# Mick Aston
**Mick Aston** (Michael Antony Aston, 1946–24 June 2013) was an English archaeologist who specialized in early medieval landscape archaeology and became one of Britain's best-known academics as chief archaeological adviser on [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4)'s television series [Time Team](https://www.edgepedia.org/time-team). He coined the term "landscape archaeology" in a 1974 fieldwork handbook co-written with Trevor Rowley, and he spent most of his career teaching adult education classes at the [University of Bristol](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-bristol).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | Oldbury, West Midlands, 1946; died 24 June 2013 at his Somerset home, aged 66[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) |
| Education | Geography at the University of Birmingham; taught himself archaeology largely through excavations[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) |
| Coined "landscape archaeology" | In the 1974 handbook *Landscape Archaeology*, co-authored with Trevor Rowley[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) |
| Career | Field officer, Oxfordshire museum (1970); first Somerset County Archaeologist (1974); Oxford University External Studies (1978); University of Bristol extra-mural department (1979); Professor of Landscape Archaeology 1996–2004, then Emeritus[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team) • [3](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8666.html) |
| Time Team | Chief archaeological adviser from the show's inception in 1994; appeared on virtually every episode 1994–2011; left in 2012[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) • [4](https://www.buildinghistory.org/mickaston/) |
| Audience | Time Team regularly attracted four million viewers a week[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) |
| Major research | Ten-year Shapwick Project on the origins of an English village; later the Winscombe project[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team) |
| Honors | Lifetime Achievement Award, British Archaeological Awards, 2012[3](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8666.html) |
## Early life and career
Aston was born into a working-class family in Oldbury, in the [Black Country](https://www.edgepedia.org/black-country), and was the first in his family to go to university[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html). He read geography at the [University of Birmingham](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-birmingham) from 1964, taking some archaeology courses but teaching himself the subject more fully by joining excavations[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team). His early influences included his thesis supervisor Harry Thorpe, the excavator Philip Rahtz, the geographer-turned-archaeologist Trevor Rowley, and the adult-education excavator Philip Barker[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team). His contemporary [James Bond](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-bond) shared his interests and worked closely with him throughout his life[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team).
He began his career in 1970 as field officer for the [Oxfordshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/oxfordshire) museum at Woodstock, moved in 1974 to become Somerset's first county archaeologist, and in 1978 became a full-time tutor in local studies at the Oxford University External Studies Department[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team). In 1979 he returned to the [West Country](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-country) as a staff tutor in archaeology at the University of Bristol's Department of Extramural Studies[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html).
## Landscape archaeology
**The term itself was his coinage.** In 1974 Aston and Trevor Rowley published *Landscape Archaeology: an introduction to fieldwork techniques on post-Roman landscapes*, the book with which they are generally credited with coining the phrase "landscape archaeology"[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) • [5](https://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3510/1/Windows_Into_The_Past.pdf). The approach held that archaeological sites could be studied and understood from their surfaces and their position in the landscape, and that large-scale excavation was often an expensive and unnecessary option[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html).
His books carried the method to students and general readers. Having co-authored *Landscape Archaeology* (1974) and *The Landscape of Towns* (1976, with James Bond), he wrote *Interpreting the Landscape* (1985), followed by *Monasteries* (1993); his books drew on his adult teaching and were written with adult students in mind[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team). He researched monastic and landscape archaeology across Europe and published widely on medieval and early medieval British landscapes[3](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8666.html) • [1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html).
His major research project was the Shapwick Project in Somerset, a ten-year investigation of the origins of the English village on a parish of 3,000 acres, which applied the range of methods used on Time Team with volunteers trained through his courses[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team) • [6](https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/29661/1/ROBERTS%2C%20Hayley_Ph.D._2016.pdf). With Chris Gerrard he published the project's monograph, *The Shapwick Project, Somerset* (2007), and, a few weeks before his own death, the popular account *Interpreting the English Village* (2013)[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team). In later years he led volunteers researching the landscape history of his home village of Winscombe[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team).
## University career at Bristol
At Bristol, Aston organized and promoted lifelong learning and continuing education in archaeology, running evening and weekend courses in parish halls across the region[3](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8666.html) • [1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html). He was promoted to Reader in August 1989 and to a personal professorship as Professor of Landscape Archaeology in 1996, a post within the Department of Continuing Education; in 1998 his post transferred to the Centre for the Historic Environment within the Department of Archaeology[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html). He retired in 2004 and was made Emeritus Professor[3](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8666.html) • [1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html). He also held honorary professorships at Durham, Exeter and Worcester Universities[4](https://www.buildinghistory.org/mickaston/).
His view of public archaeology was stated in his own contribution to *The Oxford Handbook of Public Archaeology* (2012): for archaeology to survive as an aspect of modern life, archaeologists must continue to interest the general public, and the widespread interest in the subject reflected earlier extra-mural classes[7](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28096/chapter-abstract/212191873).
## Time Team
In 1988 Aston was invited to work on a four-part Channel 4 series called *Time Signs*, broadcast in 1991, which led to Time Team, developed in 1994 with television producer Tim Taylor[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) • [8](https://www.timeteamdigital.com/the-team/mick-aston). Each episode put a team of archaeologists on a site for three days to answer an archaeological question, using documentary research, aerial observation, geophysical survey, earthwork planning, field walking, re-enactment and small-scale excavation[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team). Aston's contribution was to insist on high academic standards while keeping the content accessible, and the program avoided experts instructing viewers[2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team).
The series regularly attracted four million viewers a week, and Aston, recognizable for his unkempt hair, multicoloured jumpers and Black Country accent, became an icon to the viewing public[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team). The University of Bristol credited the show with inspiring many viewers to take up archaeology and with increasing student numbers on archaeological courses across the country[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html).
**Departure.** Aston left the program in 2012 after criticizing a reduction in its academic standards, citing a format change with "a lot less archaeological content and a lot more pratting about" and cuts to the archaeological team[9](https://documents.saa.org/container/docs/default-source/doc-publications/publications/the-saa-archaeological-record/tsar-2015/march2015.pdf?sfvrsn=71eea83e_2). Channel 4 cited "televisual reasons" and declining viewing figures; the series was canceled in early 2013[9](https://documents.saa.org/container/docs/default-source/doc-publications/publications/the-saa-archaeological-record/tsar-2015/march2015.pdf?sfvrsn=71eea83e_2) • [10](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/1465518713Z.00000000030).
## Recognition and death
In July 2012 Aston received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Archaeological Awards, presented in recognition of his contribution to archaeology over the previous 30 years[3](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8666.html). He was awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Worcester and Winchester, and colleagues contributed a festschrift in his honor in 2007[11](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2018/march/mick-aston-bust.html).
He died unexpectedly at his home in Somerset on 24 June 2013, aged 66, a few weeks after giving his last lecture on the MA in Landscape Archaeology at Bristol[1](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html) • [4](https://www.buildinghistory.org/mickaston/). In 2018 a bronze bust of Aston by the American artist Alex Peter was unveiled at the University of Bristol's Department of Anthropology and [Archaeology](https://www.edgepedia.org/archaeology), where he had worked for more than 25 years[11](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2018/march/mick-aston-bust.html).
## References
1. [Professor Mick Aston, 1946–2013, University of Bristol (25 June 2013)](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9518.html)
2. [Mick Aston obituary by Christopher Dyer, The Guardian (25 June 2013)](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/25/mick-aston-archaeologist-time-team)
3. [Emeritus Professor receives prestigious archaeology award, University of Bristol (19 July 2012)](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8666.html)
4. [Mick Aston 1946–2013, buildinghistory.org](https://www.buildinghistory.org/mickaston/)
5. [Landscape Archaeology: A Review, Durham theses](https://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3510/1/Windows_Into_The_Past.pdf)
6. [The Practice of Community Archaeology in the UK, Bournemouth University PhD thesis (2016)](https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/29661/1/ROBERTS%2C%20Hayley_Ph.D._2016.pdf)
7. [Mick Aston, "Publicizing Archaeology in Britain in the Late Twentieth Century," The Oxford Handbook of Public Archaeology (2012)](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28096/chapter-abstract/212191873)
8. [Mick Aston (1946–2013), Time Team Digital](https://www.timeteamdigital.com/the-team/mick-aston)
9. [Archaeological Practice on Reality Television, The SAA Archaeological Record (March 2015)](https://documents.saa.org/container/docs/default-source/doc-publications/publications/the-saa-archaeological-record/tsar-2015/march2015.pdf?sfvrsn=71eea83e_2)
10. [Editorial, Internet Archaeology (2013)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/1465518713Z.00000000030)
11. [Bronze bust unveiled of Time Team presenter and university archaeology professor, University of Bristol (26 March 2018)](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2018/march/mick-aston-bust.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Archaeology and material past › Archaeological institutions, heritage and historiography*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license