Professor Ian Ralston
OBE MA PhD DLitt FRSE MAE FSA FSA (Scot) MCIfA
Welcome
Ian Ralston joined Edinburgh University’s Department of Archaeology from Aberdeen University in 1985. In 1998, he was promoted to a personal Chair in Later European Prehistory and in September 2012 he was appointed Abercromby Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology. His interests include the European Iron Age, Scottish archaeology of all periods, and the development of applied archaeology. His main field project in recent years has been in central France, where he has been involved in large-scale excavations around the city of Bourges, in collaboration with French colleagues from UMR 8546 of CNRS (based at the Ecole normale supérieure, Paris) and the local municipal archaeological service. Outwith the University, he has held a number of senior administrative roles, and chaired the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel for eight years until December 2011. He has also been Chair of the Subject Committee for Archaeology (SCFA - now UAUK), President of the Council for Scottish Archaeology and a Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He also chaired the Arts and Humanities Awards Committee of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for several years until 2022. He was Head of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology until 2016. He retired at the end of 2019 and is now Emeritus Abercromby Professor of Archaeology. In November 2020 he was elected President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Last Updated: May 2022
Contact Details
Archaeology,
School of History, Classics and Archaeology,
William Robertson Wing,
Old Medical School, University of Edinburgh
Teviot Place,
Edinburgh EH8 9AG,
Scotland UK
E-mail: Ian.Ralston@ed.ac.uk