Coles, John, 1930-2020

John Coles was an archaeologist who managed to encompass a large number of fields in his academic life, becoming influential in all of them. While his most lasting achievement is perhaps in what has become known as wetland archaeology, in earlier phases of his career he made a lasting impression on the study of Scottish prehistory, he wrote standard textbooks on field archaeology, the Palaeolithic and the Bronze Age, and he was a pioneer in the study of experimental archaeology. An interest which endured from the early part of his career into his later years was the study of rock art, particularly that in Scandinavia, where frequent study trips to Sweden became an important part of his life.

Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 20