In 1970, on the far north-west corner of Mainland, Orkney, erosion threatened a low mound opposite the tidal island of the Brough of Birsay, a site of Pictish and Viking settlement. The potential significance of this mound at Point of Buckquoy prompted a rescue excavation, and the young archaeologist called in to mount that operation was Anna Ritchie.
In this, her first project as director, Anna, who has died aged 82 of cancer, uncovered a sequence of stone buildings, primarily Pictish in nature, but with possible later Norse influence. This placed Buckquoy at the interface between Pict and Viking, posing questions on that transition’s nature, whether aggressive takeover or – Anna’s preference – peaceful coexistence. The site has been subject to occasional reassessment, not least Anna’s own in 2003, and recent radiocarbon dating, of a precision not available in the 1970s, indicates that the settlement more likely entirely pre-dated the Viking incursions.
At Buckquoy, Anna imparted her exacting excavation techniques and standards to her team of – mostly young – diggers. This excavation was not just formative in her own career, but helped shape those of many in her team – myself and my (then future) husband, the late Ian Shepherd, included. Not just a guiding excavator, she devoted days off to transporting us around the entrancing array of Orkney sites, keen to share her knowledge and enthusiasm.
Buckquoy was followed by a further three important initiatives in Orkney. In 1972-73, with David Clarke, Anna co-directed excavations at the Neolithic settlement at Skara Brae, the emphasis there on recovering information on the site’s economy and dating. She then, in 1973, began excavating at Knap of Howar, on the island of Papa Westray, a site, like Skara Brae, previously partially excavated with upstanding structures assumed to be of iron age date. Enough remained of surrounding deposits for Anna’s recovery of suitable dating material, which reallocated the structures to the 4th millennium BC, making them the earliest upstanding domestic buildings in north-west Europe.
A decade, and two children, later, Anna returned to excavate a chambered cairn on the Holm of Papa Westray, the likely burial place for the inhabitants of Knap. Anna’s meticulous work recovered the remains of nine individuals interred there, plus evidence for varied and complex uses of the tomb, its building and modification over time. Her career was thus shaped by four major excavations spanning a five-millennium period.
Born in Putney, south-west London, Anna was the daughter of Peggy (Margaret, nee Todd) and George Bachelier, who separated soon after her birth. She was brought up in Surrey by her mother and stepfather, Charles Dunn, a professional photographer. Her immersion in archaeology began while at Woking girls’ grammar school, where she delighted in curating a case of Roman and Egyptian artefacts for the school’s entrance hall. That early enthusiasm led to a BA in archaeology at Cardiff, followed by a PhD at Edinburgh (1970).
While there, she met a fellow archaeologist, Graham Ritchie; they married in 1968. Warm relationships existed between the group of research students and their professor, Stuart Piggott, Anna in particular gaining his regard (he dedicated two of his poems to her); the group enjoyed a convivial dining club. Anna remained a glorious cook: my first – and never bested – lobster was the one she cooked for her crew on Papa Westray.
Beyond excavations, Anna developed a wide-ranging freelance career, teaching extra-mural classes, some university lecturing and writing prolifically. From the 70s through to the 2010s she produced on average two or more publications each year, spanning academic books and articles alongside a wealth of general guidebooks and popular publications, many together with Graham, chief of which was Scotland: Archaeology and Early History (1981).
She edited widely, including for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. She also wrote individual volumes for the series Exploring Scotland’s Heritage. Still writing last year, she had a memoir of her excavations published by the Orkney Archaeological Society. Papers from a conference in her honour, entitled Common Ground in Scottish Archaeology, were also published in 2025.
Anna was a great communicator, providing an accessible face for archaeology in those days of fewer popular outlets. In 1971 she was a panellist on the television show Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?, discussing the Viking age. She not only appeared on camera, but also wrote scripts and acted as a consultant for, among others, Chronicle and Blood of the Vikings for the BBC and Time Team for Channel 4. Some televisual experiments were not totally successful: the 1973 Chronicle time-lapse film of the Skara Brae excavations, compressing the six-week season into a four-minute film, proved to be unintentionally hilarious, more Keystone Cops than gently unfurling flower.
Anna served on the governing bodies of archaeological and antiquarian organisations including both the Society of Antiquaries of London and of Scotland (where she became its first female president). A trustee of the National Museum of Scotland and the British Museum, she was appointed OBE in 1997. Latterly she helped to enhance the online Historic Environment Scotland database, Canmore (now trove.scot).
She was graceful – spotlessly emerging from even the muddiest of trenches – modest and self-deprecating. She faced her illness with calm serenity, continuing to enjoy reading, jigsaws and gardening until her last months, then cared for by her daughter, Elspeth.
Graham died in 2005; Anna is survived by Elspeth and her son, Matthew, her granddaughter Gabby, her brother, Leon, and sister, Pat.
• Anna Ritchie, archaeologist and author, born 28 September 1943; died 8 May 2026
• This article was amended on 27 May 2026 to restore the second word of the island name of Papa Westray.
