Waechter, John d'Arcy, 1915 - 1978
Dates
- Existence: 1915 - 1978
Biography
John d’Arcy Waechter was a well-known specialist in palaeolithic archaeology, and worked in many countries in the Near East and Africa, as well as in Britain. He conducted an important excavation at Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar, from 1949 to 1954. His early experience was gained working with Flinders Petrie and Garstang in the Near East, and with Wheeler at Maiden Castle during the 1930s.
After service with the Royal Air Force during the war he studied under Dr (later Professor) Dorothy Garrod at Cambridge, gaining his Ph.D. there in 1949. In 1953 he joined the staff of the London University Institute of Archaeology, where he was a Senior Lecturer at the time of his death in 1978.
He was involved in many expeditions and held various Visiting Professorships in both the New and Old Worlds. The Royal Anthropological Institute recognised his work at Swanscombe by the award of the Rivers Medal in 1972, and he also received the Henry Stopes Memorial Medal of the Geologists’ Association in 1976.
[Source: RAI News. 1978. 'Obituary'. RAIN, No. 26, p. 10. Available online: http://www.therai.org.uk/archives-and-manuscripts/obituaries/john-waechter]