News - EASAA

Bridget Allchin, who has died at the age of 90, was a pioneer in the field of South Asian archaeology. During her career, she made some of the most important discoveries of South Asian prehistory, and laid the foundations for (now standard) interdisciplinary approaches to its study. She also played a pivotal role in promoting and facilitating South Asian studies across Europe.

Born Bridget Gordon on February the 10th 1927 in Oxford, the daughter of Major Stephen Gordon of the Indian Army Medical Service and Elsie (née Cox), Bridget spent her childhood in Scotland. During the Second World War, she helped her mother run the family farm, which at that time also involved looking after evacuees and even a German prisoner of war. It was here, inspired by the works of William Sollas, that she resolved to study prehistory at university. However, archaeology was not taught as a degree in Britain at the time. So she enrolled for a Batchelor’s degree at University College London that included Ancient History, and spent her Easter holidays excavating a prehistoric site in Oxford.

Her studies were interrupted when her parents moved to South Africa; and Bridget was compelled to follow them. She planned…

Dr F.R. Allchin, FSA, FBA (1923-2010)

It is with great sadness that we announce the demise, after a short illness, of Dr. Raymond Allchin, who sadly passed away on the 4th of June at Addenbrookes Hospital, at the age of 86. Husband of Bridget, father of Sushila & William, grandfather of Benjamin, Joseph & Hannah and great grandfather to Rosa.

Raymond Allchin was born in Harrow in 1923 and educated at Westminster, but his lifetime commitment to South Asia came when he was posted there during the War in 1944. Quickly switching interests from architecture to archaeology, Raymond was appointed a Lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1954 before moving to Cambridge in 1959. Following a career of fieldwork and research across India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, he retired from Cambridge University with the title of Emeritus Reader in South Asian Archaeology in 1989. Now freed from University burdens, Raymond committed the next twenty years to developing the research profile of The Ancient India and Iran Trust.

Together with his wife, Bridget Allchin, he influenced generations of students and scholars through his joint and edited publications on the archaeology and history of South Asia.…