Margaret Ursula Jones facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margaret Ursula Jones
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Jones recording pottery at Mucking
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| Born |
Margaret Ursula Owen
16 May 1916 |
| Died | 23 March 2001 (aged 84) |
| Spouse(s) | Tom Jones |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields |
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| Institutions | Mucking |
Margaret Ursula Jones (born Owen, 16 May 1916 – 23 March 2001) was an English archaeologist. She is most famous for leading huge excavations at a place called Mucking in Essex, England.
Margaret first got involved in archaeology while studying at the University of Liverpool. She helped out on digs led by her teacher, W. J. Varley. After university, she worked as a postal censor during World War II and later as a freelance photojournalist. But she always kept volunteering on archaeological digs across Britain.
In 1956, Margaret started working as a freelance archaeologist for the government's Ministry of Works. This was during a time when many old sites were being destroyed by new buildings. Her job was to quickly dig up and record these sites before they were gone forever. This type of work is called rescue archaeology. She worked at many places, but her most important work was at Mucking. This site was a major Anglo-Saxon settlement and burial ground. It also had finds from the Stone Age all the way to the Medieval period.
The Mucking excavation, which Margaret directed from 1965 to 1978, became the biggest archaeological dig ever in Britain. It uncovered a huge amount of ancient objects. Margaret's work at Mucking, and her help in starting the group "Rescue," were very important. They helped create the way modern archaeology is done in Britain today.
Contents
Early Life and Discovering Archaeology (1916–1956)
Margaret Ursula Owen was born on 16 May 1916 in Birkenhead. She went to school in Liverpool and then studied Geography at the University of Liverpool.
At university, Margaret learned from an archaeologist named W. J. Varley. She volunteered on his digs in the late 1930s. They excavated hillforts in Cheshire. A hillfort is an ancient fort built on a hill. During these digs, she met Tom Jones, who was also helping Varley. Margaret and Tom got married in June 1940.
During the Second World War, Margaret worked as a postal censor. This meant she checked mail. After the war, she and Tom moved to Hereford. They worked as freelance photojournalists. Margaret wrote articles to go with the photos Tom took.
Becoming a Freelance Archaeologist (1956–1965)
Even while working as photojournalists, Margaret and Tom kept volunteering on archaeological digs. In 1956, Margaret started working as a freelance archaeologist for the Ministry of Works. This government department was in charge of looking after old monuments. They also needed to save archaeological sites that were about to be destroyed by new construction. This was a time of lots of building after the war.
A small group of archaeologists, including Margaret, were hired to dig up these sites quickly. They had to do this before new buildings or roads were built. Between 1956 and 1965, Margaret Jones led many of these "rescue digs." She worked in places like Buckinghamshire, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire.
The Amazing Mucking Dig (1965–1978)
In 1965, the Ministry of Works asked Margaret to dig at a gravel pit near the village of Mucking. This site was found using aerial photographs taken from planes. Later, a small survey on the ground confirmed there were ancient remains. Because the site was going to be destroyed by gravel digging, the Ministry asked Margaret to start an exploratory dig.
Margaret quickly realized that the marks on the ground at Mucking showed a huge site. It had remains from the Iron Age, Roman times, the Anglo-Saxon period, and the early Medieval period. Because of this, the Ministry gave her a longer contract. They started a full excavation of the site.
The Mucking excavation became the largest archaeological dig ever done in Britain. Margaret, helped by her husband Tom, worked continuously for 13 years. They had to keep ahead of the gravel company that owned the land. They even dug all year round! They lived in a small caravan. They had a changing team of freelance archaeologists and volunteers from all over the world.
When the dig finished in 1978, it covered 44 acres. They had recorded 44,000 archaeological features. These included:
- Beaker burials (from the Stone Age)
- A Bronze Age hillfort
- An Iron Age settlement and cemetery
- A Roman villa and cemetery
- One of the most important Anglo-Saxon settlements in Britain
- Two large Anglo-Saxon cemeteries
- A Medieval field system
About 5,000 archaeologists and volunteers worked on the site. They found 1.7 million objects!
Mucking was very famous among archaeologists in the 1960s and 1970s. Many young archaeologists worked there. The living conditions were known to be tough. One archaeologist, Mike Pitts, said:
The conditions were tough: accommodation ranged from your own tent to leaking huts; food was the cheapest line from the cash and carry, creatively supplemented with wild gleanings (I once asked the cook what was for supper, to learn she had spent her afternoon removing, as instructed, mouse-droppings from a sack of rice); and entertainment consisted of a night-time drive round one of the uncannily-automated oil-refining stations along the coast.
—Mike Pitts
Margaret herself was known as a strong and sometimes scary leader. People called her "indomitable, formidable, disinclined to suffer fools but very kind to those she considered worth helping, dedicated and inventive." She was known for sending short notes signed simply, "–muj."
Later Years and Lasting Impact (1978–2001)
After finishing the Mucking digs in 1978, Margaret and Tom retired from digging. They went back to their home in Hereford. Margaret became a supporter of the Thurrock Local History Society. Many volunteers for the Mucking dig had come from this group. She also joined many other archaeology committees in Essex. In these roles, she often gave talks and guided tours to schoolchildren.
Margaret Jones passed away on 23 March 2001. In her later years, she had Parkinson's disease. Her husband Tom had passed away before her in 1993.
Margaret's career happened as archaeology was becoming more professional. She played a big part in this change. While working for the Ministry of Works, she saw many ancient sites being destroyed. She was sad that there wasn't enough money to properly record them. She ran Mucking, the biggest dig in the country, on a very small budget. She relied a lot on volunteers.
In 1973, she helped start a group called Rescue. This group asked the government for more money for "rescue archaeology." This effort worked! More and more, professional archaeologists, not just volunteers, were hired to dig up sites before development. This led to the modern way commercial archaeology is done in Britain. Margaret showed how to do "dogged salvage excavation on a grand scale" at Mucking. This means she showed how to save a lot of history, even when it was being destroyed quickly.
Some academic archaeologists did criticize Margaret's work at Mucking. They said it was an example of "excavation without publication." This means they dug up a lot, but the results weren't published for a long time. They argued that digging up a site without sharing the findings was like destroying it without a good reason. Margaret argued that she didn't have the time or money to publish while the site was still being destroyed by gravel extraction.
Even with her tough reputation, archaeologist Monica Barnes saw Margaret as a role model:
Many people were intimidated by Mucking's excavator, Mrs. Margaret U. Jones, B.A., as she signed herself, but I saw her as a role model, a strong, dedicated, no-nonsense woman of great professional skill, with a very complex and important project. I felt that earning Margaret's trust was a real honor. It was only years later, when I read some of the Mucking publications, that I learned that she had never managed anything of that scope before, and was, by her own admission, figuring things out as she went along. She did a splendid job.
Images for kids
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Margaret Ursula Jones at Mucking
