John Garstang

Born in 1876, John Garstang became known as a British archaeologist whose work took him across Egypt, Sudan, and the eastern Mediterranean. He excavated at important sites including Meroë in Sudan and Jericho in Palestine, and he also wrote books that introduced ancient history to general readers.

Garstang had close ties to the University of Liverpool, where he played a major role in developing archaeology as an academic field. He is also remembered through the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, whose collections reflect the era of excavations he helped shape.

His career belongs to the early generations of professional archaeology, when fieldwork, museum collecting, and public education were often closely linked. He died in 1956, leaving behind a legacy connected both to excavation in the Middle East and to the growth of archaeology in British universities.