Martin Biddle, (born 4 June 1937) is a British archaeologist and academic. He is an emeritus fellow of

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

. His work was important in the development of medieval and post-medieval archaeology in Great Britain.

Early life

Biddle was born on 4 June 1937. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, a

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boys school in Hertfordshire. He went on to study at Pembroke College, Cambridge, graduating Bachelor of Arts (BA). This was later upgraded to

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(MA).

Academic career

Biddle was a lecturer in medieval archaeology at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

from 1963 to 1967. From 1977 to 1981, he was Professor of Anthropology and of History of Art at

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, and director of its Penn Museum. He was a member of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England from 1984 to 1995. He was Astor Senior Research Fellow in medieval archaeology at

between 1989 and 2002, and also Professor of Medieval Archaeology at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

from 1997 to 2002. Biddle and his wife Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle examined Jerusalem's

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchat ...

to explore the long-rumoured site of the tomb where Jesus was brought after his crucifixion. This meticulous study set out to define what is known about the tomb and the Aedicule, the little shrine that has covered the tomb since the early fourth century. Proceeding backward from the present, they examined the site in detail, its appearances, and its destructions and rebuilding through the centuries, a survey that was constructed without restrictions, using traditional methods of architectural archaeology and the most recent techniques of

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Excavations

* Seacourt DMV 1958–1959. * Nonsuch Palace 1959–1960 *

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

1961–1971 * Repton *

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Honours

Biddle was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours 'for services to the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England'. He was promoted to

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

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for services to archaeology. On 1 January 1964, Biddle was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). In 1985, he was elected

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

(FBA). He served as president of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society from 2011 to 2014.

Sackler Lecture

In 2012, Raymond Sackler and his wife Beverly endowed a series of lectures in honour of Norman Hammond. These lectures are co-hosted by Peterhouse, Cambridge, and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. The third Sackler lecture in honour of Norman Hammond was given on 27 February 2017 at Peterhouse by Biddle on "Capital Considerations: Winchester and the Birth of Urban Archaeology".

Select works

* * *

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

External links

Biography on Winchester Excavations Committee website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biddle, Martin British archaeologists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 1937 births Living people Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London University of Pennsylvania faculty Academics of the University of Exeter People of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England Medieval archaeologists