Geraint Dyfed Barri Jones (4 April 1936 – 16 July 1999) was a classical scholar and archaeologist. Born in St Helens to Welsh-speaking parents, he attended High Wycombe Royal Grammar School (where his father was the senior modern languages master and his mother also taught) from 1947–54, and won a Welsh Foundation Scholarship to read classics at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship S ...

Fieldwork and excavations

Jones achieved a great deal as a young man, identifying new archaeological sites while a teenager. He was elected to the Rome Scholarship for Classical Studies in 1959. From 1959 to 1962, Jones took part in the South Etruria Survey directed by

John Bryan Ward-Perkins John Bryan Ward-Perkins, (3 February 1912 – 28 May 1981) was a British Classical architectural historian and archaeologist, and director of the British School at Rome. Family and early life John Bryan Ward-Perkins was born on 3 February 19 ...

of the British School at Rome. After receiving his D.Phil. from Oxford, Jones continued to work in Italy, analyzing aerial photographs of Apulia, leading to important discoveries at Foggia. In 1964, he took an appointment at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

. While there, he conducted numerous field surveys and excavations of Roman sites in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, Cheshire,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

and

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. He also worked at

Dolaucothi The Dolaucothi Gold Mines (; cy, Mwynfeydd Aur Dolaucothi) (), also known as the Ogofau Gold Mine, are ancient Roman surface and underground mines located in the valley of the River Cothi, near Pumsaint, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The gold mi ...

, a Roman

gold mine Gold Mine may refer to: * Gold Mine (board game) *Gold Mine (Long Beach), an arena *"Gold Mine", a song by Joyner Lucas from the 2020 album ''ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characteri ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

, South Wales, his research there with Dr Peter R Lewis transforming knowledge about this unique site. He excavated the fort nearby, as well as at

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

Libya

Jones worked in North Africa for the

Society for Libyan Studies A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

, discovering the city of Hadrianopolis by tracing its aqueduct. He was very much involved in rescue archaeology throughout his career. Jones was attracted to frontier areas, an interest reflected in his work. Among his students were John Lloyd, John Little, Nicholas Higham and David Mattingly.

Publications

*Jones G.D.B., Blakey,I, J. and MacPherson, E.C.F. 1960. ''Dolaucothi: the Roman aqueduct'', Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 19: 71-84 and plates III-V. *Jones, G.D.B and Higham, N. 1985. ''The Carvetii''. Sutton *Jones, G.D.B. and Mattingly, D.J. 1990. ''An Atlas of Roman Britain''. Oxford: Oxbow *Jones, G.D.B. and Wooliscroft, D. 2001. ''Hadrian's Wall from the Air'' History Press. *Lewis, P.R. and G.D.B. Jones. 1969. ''The Dolaucothi gold mines, I: the surface evidence'', The Antiquaries Journal, 49: 244–72. *Lewis, P.R. and G.D.B. Jones. 1970. ''Roman gold-mining in north-west Spain'', Journal of Roman Studies 60: 169–85.

External links

Obituary
by Anthony Birley Friday July 23, 1999 in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''
Obituary
by David Mattingly in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''
Obituary
at the Society of Antiquaries {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Barri English classical scholars English archaeologists 1936 births 1999 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe People from St Helens, Merseyside Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London