Mike Pitts
@pittsmike.bsky.social
Award-winning writer/broadcaster
Editor British Archaeology magazine 2003–23
Editor Society of Antiquaries of London e-newsletter 2015–20
President Sussex Archaeological Society https://mikepitts.wordpress.com/
Editor British Archaeology magazine 2003–23
Editor Society of Antiquaries of London e-newsletter 2015–20
President Sussex Archaeological Society https://mikepitts.wordpress.com/
Pinned
“Bold & convincing revision of Rapa Nui’s history”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane” LITERARY REVIEW
“Gripping” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
“Striking… stunning unraveling of many layers of hidden history” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * review
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane” LITERARY REVIEW
“Gripping” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
“Striking… stunning unraveling of many layers of hidden history” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * review
My review of Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun, by Clive Ruggles & Amanda Chadburn. An academic treatise that thinks it's a coffee-table book (or vice versa). None the worse for that, though if you've eyes like mine you'll need reading glasses
doi.org/10.1017/S000...
doi.org/10.1017/S000...
November 18, 2025 at 10:55 AM
My review of Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun, by Clive Ruggles & Amanda Chadburn. An academic treatise that thinks it's a coffee-table book (or vice versa). None the worse for that, though if you've eyes like mine you'll need reading glasses
doi.org/10.1017/S000...
doi.org/10.1017/S000...
Elspeth King: "she understood that society’s history lay in its detritus and could be found scouring derelict tenements, building sites and rubbish tips to preserve a record of the recent past"
www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...
Elspeth King obituary: curator of Glasgow’s social history
Museum director, author and historian behind controversial display of Billy Connolly’s banana boots at the People’s Palace, dies aged 76
www.thetimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Elspeth King: "she understood that society’s history lay in its detritus and could be found scouring derelict tenements, building sites and rubbish tips to preserve a record of the recent past"
www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...
For anyone looking for my book and finding it out of stock on Amazon, it is in print and will be back soon!
amazon.co.uk/Digging-Rich...
amazon.co.uk/Digging-Rich...
November 1, 2025 at 12:19 PM
For anyone looking for my book and finding it out of stock on Amazon, it is in print and will be back soon!
amazon.co.uk/Digging-Rich...
amazon.co.uk/Digging-Rich...
"Gillian Tindall had a vivid sense of the dramas that lie hidden in every backstreet, in every brick and beam of old buildings and even in the debris, vanished waterways and ancient tracks that lie beneath"
www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...
www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...
Gillian Tindall, ‘master of miniaturist history’ who made local stories feel universal
She became a celebrity in Kentish Town, where a café was named after her book The Fields Beneath and a local ale christened Tindall on Tap
www.telegraph.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 3:46 PM
"Gillian Tindall had a vivid sense of the dramas that lie hidden in every backstreet, in every brick and beam of old buildings and even in the debris, vanished waterways and ancient tracks that lie beneath"
www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...
www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...
I’m thinking a lot about the ethics of retaining & examining human remains in museums (big visit imminent) – important, intimate, controversial, expensive. Difficult. Two new excellent perspectives... 1/3
reader.exacteditions.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:29 PM
I’m thinking a lot about the ethics of retaining & examining human remains in museums (big visit imminent) – important, intimate, controversial, expensive. Difficult. Two new excellent perspectives... 1/3
Updated thread on The Lost King film:
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
October 31, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Updated thread on The Lost King film:
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
At the British Geological Survey yesterday, surprised to find mined flints from #Sussex (Blackpatch, Church Hill), a Mesolithic tranchet axe from Rankine and some eoliths from Kent
October 28, 2025 at 6:45 PM
At the British Geological Survey yesterday, surprised to find mined flints from #Sussex (Blackpatch, Church Hill), a Mesolithic tranchet axe from Rankine and some eoliths from Kent
Here's an unusual beast: a really good (and interesting) film about Rapa Nui!
www.aljazeera.com/video/101-ea...
www.aljazeera.com/video/101-ea...
Can Easter Island’s sustainable way of life inspire the world?
101 East investigates how Easter Island is creating a sustainable way of living that could inspire the world.
www.aljazeera.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Here's an unusual beast: a really good (and interesting) film about Rapa Nui!
www.aljazeera.com/video/101-ea...
www.aljazeera.com/video/101-ea...
This outcome, good for Richard Taylor, archaeology & truth, was sadly predictable. As I wrote when the film in question was launched: a tale of dreams and delusions:see next post 1/2
Substantial damages awarded to academic over Steve Coogan Richard III film - BBC News
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Substantial damages awarded to academic over Steve Coogan Richard III film - BBC News
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Man wins 'substantial damages' over portrayal in Steve Coogan Richard III film - BBC News
Richard Taylor sued Steve Coogan and two production companies over his portrayal in the movie.
www.bbc.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:18 PM
This outcome, good for Richard Taylor, archaeology & truth, was sadly predictable. As I wrote when the film in question was launched: a tale of dreams and delusions:see next post 1/2
Substantial damages awarded to academic over Steve Coogan Richard III film - BBC News
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Substantial damages awarded to academic over Steve Coogan Richard III film - BBC News
www.bbc.com/news/article...
The govt is revoking the A303 (Amesbury to Berwick Down) Development Consent Order 2023, ie it's closing down the Stonehenge tunnel. A reminder that despite reports citing only vocal tunnel opponents (such as below), it had much backing, including among archaeologists
www.forbes.com/sites/carlto...
www.forbes.com/sites/carlto...
Stonehenge Road Tunnel Plan Killed Stone Dead By UK Government
Development planning consent for the controversial road tunnel close to World Heritage Site has toay been revoked by the U.K.'s Department for Transport.
www.forbes.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:12 PM
The govt is revoking the A303 (Amesbury to Berwick Down) Development Consent Order 2023, ie it's closing down the Stonehenge tunnel. A reminder that despite reports citing only vocal tunnel opponents (such as below), it had much backing, including among archaeologists
www.forbes.com/sites/carlto...
www.forbes.com/sites/carlto...
“Bold & convincing revision of Rapa Nui’s history”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane” LITERARY REVIEW
“Gripping” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
“Striking… stunning unraveling of many layers of hidden history” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * review
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane” LITERARY REVIEW
“Gripping” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
“Striking… stunning unraveling of many layers of hidden history” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * review
October 20, 2025 at 4:42 PM
“Bold & convincing revision of Rapa Nui’s history”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane” LITERARY REVIEW
“Gripping” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
“Striking… stunning unraveling of many layers of hidden history” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * review
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane” LITERARY REVIEW
“Gripping” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
“Striking… stunning unraveling of many layers of hidden history” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * review
I've burrowed down into the paper & downloaded their files. Here is the real value of this study by Carl Lipo & Terry Hunt, a landmark achievement of publicly available statue data & statistics on an unprecedented scale. I've started playing around with it & already find significant new insights
Carl Lipo & Terry Hunt have a new paper on their entertaining theory that statues were moved upright, first argued by them over a decade ago. All that’s really new is their insistence that because the theory has been criticised, it must be right (I paraphrase) 1/2
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
Easter Island mystery SOLVED: Scientists reveal how statues were moved
Using a combination of 3D modelling and real-life experiments, scientists have confirmed the impossible.
www.dailymail.co.uk
October 20, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I've burrowed down into the paper & downloaded their files. Here is the real value of this study by Carl Lipo & Terry Hunt, a landmark achievement of publicly available statue data & statistics on an unprecedented scale. I've started playing around with it & already find significant new insights
Out January 2026 US & Canada
“A bold & convincing revision of Rapa Nui’s history”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane… salutary corrective
to centuries of Western prejudice & fantasy”
LITERARY REVIEW
“A gripping story” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
“A bold & convincing revision of Rapa Nui’s history”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane… salutary corrective
to centuries of Western prejudice & fantasy”
LITERARY REVIEW
“A gripping story” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
October 13, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Out January 2026 US & Canada
“A bold & convincing revision of Rapa Nui’s history”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane… salutary corrective
to centuries of Western prejudice & fantasy”
LITERARY REVIEW
“A gripping story” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
“A bold & convincing revision of Rapa Nui’s history”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Detailed, intelligent, humane… salutary corrective
to centuries of Western prejudice & fantasy”
LITERARY REVIEW
“A gripping story” SPECTATOR
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
MAIL ON SUNDAY
RIP Michael Barnes. TV documentary producer-director whose work often featured social & political issues, but also included Secrets of Lost Empires, Pyramid Builders & Machines Time Forgot (etc), pioneering broadcast experimental archaeology
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Michael Barnes obituary
Documentary maker whose programmes for the BBC’s Horizon series focused on those suffering injustice and discrimination
www.theguardian.com
October 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
RIP Michael Barnes. TV documentary producer-director whose work often featured social & political issues, but also included Secrets of Lost Empires, Pyramid Builders & Machines Time Forgot (etc), pioneering broadcast experimental archaeology
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Carl Lipo & Terry Hunt have a new paper on their entertaining theory that statues were moved upright, first argued by them over a decade ago. All that’s really new is their insistence that because the theory has been criticised, it must be right (I paraphrase) 1/2
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
Easter Island mystery SOLVED: Scientists reveal how statues were moved
Using a combination of 3D modelling and real-life experiments, scientists have confirmed the impossible.
www.dailymail.co.uk
October 9, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Carl Lipo & Terry Hunt have a new paper on their entertaining theory that statues were moved upright, first argued by them over a decade ago. All that’s really new is their insistence that because the theory has been criticised, it must be right (I paraphrase) 1/2
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
My latest blog: Stonehenge, the #Washingtons and New York.
How many Americans know that their first president’s family once owned #Stonehenge? It’s quite a story.
mikepitts.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/s...
How many Americans know that their first president’s family once owned #Stonehenge? It’s quite a story.
mikepitts.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/s...
Stonehenge, the Washingtons and New York
Garsdon church: photo MB-E1, Find A Grave How many Americans know that their first president’s family once owned Stonehenge? It’s quite a story. George Washington numbered among his ancestors Sir L…
mikepitts.wordpress.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:42 PM
My latest blog: Stonehenge, the #Washingtons and New York.
How many Americans know that their first president’s family once owned #Stonehenge? It’s quite a story.
mikepitts.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/s...
How many Americans know that their first president’s family once owned #Stonehenge? It’s quite a story.
mikepitts.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/s...
I first read Jilly Cooper as a child when she had a column in the Sunday Times. Once she came to our home town Chichester, & joked about a music shop I knew called Southern Organs. Huge respect. You didn’t talk like that in my family
Jilly Cooper dies aged 88
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Jilly Cooper dies aged 88
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Jilly Cooper, author of Rivals and Riders, dies aged 88
The author of 18 ‘bonkbuster’ novels including Riders, Rivals and Bella has died following a fall
www.theguardian.com
October 6, 2025 at 1:04 PM
I first read Jilly Cooper as a child when she had a column in the Sunday Times. Once she came to our home town Chichester, & joked about a music shop I knew called Southern Organs. Huge respect. You didn’t talk like that in my family
Jilly Cooper dies aged 88
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Jilly Cooper dies aged 88
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Island At The Edge Of The World by Mike Pitts: The mystery of Easter Island is finally SOLVED
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
It's true, it's in the Mail on Sunday ("fruiter"?)
The striking photo puzzled me until I realised it's back to front!
www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/a...
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
It's true, it's in the Mail on Sunday ("fruiter"?)
The striking photo puzzled me until I realised it's back to front!
www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/a...
The mystery of Easter Island is finally SOLVED
Finally scientists have discovered that there is a fruiter reason for the placement of Easter Island famous statues than any of us might have considered.
www.dailymail.co.uk
October 5, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Island At The Edge Of The World by Mike Pitts: The mystery of Easter Island is finally SOLVED
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
It's true, it's in the Mail on Sunday ("fruiter"?)
The striking photo puzzled me until I realised it's back to front!
www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/a...
“Revelatory… fascinating… wholly convincing”
It's true, it's in the Mail on Sunday ("fruiter"?)
The striking photo puzzled me until I realised it's back to front!
www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/a...
Very sad to hear of the passing of Andy Jones, outstanding regional fieldworker, principal archaeologist with the Cornwall Archaeological Unit for 30+ years. He wrote often for me in British Archaeology, not least on the exceptional Whitehorse Hill bronze age burial
kernowgoth.org/in-memoriam/...
kernowgoth.org/in-memoriam/...
October 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Very sad to hear of the passing of Andy Jones, outstanding regional fieldworker, principal archaeologist with the Cornwall Archaeological Unit for 30+ years. He wrote often for me in British Archaeology, not least on the exceptional Whitehorse Hill bronze age burial
kernowgoth.org/in-memoriam/...
kernowgoth.org/in-memoriam/...
I found one of those feet!
A replica of a slab from an early Bronze Age cist burial which was discovered at Pool Tree Farm, West Harptree in Somerset. The foot carvings are very unusual in a British context. Now part of the collections at Wells & Mendip Museum in Wells. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday
September 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I found one of those feet!
Meanwhile in Oxford the Schwarzman Centre opens, an Arts & Humanities focus that if half its claims come true will transform the university’s cultural experience. A timely highlighting of the UK’s powerful creative industries by Irene Tracey. Spring in my step today!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4kR...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4kR...
September 30, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Meanwhile in Oxford the Schwarzman Centre opens, an Arts & Humanities focus that if half its claims come true will transform the university’s cultural experience. A timely highlighting of the UK’s powerful creative industries by Irene Tracey. Spring in my step today!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4kR...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4kR...
BM 2026! Alice Christophe-curated Hawai’i show “shaped with Native Hawaiian knowledge-bearers”, features Hawai’i-UK links - Kamehameha I’s gifts to George III (feathered cloak lent by our King), Kamehameha II & Kamāmalu in London in 1824 (& ?giving this 2.7m kiʻi to George IV) etc. Wonderful things!
September 30, 2025 at 8:54 AM
BM 2026! Alice Christophe-curated Hawai’i show “shaped with Native Hawaiian knowledge-bearers”, features Hawai’i-UK links - Kamehameha I’s gifts to George III (feathered cloak lent by our King), Kamehameha II & Kamāmalu in London in 1824 (& ?giving this 2.7m kiʻi to George IV) etc. Wonderful things!
Here’s my immediate reaction to the million year old skull that rewrites the history of humanity. Hyperbole aside, it’s a great piece of work and the implications, if you go with the paper’s drift, really are significant. Spectator online
www.spectator.co.uk/article/has-...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/has-...
Has the history of human evolution been rewritten?
A new report from the field of human origins had sub-editors reaching for their hyperboles. A million-year-old skull, we have learnt, has rewritten humanity’s story. The finality of this is misleading...
www.spectator.co.uk
September 29, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Here’s my immediate reaction to the million year old skull that rewrites the history of humanity. Hyperbole aside, it’s a great piece of work and the implications, if you go with the paper’s drift, really are significant. Spectator online
www.spectator.co.uk/article/has-...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/has-...
We should all call out Israeli corruption of archaeological practice: destroying Palestinian collections, tunnelling for remains & faking histories. Pointing out the errors is not political, it’s just about very bad archaeology
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
‘Tunnel vision’: how Israel is using archaeology to win US support for goals
Scientists say Netanyahu government and its US backers are trying to construct a history shorn of all complexity
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 11:32 AM
We should all call out Israeli corruption of archaeological practice: destroying Palestinian collections, tunnelling for remains & faking histories. Pointing out the errors is not political, it’s just about very bad archaeology
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
STATUES! It’s said there are 1,000 on Rapa Nui. The real total is nearer 600, others are carvings in the rock. But 600! And the scale! Impressed by Hoa Hakananai’a in the British Museum? Here it is to the same scale as one dug out by Heyerdahl. How? WHY? Find out in Island at the Edge of the World!
September 25, 2025 at 9:19 AM
STATUES! It’s said there are 1,000 on Rapa Nui. The real total is nearer 600, others are carvings in the rock. But 600! And the scale! Impressed by Hoa Hakananai’a in the British Museum? Here it is to the same scale as one dug out by Heyerdahl. How? WHY? Find out in Island at the Edge of the World!