Anthony Harding   Affiliated member 16. 2. 2017 – 15. 2. 2022

Anthony Harding is a prehistorian who has worked in many countries of Europe and on a wide range of European archaeological problems.  Now Emeritus, he works on a range of aspects of European prehistoric archaeology.

Career: Anthony Harding graduated from Cambridge University in Classics, and then Archaeology and Anthropology.  In 1970 during his PhD research he spent 9 months working with Professor Jan Bouzek in the Ústav pro klasickou archeologii in Prague.  After receiving his doctorate, he began his career as a Research Assistant in the British Museum, but was soon appointed to teach archaeology at Durham University.  In his 30 years at Durham he undertook a number of field projects and wrote several books, which led to his being appointed Professor in 1990.  In 2004 he moved to Exeter University to be Anniversary Professor.  He retired from Exeter in 2015 and spent the Academic Year 2015-16 as Guest Professor in Munich in the Münchner Zentrum für Antike Welten.

Research: Harding is a prehistoric archaeologist who has specialised in the Bronze Age archaeology of Europe, with other interests in Neolithic and Iron Age archaeology, the archaeology of warfare, and salt archaeology.  As well as his many publications (please see CV), he has conducted field research in the Czech Republic (Velim), Poland (Sobiejuchy), Romania (Băile Figa and Corneşti) and Britain (several sites), and museum work in many countries, notably the former Yugoslavia.  He has produced a number of influential books and many papers on aspects of Bronze Age archaeology, as well as a monograph on Bronze Age warfare, and publications of his various fieldwork projects – most recently on the salt archaeology of the Carpathian area (2013).

Professional experience: Harding has served on a range of professional bodies nationally and internationally.  From 2003 to 2009 he was President of the European Association of Archaeologists.  He has been a member of international committees in Germany and the Czech Republic, and has served to examine doctoral and habilitation dissertations in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as many national committees in the UK.  Until recently he was Chairman of Trustees of the journal Antiquity.  He continues to serve on editorial advisory boards of journals in Romania, Spain and Italy, and is editor-in-chief for De Gruyter Open Archaeology.  Over the last 12 months alone, he has been invited to give guest lectures in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy.

Harding is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Society of Antiquaries of London.