Alex Pette Dec. 4, 2007
CC302K
Cyril Fox Sir Cyril Fred Fox, an acclaimed archaeologist and museum director of British nationality was born at Chippenham, Wiltshire, on December 16, 1882 (DNB). Most of his work into exploring antiquities was concentrated in the Cambridge region and Wales, which led to his thesis Archaeology of the Cambridge Region (1923), widely viewed by his fellow scholars as a landmark in archaeological thinking. Later works also included a comprehensive layout of archaeological sites in different regions of Britain. Upon entering Magdalene college in 1919, Fox became appalled at the ignorance and indifference to fundamentals of British Archaeology of the time, describing the atmosphere at historical sites to be “at its best that of amiable amateurism, at worst of destructive ignorance” ( Fox 32). It was not long until Fox was placed on an excavation of the Cambridge Dykes, on behalf of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, to determine whether or not they pre-dated Roman settlement. A contemporary of Fox also working at the same site, Mckenny Hughes, theorized that since no roman artifacts had been found at the bottom of the cross-section of the Dyke, then it’s origins were seemingly pre-roman. Not content with this “too-easily accepted” theory, Fox persisted in his studies until arriving at two conclusions: poor supervision had allowed early roman artifacts to be mistaken for soil and rock and tossed away, and the greater the distance between former Roman settlements and dykes then the lesser profusion of artifacts ( Mckenny having the ill fortune of examining the section farthest from settlement). With his new theory in hand, Fox’s printing of his thesis would place him “among the front rank of archaeological scholarship” ( Fox 40). For the first time in archaeological study the relationship between man and his environment “as expressed in his various activities by studying the distribution of his artifacts and settlement sites” became the forefront of research and analysis (Fox 40). This linking of environmental factors ( such as soil and vegetation patterns) to the distribution of archaeological remains helped to stimulate the fledgling field of British Archaeology, in addition to being implemented into archaeological study all around the world (Mignon 286). Before long Fox had applied the ideas he had touted in his analysis of the Cambridge dykes (such as environmental factors on settlement and the profusion of artifacts) to reveal that in the Sussex region Mesolithic sites were confined to sandy areas, Neolithic to chalky, and Bronze age spread over both. He produced these findings in the Personality of Briain (1932), which contained comprehensive studies of the effects of geology, soils, climate, flora, and fauna upon the inhabitants of the British Isles (JSTOR). Fox continued his weaving of geology and archaeology study in constructing geographical models in which he noted how Britain was connected to mainland Europe via a series of seaways that were used over many millennia. Another of his fundamental propositions was instituting a division of Britain into a Highland Zone and a Lowland Zone as a way of characterizing key differences in the nature of the archaeological evidence, but also in the kinds of society that might have existed in the regions in the past. This division is sometimes referred to as “Fox’s law” (DNB), and serves as a modern archaeological reference for examining artifacts located in Britain. Fox died at the Cranford Nursing Home, Cranford Avenue, Exmouth, Devon, on 15 January 1967 (DNB), as one of the leading archaeological thinkers of a fruitful generation. Although his excavations weren’t as extravagant and glamorized as those of Heinrich Schliemman or Howard Carter, Cyril Fox still made his name known in the archaeological world for both his new and innovative theories on human and environmental interaction, and the placement of artifacts that such interactions leave behind.