Cunliffe, Barry (Barrington Windsor) (1939– )

English archaeologist. After his spectacular findings at the Roman palace of Fishbourne, near Chichester, 1961–67, he was appointed professor of European archaeology at Oxford University in 1972, and subsequently worked on a number of eminent sites, including Roman Bath and the long-term excavation of Danebury, a Celtic hill fort near Stockbridge.

Other major works include the Roman fort at Portchester near Portsmouth, and the late prehistoric trading settlement at Hengistbury Head near Christchurch. Among his general books are Iron Age Communities in Britain (1974), The Celtic World (1979), Greeks, Romans and Barbarians (1988), Wessex Before AD 1000 (1991), and Iron Age Britain (1995).

Cunliffe was born in Portsmouth. An active fieldworker even as a schoolboy, he was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and taught at Bristol and Southampton. Much influenced by the English archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, his methods show similar commitment to disciplined excavation and writing, and a flair for communication.