Mike Pitts

Mike Pitts FSA is an archaeologist and writer who has worked as a museum curator and freelance editor and broadcaster (and restaurateur), fitting in occasional original research in archaeology and arts.

He studied archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in London, now part of UCL. He was curator of the museum in Avebury for five years, when he directed his first excavation at Stonehenge, later returning to dig there again and also in the Avebury World Heritage Site. He recently led a revelatory new study of Hoa Hakananai’a, the large Easter Island statue in the British Museum.

His books include How to Build Stonehenge, Digging up Britain, Digging for Richard III: The Lost King, and Fairweather Eden. He has written features for most UK newspapers and for magazines such as New Scientist, BBC History, Wanderlust and the American Archaeology, and research articles for peer-reviewed journals such as Nature, Antiquity, World Archaeology and Journal of Archaeological Science. He edited Salon, the Society of Antiquaries of London’s fortnightly online newsletter, until 2020, and he continues to edit British Archaeology magazine after nearly 20 years. His TV appearances include Murder at Stonehenge for Channel 4 and Stonehenge Live! for Channel 5, and he is a frequent contributor to Nightwaves and Front Row on BBC radio.

He is a recipient jointly with Maev Kennedy of the British Archaeology Press Award, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and a director of Antiquity Publications Ltd. He is an exhibited photographer, and passionate about arts in general. He blogs at https://mikepitts.wordpress.com