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Graham Ritchie Renowned Scottish Archaeologist

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 July 2005, 06:00 CDT

GRAHAM Ritchie belonged to that rare breed of professional archaeologist who was equally at home conveying his enthusiasm for his subject to academic colleagues as he was to his lay audiences.

He was born in Edinburgh in 1942, but the family moved to Arbroath in 1951. However, he returned to the capital in 1960 as an undergraduate at the university, initially intending to read English, but soon transferring to the department of archaeology.

This was a defining event in his life. Not only was the archaeology department one of the most exciting in Britain, led by Stuart Piggott, the charismatic Abercromby professor, who fuelled Ritchie's enthusiasm for archaeological research, but it was here also that he met Anna Bachelier, a research student, whom he married in 1965 - forming one of the most productive husband-and-wife partnerships in British archaeology.

Having gained an honours degree, Ritchie embarked on doctoral research examining European Celtic armour but, in 1965 before this could be completed, he accepted a post as an archaeological investigator with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) .

Work on the thesis, however, was not abandoned and he was awarded the degree of PhD in 1968. Meanwhile, Ritchie's duties with RCAHMS took him to Argyll, where the Royal Commission was engaged on the 25year archaeological and architectural survey of the county.

Argyll was to prove one of the central themes to Ritchie's archaeological career; besides completing the routine work of archaeological survey in the preparation of RCAHMS volumes, he embarked on a series of important small-scale excavations in support of the survey programme, which ranged from chambered cairns, early fieldsystems and kerb cairns in mainland Argyll to sand-dune settlement and burial sites on Islay and Colonsay. He worked closely with the archaeological societies in Argyll - supporting theirwork, encouraging them at a time when archaeology was becoming more professional in outlook and, above all, being a tireless lecturer.

As well as being an active participant in fieldwork, he was also responsible for establishing a number of new RCAHMS survey programmes, including the Archaeological sites and Monuments Listing programme in the late 1970s which, inter alia, demonstrated the huge number of prehistoric and post-medieval sites and monuments awaiting identification in the Scottish countryside. This was followed, in 1989, by the supervision of the Afforestable Land Survey project, created in response to the threat posed to archaeological sites by the rapid expansion of commercial forestry.

Besides fieldwork, Ritchie played a pivotal role in developing the archaeological holdings of the then National Monuments Record of Scotland, becoming its depute curator in 1991. Appointed head of archaeology at RCAHMS in 1995, Ritchie retired in 1998 after 33 years service.

During his employment with RCAHMS, Ritchie found time to undertake a number of external archaeological projects, ranging from the excavation of the stone circle at the Stones of Stenness, Orkney, and another stone circle at Balbirnie, Fife, assisting Audrey Henshall with the revision of her magisterial survey of Scottish chambered tombs, to publishing a constant stream of reviews, papers in professional journals and books - both popular and academic.

In his later career, he was as busy as ever. He was appointed president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1999, holding the post until 2002.

During the summer months he was often to be found acting as an archaeological guide on cruise ships sailing the northern Atlantic and Mediterranean, delighting his fellow travellers with a deceptively informative lecturing style, while indulging in his love of new places and carrying out research into their archaeology and history.

He sustained a wide range of archaeological interests. One of which, what he referred to as "social archaeology", manifested itself in research into previous generations of Scotland's archaeologists, many of whom are now largely forgotten. Social archaeology, however, was not confined to past practitioners;

Ritchie gave constant and tactful support to younger generations of research students and excavators, not infrequently reminding the over earnest that "archaeology should be fun".

As the many number of co-authored publications suggests, Graham Ritchie was a willing partner in archaeological projects, none more so than with Anna Ritchie, and he gained particular pleasure in the support he received from his father, a distinguished classics teacher.

Modest, but determined and resourceful, Ritchie maintained a large circle of archaeological friendships. The homes he shared with Anna were often filled by delightfully informal gatherings of archaeologists, old and young.

Source: Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)

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