John Pull

John Henry Pull (25 June, 1899 – 10 November, 1960) was an unlikely archaeological hero. He started life as a soldier in World War I where he learnt surveying skills. After a stint as a gramophone salesman he became a postman and a security guard but always his main interest was archaeology. He was a key member of the Worthing Archaeological Society. He was responsible for the finding and excavation of some of the most important neolithic sites in Southern Britain including the Flint mines at Blackpatch, Harrow Hill, Chanctonbury, Cissbury in Sussex, England in 1922. Because he was not a professional archaeologist, he was unpopular with some of the experts in the field at the time, who constantly shrugged off Pull's work as amateur and unimportant.

In the end, much of Pull's work and findings were given to Worthing Museum and Art Gallery which holds a large archive. His site at Blackpatch was bulldozed over in the 1950s. Eighty years later, a "Time Team" episode focused on the area of Pull's work and was able to confirm some of his presumptions about the site.

John Pull was killed and his work cut short when he was shot during a bank robbery.

Further reading

*Miles Russell, "Rough quarries, rocks and hills : John Pull and the neolithic flint mines of Sussex", 2001

External links

* [http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/2006_black.html Time Team website about their excavation]