Stukeley, William

BornHolbeach, Lincolnshire, England, circa1687

DiedLondon, England, 3 March 1765

Physician William Stukeley made studies of Stonehenge and thus foreshadowed the development of archaeoastronomy.

Stukeley, the eldest son in a family of four boys and a girl, was a man of wide interests, and was one of the first antiquaries to value ancient monuments and to show concern about their survival. He was educated at what is now Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1704 at the age of 17. Although his interest in ancient relics began at Cambridge, Stukeley’s investigations really got under way when he was in his 20s and practicing medicine in Lincolnshire. From 1718 to 1725, a period now regarded as the most significant of his archaeological career, Stukeley was very active in fieldwork. He was also a student of solar eclipses, observing the eclipse of 22 April 1715 while in practice in Boston, Lincolnshire; later he also observed the total solar eclipse of 11 May 1724 and the...