Neil Faulkner (archaeologist)

British archaeologist, historian, and political activist (c. 1957–2022) For other people named Neil Faulkner, see Neil Faulkner (disambiguation).

Neil FaulknerFSA

Born	(1958-01-22)22 January 1958
Died	4 February 2022(2022-02-04) (aged 64)
Nationality	British
Education	Skinners' School
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge University College London
Occupations	Historian Archaeologist Author Academic
Notable work	A Marxist History of the World A People's History of the Russian Revolution A Radical History of the World
Political party	Socialist Workers Party (1980–2010)
Children	3

Neil Faulkner FSA (22 January 1958 – 4 February 2022) was a British archaeologist, historian, writer, lecturer, broadcaster, and political activist.

Biography

Faulkner was born on 22 January 1958. He was educated at the Skinners' School in Tunbridge Wells, King's College, Cambridge and the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, Faulkner was a school teacher before becoming an archaeologist.

He was a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, co-founder and contributing editor of Archaeology Worldwide magazine, editor of Military History Matters, a contributing editor of Current Archaeology, and co-director of the Great Arab Revolt Project (in Jordan) and the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (in Norfolk, England). On 22 May 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).

Faulkner was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood lymphoma in mid-2021. He died from the cancer in February 2022, at the age of 64.

Research

Originally trained as a Romanist, Faulkner excavated an Anglo-Saxon site at Sedgeford in Norfolk from 1996 with the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP). In 2016, he completed a ten-year field project looking at the military campaigns of Lawrence of Arabia in southern Jordan (the Great Arab Revolt Project).

The author of many articles and numerous academic papers, his ten books include The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain, Apocalypse: The Great Jewish Revolt Against Rome, Rome: Empire of the Eagles, A Visitor's Guide to the Ancient Olympics, A Marxist History of the World: From Neanderthals to Neoliberals, and Digging Sedgeford: A People's Archaeology. His latest book is Lawrence of Arabia's War (Yale University Press).

Media appearances

Faulkner appeared frequently on television, both at home and abroad. His TV work includes Channel Four's Time Team, BBC2's Timewatch, and Sky Atlantic's The British. He appeared as both academic specialist and political commentator. He made several short history documentaries for Tariq Ali's regular Telesur series The World Today.

In 2019, Faulkner appeared on BBC Radio 4's programme In Our Time to discuss Lawrence of Arabia.

Politics

Faulkner was a Marxist and a revolutionary socialist activist. Having previously been a long-standing member of the Socialist Workers Party, from 1980 to 2010, and then a member of Counterfire, he left in order to set up Brick Lane Debates and the Left Book Club. In 2020 he was on the co-ordinating committee of Anti-Capitalist Resistance.

Publications

Scholia has an author profile for Neil Faulkner (archaeologist).

The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain. Tempus. (2000). ISBN 978-0752419442
Apocalypse: The Great Jewish Revolt Against Rome (2002) Tempus, first edition; (2012) Amberley Publishing, second edition
Rome: Empire of the Eagles, 753 BC – AD 476 (2009), Routledge
A Visitor's Guide to the Ancient Olympics, Yale University Press, (1 May 2012)
A Marxist History of the World: From Neanderthals to Neoliberals Pluto Press. (5 April 2013).
Digging Sedgeford: A People's Archaeology. Poppyland Publishing. (2014). ISBN 978-1909796089
Lawrence of Arabia's War: The Arabs, the British and the Remaking of the Middle East in WWI. Yale University Press. (2016). ISBN 978-0300196832
Creeping Fascism: Brexit, Trump, and the Rise of the Far Right. Public Reading Rooms. (2017). 235 pages. ISBN 978-0995535237
A People's History of the Russian Revolution. Pluto Press. (15 April 2017). ISBN 978-0745399034
A Radical History of the World. Pluto Press. (15 October 2018). 512 pages. ISBN 978-0745338040
Abandoned Places of World War I, Amber Books (2021),
Empire and Jihad: The Anglo-Arab Wars of 1870-1920. Yale University Press. (2021)

References

"GARP team biographies – Dr. Neil Faulkner". jordan1914–18archaeology.org. Great Arab Revolt Project.
"GARP team biographies – Dr. Neil Faulkner". jordan1914–18archaeology.org. Great Arab Revolt Project.
"Neil Faulkner, archaeologist, historian and 'revolutionary socialist' activist – obituary". The Telegraph. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
url=https://www.archaeologyworldwide.com Archived 27 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
"Home". military-history.org.
"Current Archaeology | Current Publishing". www.currentpublishing.com. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
"Dr Neil M Faulkner FSA". Fellows Directory. Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
"Neil Faulkner". Anti-Capitalist Resistance. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
"Neil Faulkner obituary". Archaeology Worldwide. 4 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
"SHARP - Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project". www.sharp.org.uk. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
"GARP home page". www.jordan1914-18archaeology.org. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
"Lawrence of Arabia". BBC.co.uk. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
Faulkner, Neil (2017). A People's History of the Russian Revolution. Pluto Press. p. Acknowledgements – IX. ISBN 978-0745399034.
"Brick Lane Debates". www.bricklanedebates.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
"The Left Book Club". www.leftbookclub.com. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
"Anti*Capitalist Resistance". Mutiny. 31 July 2020. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2020.

External links

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