Institute of Archaeology
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The Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of University College London (UCL), England. The Institute is located in a separate building at the north end of Gordon Square, Bloomsbury.
It was founded in 1937 by Mortimer Wheeler, who was its first director. He was followed by Kathleen Kenyon, Vere Gordon Childe, W. F. Grimes, John Evans, David Harris and Peter Ucko. It was originally a separate institution within the University of London, but for financial reasons joined UCL in 1986. It is one of the largest departments of archaeology in the world, with over 80 members of academic staff and 500 students. Its academic strengths include general (world) archaeology and archaeological science, alongside museum, heritage and conservation studies. The Institute's current director is Stephen Shennan, who replaced Peter Ucko in September 2005.
[edit] Collections
The Institute's collections include prehistoric pottery and stone artefacts from many parts of the world, as well as collections of Roman pottery, coins and glass. Western Asiatic material includes the Petrie collection of Palestinian artefacts, collections from excavations at Jericho and a wide range of objects from ancient Mesopotamia. There are large reference collections for British and Near Eastern archaeobotany and zooarchaeology, as well as for world archaeometallurgy. There are also several historical archives of archaeological material including photographs, press cuttings, obituaries and oddments, and an extensive library.
The Institute is also responsible for the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology which is open to the public on a regular basis.
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