Richard John Bradley, (born 18 November 1946) is a British archaeologist and academic specialising in European prehistory, particularly Prehistoric Britain. From 1987 to 2013, he was Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading, where he is now emeritus professor. Bradley has published extensively on European prehistory and prehistoric Britain.
Bradley was born on November 18, 1946 in Hampshire, England. His father was a metallurgist in the British Navy.
He was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, then an all-boys direct grant grammar school in Portsmouth. It was at school where he first became interested in archaeology. He later went on to study law at Magdalen College, Oxford, and graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; and as per tradition, his BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree.
He chose to pursue archaeology rather than law, beginning as an amateur fieldworker and publishing papers in national journals despite having no formal qualifications in the discipline. At 25, he was appointed assistant lecturer at Reading University. Later, he was promoted to Lecturer (1971âÂÂ1984), Reader (1984âÂÂ1987), and Professor of Archaeology (1987âÂÂ2013).
By 1996, British Archaeology magazine described Bradley as one of the most respected archaeologists in his field. He retired from full-time academia in 2013 and was appointed emeritus professor.
In 1976, Bradley married Katherine Bowden, a history teacher by profession. They do not have any children.
Bradley was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) on January 13, 1977. He became a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences, in 1995. The British Academy awarded him the Grahame Clark Medal in 2006, and the following year he was elected an honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (Hon. FSAScot).