Editing Augustus Pitt Rivers (section)

==Archaeological career==
Pitt Rivers' interests in archaeology and ethnology began in the 1850s, during postings overseas, and he became a noted scientist while he was a serving military officer. His interest began with the evolution of the rifle, which extended to other weapons and tools, and he became a collector of artefacts illustrating the development of human invention. His collection became famous, and, after being exhibited in 1874–1875 at the [[Bethnal Green Museum]], London, was presented in 1885 to the University of Oxford.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Pitt-Rivers, Augustus Henry Lane-Fox|volume=21|page=678}}</ref> He was elected, in the space of five years, to the [[Ethnological Society of London]] (1861), the [[Society of Antiquaries of London]] (1864) and the [[Anthropological Society of London]] (1865).

In 1867, Pitt Rivers left full-time military service and went on [[half pay]].<ref name=petch>{{cite web|url=https://england.prm.ox.ac.uk/englishness-Pitt-Rivers-and-Yorkshire.html|title=Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers and Yorkshire|first=Alison|last=Petch|website=England: The Other Within|publisher=Oxford University|date=March 2009|access-date=6 February 2023}}</ref> The same year, he visited an archaeological excavation being carried out in the [[Yorkshire Wolds]] by Canon [[William Greenwell]], librarian of [[Durham Cathedral]] and an established archaeologist, to whom he may have been introduced by mutual friends [[George Rolleston]] or [[Albert Way]]. Pitt Rivers received his first instruction in excavation from Greenwell, and later described himself as Greenwell's pupil.<ref name=petch /><ref name=petch2>{{cite web|url=http://england.prm.ox.ac.uk/englishness-Pitt-Rivers-Yorkshire-excavations.html|first=Alison|last=Petch|title=Pitt Rivers' excavations in Yorkshire|date=March 2009|website=England: The Other Within|publisher=Oxford University|access-date=6 February 2023}}</ref> Greenwell viewed archaeology as a serious scholarly process of assembling evidence on periods which lacked written records, contrasted to the "ignorant and greedy spirit of mere curiosity-hunting"; views that would influence Pitt Rivers' own approach.<ref name=onbgreenwell>{{cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/33542|chapter=Greenwell, William|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|first=Arthur|last=Burns|chapter-url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33542|date=23 September 2004}}</ref><ref name=petch />

By the time he retired, he had amassed ethnographic collections numbering tens of thousands of items from all over the world. Influenced by the evolutionary writings of [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Herbert Spencer]], he arranged them typologically and (within types) chronologically. He viewed archaeology as an extension of anthropology and, as consequence, built up matching collections of archaeological and ethnographic objects to show longer developmental sequences to support his views on cultural evolution.<ref name="Bowden 1991">{{cite book|last1=Bowden|first1=Mark|title=Pitt Rivers; The life and archaeological work of Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers|date=1991|publisher=Cambridge University|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-400775|pages=65}}</ref> This style of arrangement, designed to highlight evolutionary trends in human artefacts, was a revolutionary innovation in museum design.

Pitt Rivers' ethnological collections form the basis of the [[Pitt Rivers Museum]] which is still one of [[Oxford]]'s attractions. His researches and collections cover periods from the [[Lower Paleolithic]] to Roman and medieval times, and extend all over the world.<ref name="Penniman 1946">{{cite journal|last1=Penniman|first1=T.K|title=General Pitt Rivers|journal=Man|date=Jul–Aug 1946|volume=46|pages=73–74|jstor=2793146}}</ref> The Pitt Rivers Museum curates more than half a million ethnographic and archaeological artefacts, photographic and manuscript collections from all parts of the world. The museum was founded in 1884 when the university accepted the gift of more than 20,000 artefacts from Pitt Rivers. The university awarded him the [[Doctor of Civil Law|Doctorate of Civil Law]] in 1886, and he was later named a Fellow of the Royal Society.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The collections continue to grow, and the museum has been described as one of the "six great ethnological museums of the world".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Petch|first1=Alison|title=Notes and Queries and the Pitt Rivers Museum|journal=Museum Anthropology|date=March 2007|volume=30|issue=1|pages=21–39|doi=10.1525/mua.2007.30.1.21}}</ref>

Pitt Rivers' Wessex Collection is housed in [[The Salisbury Museum]], not far from [[Stonehenge]]. The Wessex Gallery of archaeology opened in 2014, funded by the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]] and other sources. Pitt Rivers and other early archaeologists such as [[William Stukeley]] who first investigated the prehistory of Wiltshire, [[Cranborne Chase]], [[Avebury]] and Stonehenge, are celebrated in the gallery.

The estates Pitt Rivers inherited in 1880 contained a wealth of archaeological material from the [[Roman Britain|Roman]] and [[Saxon people|Saxon]] periods. He excavated these over seventeen seasons, from the mid-1880s until his death. His approach was highly methodical by the standards of the time, and he is widely regarded as the first scientific archaeologist to work in Britain. His most important methodological innovation was his insistence that ''all'' artefacts, not just beautiful or unique ones, be collected and catalogued. This focus on everyday objects as the key to understanding the past broke decisively with earlier archaeological practice, which verged on treasure hunting. It is Pitt Rivers' most important, and most lasting, scientific legacy. His work inspired [[Mortimer Wheeler]], among others, to add to the scientific approach of archaeological excavation techniques.

Following the passage of the [[Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882]], Pitt Rivers became the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments: a post created by anthropologist and parliamentarian [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|John Lubbock]] who married Pitt Rivers' daughter, Alice. Charged with cataloguing archaeological sites and protecting them from destruction, he worked with his customary methodical zeal but was hampered by the limitations of the law, which gave him little real power over the landowners on whose property the sites stood. On the advice of Pitt-Rivers, [[Kit's Coty House]] and [[Little Kit's Coty House]], Kent, were among the first ancient British remains to be protected by the state. Railings were erected around the stones there to prevent vandalism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kits-coty-house-and-little-kits-coty-house/history/|title = History of Kit's Coty House and Little Kit's Coty House}}</ref>

Pitt Rivers was a leading member of the [[Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society]], and was president of the society from 1890<ref>{{Cite journal |last= |first= |date=1891 |title=Annual General Meeting, 30 July 1890 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12673613 |journal=[[Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine]] |volume=25 |issue=75 |pages=235 |via=[[Biodiversity Heritage Library]] {{open access}}}}</ref> to 1893.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last= |first= |date=1894 |title=Annual General Meeting, July 1893 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12683697 |journal=[[Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine]] |volume=27 |issue=81 |pages=194–196 |via=[[Biodiversity Heritage Library]] {{open access}}}}</ref>