Paul Ashbee
British archaeologist
title: "Paul Ashbee" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1918-births", "2009-deaths", "20th-century-british-archaeologists", "people-from-bearsted", "history-of-the-isles-of-scilly", "people-of-the-royal-commission-on-the-historical-monuments-of-england", "military-personnel-from-kent", "british-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "queen's-own-royal-west-kent-regiment-soldiers"] description: "British archaeologist" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ashbee" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary British archaeologist ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox scientist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Paul Ashbee |
| image | Paul Ashbee.jpg |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Bearsted, near Maidstone, Kent |
| death_date | |
| citizenship | British |
| fields | Archaeology |
| alma_mater | University of London |
| known_for | Leading authority on Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows |
| signature | |
| :: |
|name = Paul Ashbee |image = Paul Ashbee.jpg |image_size = |alt = |caption = |birth_date = |birth_place = Bearsted, near Maidstone, Kent |death_date = |death_place = |residence = |citizenship = British |nationality = |ethnicity = |fields = Archaeology |workplaces = |alma_mater = University of London |doctoral_advisor = |academic_advisors = |doctoral_students = |notable_students = |known_for = Leading authority on Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |awards = |signature = |signature_alt = |footnotes = Paul Ashbee (23 June 1918 – 19 August 2009) was a leading British archaeologist, noted for his many excavations of barrows, or burial mounds, and for co-directing the Sutton Hoo digs (with Rupert Bruce-Mitford) from 1964 to 1972. He was also president of the Just William Society. He died of cancer on 19 August 2009, aged 91.
Personal life
The only child of cabinet maker Lewis Ashbee and Hannah Mary Elisabeth, daughter of house decorator William Edward Birch Brett, of Thanet, Kent, Paul Ashbee was born in Bearsted, near Maidstone, Kent. He made national headlines when he uncovered the remains of a Roman villa on a farm at Thurnham when still a teenager. she was a history student and they met at a dig at Verulamium, St Albans in 1949. She died in 2005, after which Ashbee became president of the Just William Society.
Archaeology
Ashbee went into archaeology (during school holidays) after service in the army through the Second World War. He excavated widely across southern Britain and is best known as a leading authority on Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows. From 1976 to 1980 he was the President of the Cornwall Archaeology Society, and was also a commissioner of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England for 10 years.
Excavations
- 1949–50 — cemetery at Porthcressa, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly
- 1950–52 — assistant to Rupert Bruce-Mitford on the early medieval settlement at Mawgan Porth
- 1955 — barrow at Tregulland, north-east of Bodmin Moor
- 1960 — barrow at Wilsford, Normanton Down, Wiltshire
- 1964–71 — co-director with Rupert Bruce-Mitford at Sutton Hoo
- 1970–? — replacement of the capstones of the entrance grave at Bant's Carn and the multi-period settlement at Halangy, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly
Selected works
- 1960 The Bronze Age Round Barrow in Britain, Littlehampton Book Services Ltd,
- 1970 The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain, University of Toronto Press,
- 1974 Ancient Scilly, David & Charles,
- 1978 The Ancient British, Geo Abstracts,
- 1996 Halangy Down, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, Excavations 1964–1977, Cornish Archaeology No 35
- 2005 Kent in Prehistoric Times, The History Press,
References
:
References
- "Paul Ashbee". The Telegraph.
- The Strange Story of Sarah Kelly, Vera Hughes, 1997, p. 67, 193
- (9 October 2009). "Paul Ashbee".
- Quinnell, Henrietta. (5 October 2009). "Obituary – Paul Ashbee, archaeologist".
- (20 October 2009). "Letter: Paul Ashbee obituary".
- (February 2010). "Paul Ashbee 1918–2009". Cornish Archaeological Society Newsletter.
- (October 2009). "Paul Ashbee 1918–2009". Cornish Archaeological Society.
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