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Hodder Westropp: nineteenth-century archaeologist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Paul T. Nicholson
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Extract

Hodder Westropp wrote what is probably the first Handbook of Archaeology ever produced, added to Petrie's work on Irish Round Towers, and defined the term Mesolithic. Yet he is virtually unknown and is given only a brief mention in modern scholarship (Daniel, 1967, 260; Wilkins, 1959, 130–1). The purpose of this article is to provide a brief biography of this remarkable figure and to look in greater detail at some of the major events of his career.

I chose to look at the work of Hodder Westropp for my BA dissertation. This proved to be quite a challenge since the usual channels—the British Library Catalogue, Index to the Times Newspaper and Citation Indices—were soon exhausted.

Type
Articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 57 , Issue 221 , November 1983 , pp. 205 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1983

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Footnotes

Paul Nicholson is in his second year of research in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Sheffield. His work involves the thin section analysis of iron age pottery from the Hunsrück-Eifel area of Germany. He has always, however, had an interest in the history of archaeology, and intends to continue his work on Westropp when time permits. He keeps in touch with his descendants and relevant information is exchanged when it arises.

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