Margaret Ursula Jones
| Margaret Ursula Jones | |
|---|---|
Jones recording pottery at Mucking
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| Born | Margaret Ursula Owen 16 May 1916 Birkenhead, England |
| Died | 23 March 2001 (aged 84) |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | Mucking |
| Spouse | Tom Jones |
Margaret Ursula Jones (née Owen, 16 May 1916 – 23 March 2001) was a British archaeologist, best known for directing major excavations at Mucking, Essex.
Born in Birkenhead, Jones first became involved in archaeology while studying at the University of Liverpool, where she volunteered on W. J. Varley's excavations. After graduating she worked as a wartime postal censor and freelance photojournalist, whilst continuing to volunteer on archaeological excavations around Britain. In 1956, Jones began working for the Ministry of Works as a freelance archaeologist in the burgeoning field of rescue archaeology. She worked at a number of sites, but is best known for her excavations at Mucking, a major Anglo-Saxon settlement and associated cemetery, with finds ranging from the Stone Age to the Medieval period. The Mucking excavation, which Jones directed from 1965 to 1978, became Britain's largest ever archaeological excavation. It produced an unprecedented volume of material, although some academic archaeologists have criticised the fact that the results did not appear in print until decades after the excavation had ended. Jones' work at Mucking, as well as her role in founding the campaign group Rescue, was influential in the establishment of modern commercial archaeology in Britain.
Margaret Ursula Owen was born on 16 May 1916 to middle class parents in Birkenhead. She attended Calder High School for Girls in Liverpool before going on to read Geography at the University of Liverpool.
At Liverpool, Jones was taught by archaeologist W. J. Varley and volunteered on his excavations of hillforts in Cheshire in the late 1930s. On these excavations she met Tom Jones, another of Varley's assistant excavators (Tom Jones was a member of the university rowing club, which Varley coached), whom she married in June 1940.
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