Mortimer Wheeler

Who was Mortimer Wheeler?

Brigadier Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH, CIE, MC, TD, FSA, FRS, FBA was a British archaeologist.

After service in the Royal Artillery in the First World War, he undertook excavations in Wales, England, and Northern France as Director of the National Museum of Wales and Keeper of the London Museum with his first wife, Tessa Wheeler, an accomplished field archaeologist. They were early advocates of a more scientific approach to excavation and the recording of stratigraphic context, following in the footsteps of Augustus Pitt Rivers. After further service in the Second World War, he was Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India. His appearances on television and radio, particularly Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, and his popular books helped to bring archaeology to a mass audience.