Archaeology on Television, 1937

Abstract

The birth of archaeologically themed television programmes is intimately linked to the birth of television itself. Yet little is known of the earliest broadcasts owing to both the fragmentary archival record and the longstanding hype surrounding later archaeology TV productions. This article examines two of the first such shows, likely the earliest in the English-speaking world for which records survive, focused on the British Iron Age site of Maiden Castle and on the reconstruction of prehistoric pottery. While noting the role of Mortimer Wheeler in their development, I also highlight several key women who produced the programmes, starred in them, and otherwise held critical posts in the establishment of professional archaeological practice in Britain, including Margot Eates, Ione Gedye, and Delia Parker — all based at London's Institute of Archaeology (IoA). These BBC TV broadcasts were specifically deployed to showcase the sites and methods of the burgeoning discipline of archaeology. More importantly, however, they were subtle players in the building of intellectual and institutional capital for both the IoA and the BBC. Augmented by other graphic media produced by the IoA itself, the earliest televised archaeology shows generated income, exposure, capacity, and clout for these two very different but pioneering organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• television
• media
• visual representation
• histories of archaeology
• professionalization
• public engagement
• BBC

Acknowledgements

This article is indebted to many individuals and institutions, only a fraction of whom I am able to mention here. My great appreciation goes to the BBC Written Archives Centre, the Museum of London, UCL Special Collections, UCL Institute of Archaeology, Rachael Sparks, Ian Carroll, Pamela Jane Smith, and especially Stephanie Moser, Andy Jones, Sam Smiles, and Ian Kirkpatrick, who variously provided access to the archival record and much constructive criticism and debate.

ORCID

Sara Perry http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9694-000X

Notes on contributor

Sara Perry is Director of Studies of Digital Heritage and Lecturer in Cultural Heritage Management at the University of York, UK. Her research centres on the development, circulation, and evaluation of analogue and digital media for archaeology and heritage sites. She directs a series of international heritage interpretation programmes at the University of York in England, at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, and at the UNESCO site of Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. She is also a primary investigator on the EU-funded EMOTIVE Project, which crafts digital experiences for visitors to cultural sites using ubiquitous dramatic tropes (mystery, romance, comedy, etc.).

Notes

1 BBC Written Archives Centre (hereafter BBC WAC), S322/109.

2 BBC WAC, Archaeology, Scripts Only, Cue Cards.

3 Dorset County Museum 1321, Correspondence Box 4.

4 BBC WAC, TVART1, Wheeler Personal File, 13 May 1937.

5 BBC WAC, TVART1, Wheeler Personal File, 8 September 1953.

6 Museum of London, DC4.

7 BBC WAC, TVART1, Eates Personal File, 27 June 1937.

8 BBC WAC, TVART1, Eates Personal File, 28 June 1937 invoice.

9 BBC WAC, TVART1, Eates Personal File, 28 June 1937.

10 BBC WAC, TVART1, Eates Personal File.

11 BBC WAC, TVART1, Eates Personal File.

12 BBC WAC, T32/243, Opening Announcement, 14 July 1937.

13 BBC WAC, TVART1, Eates Personal File.

14 BBC WAC, TVART1, Eates Personal File, 20 November 1937.

15 BBC WAC, TVART1, Eates Personal File, Invoice for Experiments in Science No. 6, 2 December 1937.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a generous Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2007–2010) and an Overseas Research Student Award from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (2007–2010).