Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers (1827–1900) was an officer in the British Army, an anthropologist, and a pioneer in the field of archaeology.[1]
Born on 14 April 1827 as Augustus Henry Lane Fox, he was the son of William Augustus Lane Fox, an army officer, and Lady Caroline. Fox followed his father into the army and attended Sandhurst Military Academy. In 1845 he was given a commission with the Grenadier Guards. Fox married Alice Margaret in 1853 when he was 25 years old. The couple went on to have nine children: six boys and three girls.[1]
Pitt-Rivers was one of the best excavators of the 19th century and was a strong advocate of recording as much information during excavations as possible. He explained the reason for this as follows:
| ‘ | Excavators, as a rule, record only those things which appear to them important at the time, but fresh problems in Archaeology and Anthropology are constantly arising, and it can hardly fail to escape the notice of anthropologists ... that on turning back to old accounts in search of evidence, the points which would have been most valuable have been passed over from being thought uninteresting at the time. Every detail should, therefore, be recorded in the manner most conducive to facility of reference[2] | ’ |
Pitt-Rivers died in 1900 and was survived by his wife who died in 1910.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mark Bowden, ‘Rivers, Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt- (1827–1900)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 12 Feb 2013
- ↑ Quoted in Barker, Philip (1993). Techniques of Archaeological Excavation, third edition. London: Routledge. p. 36. ISBN 0-415-15152-X.