Martin Carver
British archaeologist
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Through England and Archaeology
Early life
Carver was born on 8 July 1941 to John Hobart Carver and Jocelyn Louisa Grace Carver (née Tweedie). He was the grandson of Oswald Carver. He was educated at Ladycross School, a Catholic preparatory school in Seaford, East Sussex, and then Wellington College, a private school in Crowthorne, Berkshire.
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Military service
Having graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Carver was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment, British Army, as a second lieutenant on 29 July 1961. He was promoted to lieutenant in January 1963, and to captain in July 1967. In 1969, he was serving as Adjutant of the 4th Royal Tank Regiment.
On 1 July 1972, Carver retired from the British Army in the rank of captain.
Academic career
Carver practised as a freelance archaeologist (1973–1986), setting up the Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit (BUFAU), later called Birmingham Archaeology at the University of Birmingham to carry out archaeological contract work. He chairs Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd (FAS), now FAS Heritage, that was created in 1992. FAS Heritage is currently based in York and carries out archaeological research and heritage work in England and Scotland. Carver was the first secretary of the Institute of Field Archaeology, now Institute for Archaeologists. He has developed a number of procedures for archaeological investigation and analytical methods for writing up excavations, and has championed evaluation and project design as key elements in "value-led" archaeology.
In 1986 Carver was appointed Professor of Archaeology at the University of York (Head of Department 1986–1996; Emeritus 2008–). At York he introduced courses on World Archaeology and Field Archaeology, conducted research investigations at Sutton Hoo and Portmahomack, and researched Early Medieval Britain (5-11th century), publishing a comprehensive synthesis of his findings in 2019 as Formative Britain. He has served on UK, British, Irish, Danish and European research councils.
Since becoming emeritus Carver has been researching in early medieval Sicily with Alessandra Molinari (University of Rome Tor Vergata) and Girolamo Fiorentino (University of Lecce).
Carver was editor of the world archaeology journal Antiquity from 2002 to 2012, personally editing some 800 articles.
Carver is a director of The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company, which aims to build a full-size and seaworthy replica of the Anglo-Saxon ship found in Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo.
Broadcasting
From 1986, Carver presented four episodes of the BBC 2 documentary series Chronicle (British TV programme), which looked at his work at Sutton Hoo and also explained technological developments in archaeology. In the episode first broadcast 16 August 1989, Carver went aboard Edda, a replica of the Viking Oseberg Ship, which promptly sank, and the incident became a favourite anecdote in his public lectures.
Honours
On 8 January 1981, Carver was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). On St Andrew's Day 2011, he was elected Honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (Hon FSA Scot). On 23 July 2020, he was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.