronze and
Iron Age s.Biography
In his book "Seahenge", Pryor gives some autobiographical information about his career. He studied archaeology at the
University of Cambridge , but left university disillusioned with the discipline and migrated toToronto ,Canada ,with his first wife, Sylvia, on alanded immigrant scheme. There he started working at theRoyal Ontario Museum as technician, working forDoug Tushingham who helped fund Pryor's first project in theUK . This was atNorth Elmham and the excavation was directed byPeter Wade-Martins who exposed Pryor to the benefit of opening large area excavations.Pryor returned to the UK in 1970, where the construction of the
new town atPeterborough offered the opportunity to do large scale archaeology ahead of the planned development work. Between 1970 and 1978, he alternated between digs in the UK and writing up the excavation reports and giving presentations on his work in Canada. During the course of these projects, he met his second wife,Maisie Taylor , an expert in pre-historic wood; they worked together on the series of projects in the Peterborough area, the most famous of which is Flag Fen. He has a daughter, Amy, from his first marriage. He was a founding member of theInstitute of Field Archaeologists in 1982.Works
* An archaeology autobiography
*
*cite book|title=Britain BC: life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans|author=Francis Pryor|publisher= HarperCollins| id =ISBN 0-00-712693-X
*cite book|title=Britain AD: a quest for Arthur, England and the Anglo-Saxons|author=Francis Pryor|publisher= HarperCollins| id =ISBN 0-00-718187-6
*cite book|title=Farmers in Prehistoric Britain|author=Francis Pryor|publisher= Tempus| id =ISBN 0-7524-1477-1External links
* [http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/biog_francis.html Francis Pryor profile from Channel 4]
* [http://www.flagfen.com/francis_pryor-1.htm Information on Francis Pryor from Flag Fen website]
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