Dan Hicks (archaeologist)


Dan Hicks, is a British archaeologist and anthropologist. He is Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford, Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum, a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford, and a Trustee of Museum of London Archaeology. His research is focused on contemporary archaeology, material culture studies, historical archaeology, and the history of archaeology, anthropology, and museum collections.

Early life and education

Hicks was born in 1972 in Durham, England. He was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Birmingham, where he was taught by R. F. Langley. He studied archaeology and anthropology at St John's College, Oxford, gaining a first class honours Bachelor of Arts degree. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in archaeology and anthropology from the University of Bristol. His doctoral thesis was titled "'The garden of the world': a historical archaeology of Eastern Caribbean sugar plantations, AD 1600-2001", and was completed in 2003. He worked as a professional archaeologist in the local authority and private sector in the 1990s.

Academic career

He has conducted fieldwork in the UK, the eastern Caribbean, and the eastern United States, and has published on archaeological and ethnographic collections from around the world.
Hicks is Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford and Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum He is a full Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists. He was previously Lecturer in Archaeology and Anthropology at St John's College, Oxford, Lecturer in Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol, and Research Fellow in Archaeology and Anthropology at Boston University. He has appeared regularly on television and radio, including BBC Radio 4's In Our Time and Making History. In 2017-18 he was the Junior Proctor and an elected member of the Council of the University of Oxford. In 2017-18 he was Visiting Professor at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac. In 2019, Hicks co-curated the major exhibition Lande: The Calais ‘Jungle’ and Beyond at the Pitt Rivers Museum, with Majid Adin, Shaista Aziz, Caroline Gregory, Sarah Mallet, Nour Munawar, Sue Partridge, Noah Salibo and Wshear Wali.

Honours

On 24 January 2008, Hicks was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In 2017, Hicks was awarded the Rivers Memorial Medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Books