Ivor Noël Hume

Born in London in 1927 and later based in the United States, he became one of the most influential figures in historical archaeology. He worked for Colonial Williamsburg for decades, eventually leading its archaeological research program, and was widely described by colleagues as a founder—or even the "father"—of historical archaeology.

His work helped show how broken pottery, tools, glass, and other ordinary objects could reveal the lives of earlier communities. Alongside his fieldwork, he wrote more than twenty books, bringing archaeology to both specialists and general readers with energy, clarity, and a strong sense of narrative.

He died in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 2017. His legacy lives on in the way archaeologists study material culture and in the many readers he introduced to the pleasures of uncovering the past.