Catherine Hills Explained

Catherine Mary Hills
Employer:	University of Cambridge
Known For:	Early Medieval Archaeology

Catherine Mary Hills is a British archaeologist and academic, who is a leading expert in Anglo-Saxon material culture. She is a senior research fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.^[1]

Education

In the 1960s, Hill excavated with Philip Rahtz at Beckery chapel, Glastonbury.^[2]

Career

She was appointed as a lecturer in Cambridge in 1977 in the Department of Archaeology.^[3] Previous to that she was a Field Officer for Norfolk Archaeological Unit.^[4] Hills was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1978.^[5] She was a Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge.^[6]

Hills was closely associated with the excavation of the early Anglo-Saxon cremation cemetery at Spong Hill, North Elmham, Norfolk, where she directed excavations from 1974 until the completion of excavations in 1981.^[7] Hills' post-excavation analyses of this major site led to substantial contributions in the fields of early Anglo-Saxon archaeology, particularly regarding burial and migration,^[8] and more recently the chronology of the 5th century.

She presented the Channel 4 series The Blood of the British.^[9] She was Vice-President of the Society for Medieval Archaeology from 2017-2022.^[10]

Selected publications

• Hills, C. (1979). The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England in the pagan period: A review. Anglo-Saxon England, 8, 297-329.
• Hills C.M. (1986). The Blood of the British. London: George Philip
• Hills C.M. (2003). Origins of the English. London: Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd.
• Hills, C. (2007). History and archaeology: The state of play in early medieval Europe. Antiquity 81(311), 191-200.
• Hills, C. (2011) Overview: Anglo‐Saxon Identity. The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology. Oxford: OUP.
• Hills C. and Lucy S. (2013). Spong Hill Part IX. Chronology and Synthesis. Cambridge: McDonald Inst of Archaeological Research.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dr Catherine Mary Hills — Department of Archaeology. www.arch.cam.ac.uk. 2019-07-19.
2. News: Philip Rahtz obituary. Hills. Catherine. 2011-07-29. The Guardian. 2019-07-19. 0261-3077.
3. Hills. Catherine M.. June 2012. Women archaeologists in 20th-century Britain. Response to Rachel Pope. Archaeological Dialogues. 19. 1. 75–80. 10.1017/S1380203812000116. 162705685 . 1478-2294.
4. Book: Hills, Catherine. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Spong Hill, North Elmham. Part I: Catalogue of cremations, nos. 20-64 and 1000-1690. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 1977. Gressenhall.
5. Web site: Fellows Directory - Society of Antiquaries. www.sal.org.uk. 2019-07-19.
6. Web site: Dr Catherine Hills. Newnham College. 2019-07-19.
7. Book: Spong Hill IX: Chronology and Synthesis. Hills. Catherine. Lucy. Sam. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. 2013. Cambridge. 1.
8. Book: Hills, Catherine. The Origins of the English. Duckworth. 2003. London.
9. Book: Catterall, Peter . The Making of Channel 4. Pippa Catterall . 2013. Taylor and Francis. 9781135018870. Hoboken. 150. 854977136.
10. Web site: The Society for Medieval Archaeology List of Officers and Council. 2019-07-19.