Martin Millett
Martin John Millett, is a British archaeologist and academic. From 2001 to 2022, he was the Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and a professorial fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Since 2021, he has been the president of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Early life and education
Millett was born on 30 September 1955. He was educated at Weydon County Secondary School, a state school in Wrecclesham, Farnham, and Farnham College, a sixth form college in Farnham, Surrey. He went on to study at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. He then undertook postgraduate studies at Merton College, Oxford, completing his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1980. His doctoral thesis was titled A comparative study of some contemporaneous pottery assemblages from Roman Britain.Academic career
Millett was the assistant curator of archaeology at the Hampshire County Museums from 1980 to 1981. He then began his academic career, and joined Durham University in 1981. He was a lecturer from 1981 to 1991, and senior lecturer from 1991 to 1995. He was Professor of Archaeology between 1995 and 1998.Millett then moved to the University of Southampton where he was Professor of Archaeology from 1999 to 2001. In 2001, he joined the University of Cambridge as the Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology. The appointment was accompanied by a Fellowship of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. In 2012, he was appointed head of the School of Arts and Humanities at Cambridge.
Millett excavated a Roman-period site in Yorkshire. He is the director of the Roman Towns Project, and also the director of the Greek Colonization and Archaeology of European Development project. Millett has profoundly changed Romano-British archaeology by implementing and calling for new approaches to the excavated materials.
Outside his university work Millett holds a number of appointments. He is a vice-president of the British Academy with responsibility for the British Academy Sponsored Institutes and Societies. He has held three senior positions at the Society of Antiquaries of London: he was director from 2001 to 2007, treasurer from 2007 to 2011, and its president since 2021. He is a member of the Antiquity Trust, which supports the publication of the archaeology journal Antiquity.
Honours
On 3 May 1984, Millett was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In 2006, he was elected Fellow of the British Academy. In 2021, he was elected member of the Academia Europaea.Select bibliography
- 1980: The Roman Riverside Wall and Monumental Arch in London - Excavations at Baynard's Castle, Upper Thames Street, London, 1974-76...
- 1986: Excavations on the Romano-British Small Town at Neatham, Hampshire, 1969-1979...
- 1990: The Romanization of Britain: an essay in archaeological interpretation ..
- 1995: Roman Britain ..
- 1995 , 1985-1990
- 1995 Integration in the Early Roman West: the role of culture and ideology..
- 1999 Rural Settlement and Industry: studies in the Iron Age and Roman archaeology of lowland East Yorkshire..
- 2001 Burial Practice in the Roman World: contextual studies..
- 2001 Britons and Romans: advancing an archaeological agenda...
- Shiptonthorpe, East Yorkshire: archaeological studies of a Romano-British roadside settlement..
- 2005 Portus: An Archaeological Survey of the Port of Imperial Rome Right..
- 2013: Ocriculum - An Archaeological Survey of the Roman Town...
- 2014: AD 410: The History and Archaeology of Late and Post-Roman Britain...
- 2015: Hayton, East Yorkshire - Archaeological Studies of the Iron Age and Roman Landscapes. Volume 1..
- 2016: Cartimandua's capital? The late Iron Age royal site at Stanwick, North Yorkshire, fieldwork and analysis 1981–2011...
- 2020: Isurium Brigantum - An Archaeological Survey of Roman Aldborough...
- 2023: Interamna Lirenas - A Roman Town in Central Italy Revealed...