Editing Mortimer Wheeler (section)

==Reception and legacy==

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote="He was a true innovator in archaeology, an inspired teacher, [and] had the dramatic gifts to enable him to spread his own enthusiasm among multitudes. He developed powers of command and creative administration that brought him extraordinary successes in energising feeble institutions and creating new ones."|salign = right|source=— Jacquetta Hawkes, 1982.{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=4}}}}

Wheeler has been termed "the most famous British archaeologist of the twentieth century" by archaeologists Gabriel Moshenska and [[Tim Schadla-Hall]].{{sfn|Moshenska|Schadla-Hall|2011|p=46}} Highlighting his key role in encouraging interest in archaeology throughout British society, they stated that his "mastery of public archaeology was founded on his keen eye for value and a showman's willingness to package
and sell the past".{{sfn|Moshenska|Schadla-Hall|2011|p=47}} This was an issue about which Wheeler felt very strongly; writing his obituary for the ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society'', the English archaeologist Stuart Piggott noted that Wheeler placed "great importance to the archaeologist's obligation to the public, on whose support the prosecution of his subject ultimately depended."{{sfn|Piggott|1977|p=640}}

Piggott believed that Wheeler's greatest impact was as "the great innovator in field techniques", comparing him in this respect to Pitt-Rivers.{{sfn|Piggott|1977|p=641}} Piggott stated that the "importance of Wheeler's contribution to archaeological technique, enormous and far-reaching, lies in the fact that in the early 1920s he not only appreciated and understood what Pitt-Rivers had done, but saw that his work could be used as a basis for adaptation, development and improvement."{{sfn|Piggott|1977|p=626}} L. C. Carr stated that it was for his methodological developments, oft termed "the Wheeler Method", that Wheeler was best known; in this she contrasted him with those archaeologists who were best known for their associations with a specific archaeological site, such as Arthur Evans and [[Knossos]] or Leonard Woolley and [[Ur]].{{sfn|Carr|2012|p=245}}

Wheeler was well known for his publications on archaeological matters; Carr stated that both Wheeler and his first wife emphasised "technical rigour and a full presentation of materials unearthed, as well as a literary discussion of their meaning calculated to appeal to a larger audience."{{sfn|Carr|2012|p=235}} Focusing on Wheeler's publications regarding South Asian archaeology, Sudeshna Guha noted that he "produced an assemblage of image-objects that embodied the precision he demanded from excavation photography."{{sfn|Guha|2003b|pp=47–48}}
Mallowan noted that "Immediate and swift presentation of results was more important to him than profound scholarship, although his critical sense made him conscious that it was necessary to maintain high standards and he would approve of nothing that was slipshod."{{sfn|Mallowan|1977|p=vi}} [[Jacquetta Hawkes]] commented that he made errors in his interpretation of the archaeological evidence because he was "sometimes too sure of being right, too ready to accept his own authority".{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=99}} She asserted that while Wheeler was not an original thinker, he had "a vision of human history that enabled him to see each discovery of its traces, however small, in its widest significance."{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=4}}

{{Quote box|width=246px|align=left|quote="Despite his very short stay as Director General, [Wheeler] infused an element of urgency into the Indian archaeological scene. With him archaeology in India became exciting, worth doing for its own sake. This excitement is apparent in the articles that he wrote, and still affects those who know the scene." |salign=left |source=— [[Dilip K. Chakrabarti]], 1982{{sfn|Chakrabarti|1982|p=337}} }}

Piggott claimed that Wheeler's appointment as Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India represented "the most remarkable archaeological achievement of his career, an enormous challenge accepted and surmounted in the autocratic and authoritarian terms within which he could best deploy his powers as administrator and excavator. No other archaeologist of the time, it seems fair to remark, could have come near to attaining his command of incisive strategy and often ruthless tactics which won him the bewildered admiration and touching devotion of his Indian staff."{{sfn|Piggott|1977|p=638}} The Indian archaeologist Dilip K. Chakrabarti later stated that Wheeler's accomplishments while in India were "considerable", particularly given the socio-political turmoil of independence and partition.{{sfn|Chakrabarti|1982|p=337}} Chakrabarti stated that Wheeler had contributed to South Asian archaeology in various ways: by establishing a "total view" of the region's development from the [[Palaeolithic]] onward, by introducing new archaeological techniques and methodologies to the subcontinent, and by encouraging Indian universities to begin archaeological research. Ultimately, Chakrabarti was of the opinion that Wheeler had "prepared the archaeology of the subcontinent for its transition to modernity in the post-Partition period."{{sfn|Chakrabarti|1982|p=337}} Similarly, Peter Johansen praised Wheeler for systematising and professionalising Indian archaeology and for "instituting a clearly defined body of techniques and methods for field and laboratory work and training."{{sfn|Johansen|2003|p=197}}

On Wheeler's death, H.&nbsp;D. Sankalia of [[Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute|Deccan College]], [[Pune]], described him as "well known among Old World archaeologists in the United States", particularly for his book ''Archaeology from the Earth'' and his studies of the Indus Valley Civilisation.{{sfn|Sankalia|1977|p=894}} In its 2013 obituary of the English archaeologist [[Mick Aston]], ''British Archaeology'' magazine – the publication of the [[Council for British Archaeology]] – described Aston as "the Mortimer Wheeler of our times" because despite the strong differences between their personalities, both had done much to bring archaeology to the British public.{{sfn|''British Archaeology''|2013|p=16}} However, writing in 2011, Moshenska and Schadla-Hall asserted that Wheeler's reputation has not undergone significant revision among archaeologists, but that instead he had come to be remembered as "a cartoonish and slightly eccentric figure" whom they termed "Naughty Morty".{{sfn|Moshenska|Schadla-Hall|2011|p=46}}
Carr described the Institute of Archaeology as "one of the [Wheeler] couple's most permanent memorials."{{sfn|Carr|2012|p=146}}

===Mortimer Wheeler Archaeological Lectures===
On the proposal of Council of the British Academy, a lecture series was established to commemorate Sir Mortimer Wheeler's 80th birthday. The lectures were given annually from 1971 to 1991 and then discontinued as a series of single lectures. In 1992 and again in 2001, Wheeler Lectures were keynote presentations in British Academy archaeological conferences.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mortimer Wheeler Archaeological Lectures|website=The British Academy|url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/lectures/listings/mortimer-wheeler-archaeological-lectures/}}</ref>

===Biographies and studies===

[[File:SIR MORTIMER WHEELER 1890-1976 Archæologist lived here.jpg|thumb|A [[blue plaque]] marks Wheeler's former residence in the [[City of Westminster]], London]]

In 1960, Ronald William Clark published a biography titled ''Sir Mortimer Wheeler''.{{sfn|Clark|1960}} [[FitzRoy Somerset, 4th Baron Raglan]], reviewed the volume for the journal ''[[Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute|Man]]'', describing "this very readable little book" as being "adulatory" in tone, "but hardly more so than its subject deserves."{{sfn|Raglan|1961|p=60}} In 1982, the archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes published a second biography, ''Mortimer Wheeler: Adventurer in Archaeology''. Hawkes admitted she had developed "a very great liking" for Wheeler, having first met him when she was an archaeology student at the [[University of Cambridge]].{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=1}} She believed that he had "a daemonic energy", with his accomplishments in India being "almost superhuman".{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=3}} Ultimately, she thought of him as being "an epic hero in an anti-heroic age" in which growing social [[egalitarianism]] had stifled and condemned aspects of his greatness.{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=2}}

In the 2000 film ''[[Hey Ram]]'', the lead character, Saket Ram (played by [[Kamal Haasan]]) and his friend, Amjad Khan (played by [[Shah Rukh Khan]]) are shown as employees of Wheeler, who was portrayed by Lewis K. Elbinger, before the [[Religious violence in India#Partition of British India (1947)|1947 Hindu–Muslim riots]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Bollywood Hungama|2a1=Vasudevan|2y=2011|2p=259}} In a 2003 volume of the ''South Asian Studies'' journal, Sudeshna Gusha published a research article examining Wheeler's use of photography in his excavations and publications in the Indian subcontinent.{{sfn|Guha|2003b}}
In 2011, the academic journal ''[[Public Archaeology (journal)|Public Archaeology]]'' published a research paper by Moshenska and Schadla-Hall that analysed Wheeler's role in presenting archaeology to the British public.{{sfn|Moshenska|Schadla-Hall|2011}} Two years later, the ''[[Papers from the Institute of Archaeology]]'' issued a short [[comic strip]] by Moshenska and Alex Salamunovich depicting Wheeler's activities in studying the archaeology of Libya during World War II.{{sfn|Moshenska|Salamunovich|2013}}