{{Short description|British archaeologist (1946–2000)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox academic | name = Sara Champion | birth_name = Sara Hermon | birth_date = 11 November 1946 | death_date = 14 May 2000 | occupation = Archaeologist; Lecturer | titles = Doctor of Philosophy | spouse = Timothy Champion | children = 2, including Will Champion | doctoral_advisor = Christopher Hawkes at St High's College, Oxford University for Doctoral degree | academic_advisors = Stuart Piggott at University of Edinburgh for Master's Degree | discipline = Archaeology | workplaces = University of Southampton | main_interests = Iron Age, Women in Archaeology, Irish Archaeology, Dendrochronology }}
'''Sara Champion''' (nee Hermon) (11 November 1946 – 14 May 2000) was a British archaeologist with an interest in the European Iron Age and the role and visibility of women working in archaeology.<ref name="Champion 1998" /> She was editor of ''PAST'', the newsletter of The Prehistoric Society from 1997 until her death in 2000. The Prehistoric Society hosts an annual Sara Champion Memorial Lecture.
== Early life and education == Champion was born Sara Hermon, the second of four children. The family lived in [http://Kenya Kenya] and Tanzania (Tanganyika at the time) for six years of her childhood. Champion later attended Benenden School. After Benenden, Champion attended the University of Edinburgh, where she studied for her first degree and a master's degree in archaeology under Stuart Piggott and Charles Thomas.<ref name="Archaeologist obit">{{Cite journal |last=Hinton |first=David |date=<!-- Winter of some year --> |title=Obituary: Sara Champion |journal=The Archaeologist Magazine |issue=39 |pages=3}}</ref> In 1968 Champion moved to St Hugh's College, Oxford, where she studied for a D.Phil. under the supervision of Christopher Hawkes concentrating on the Early European Iron Age.<ref name="Prehistoric Society - Past No. 35">{{Cite web|url=https://www.le.ac.uk/has/ps/past/past35.html#past_champion|title=Prehistoric Society - Past No. 35|website=Le.ac.uk|access-date=30 June 2020|archive-date=11 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711063348/https://www.le.ac.uk/has/ps/past/past35.html#past_champion|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Academic and Archaeological work == thumb|Avenue Campus at the University of Southampton, where the Department of Archaeology is located. Sara Champion spent time at the University of Galway in Ireland, before moving to the University of Southampton in 1972,<ref name="Archaeologist obit" /> where she undertook a two-year fellowship in archaeology. She carried out excavations at sites like Dragonby, and in Hampshire an important Iron Age site near Andover. Sara was then made a Hartley Fellow in the Department of Archaeology, later becoming a Research Fellow in that department. She also lectured archaeology at the University of Southampton, as well as Adult and Continuing Education courses.<ref name="Archaeologist obit" /><ref name="Prehistoric Society - Past No. 35" /> In addition to research and teaching, Sara undertook other roles being a member of the National Trust Archaeology Panel, a chief examiner of the NEAB Archaeology A-level Board, and a field monument warden in West Hampshire and Dorset for English Heritage, overseeing the upkeep and preservation of scheduled monuments.<ref name="Archaeologist obit" /> Champion understood the importance of media, electronic publications and bibliographical searches very early, as well as the overall potential of the internet for archaeology and she lectured and wrote articles on the application of internet resources in the teaching of archaeology,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Champion|first=Sara|date=1995|title=Archaeology and the internet|journal=Field Archaeologist|volume=24|via=ADS}}</ref> and electronic archaeology.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Champion|first=Sara|date=1997|title=Electronic archaeology|journal=Antiquity|volume=71|issue=274|page=1026|doi=10.1017/S0003598X0008594X|via=ADS}}</ref> She also spoke at several events on this topic including various IFA conferences.<ref name="Archaeologist obit" /> Another area of research and interest was role the visibility of women in archaeology.<ref name="Champion 1998">{{Cite book|title=Excavating Women, a History of Women in European Archaeology|last=Champion|first=Sara|publisher=Routledge|year=1998|isbn=0-415-15760-9|editor-last=Diaz-Andreu|editor-first=Margarita|location=London|pages=175–198|editor-last2=Stig-Sorenson|editor-first2=Marie Louise}}</ref>
Sara Champion was a published author with publications on a range of topics from the Iron Age, to women in archaeology and Irish folklore.<ref name="Archaeologist obit" /> She was the editor for the Prehistoric Society's newsletter PAST.
Six years after Champion's death a seminar room in the Crawford Building, the new building for the archaeology department at the University of Southampton, was named in her honour.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/961827.just-champion-coldplay-star-back-home-for-university-opening/|title=Just Champion! Coldplay star back home for university opening|website=Daily Echo|date=11 October 2006 }}</ref>
== Personal life == Champion met Timothy Champion (future President of the Royal Archaeological Institute and The Prehistoric Society)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.southampton.ac.uk/archaeology/about/staff/tcc.page|title=Professor Timothy Champion | Archaeology |publisher=University of Southampton}}</ref> while studying at Oxford and they were married in 1970 at St Paul's Church in Knightsbridge. In 1972 the Champions moved to Southampton, where their two sons, Edward and William (the drummer of Coldplay), were born, in the mid-1970s, and 1978 respectively.<ref name="Prehistoric Society - Past No. 35" /> thumb|Photo of Will Champion behind a drumkit on a live gig. Champion's interests outside archaeology included music (she regularly djed at departmental and archaeological social gatherings) and she was a long-term member of the Southampton Philharmonic Choir.
Champion died of cancer in May 2000. The band Coldplay, of which her son Will is a member, dedicated their debut album ''Parachutes'' to her on its release in July 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9429384.coldplay-drummer-will-champion-remembers-his-southampton-roots/|title=Coldplay drummer Will Champion remembers his Southampton roots|website=Daily Echo|date=20 December 2011 }}</ref>
== Selected publications == * 1970 "The Hillforts of the Cotteswold Scarp, with Special Reference to Recent Excavations", ''Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club'' 36, 18-23 * 1971 "Excavations at Leckhampton Hill; 1969–70 Interim Report", ''Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'' 90, 5-21 * 1973 ''Andover – The Archaeological Implications of Development'' Andover and District Excavation Committee * 1976 "Leckhampton Hill, Gloucestershire – 1925 and 1970", in ''Hillforts: Later Prehistoric Earthworks in Britain and Ireland'', ed. D. W. Harding, 177-191 * 1980 ''A Dictionary of Terms and Techniques in Archaeology.'' Oxford: Phaidon Press Ltd * 1980 "Dendrochronology", ''Nature'' 284, 663–664 * 1995 "Archaeology and the internet", ''Field Archaeologist'' 24, 18–19 * 1997 "Special Review Section. Electronic Archaeology", ''Antiquity'' 71, co-authored with Christopher Chippindale * 1998 "Women in British Archaeology. Visible and Invisible," in ''Excavating Women. A History of Women in European Archaeology'', Andreu, M. Diaz and Sørensen, M.-L.S. (eds), London, 175–197.
==Sara Champion Memorial Lectures== The Prehistoric Society's annual Sara Champion Memorial Lectures are held every October at the Society of Antiquaries of London lecture theatre in Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. The 10th annual lecture, due to be held in October 2010, was deferred and instead a debate was held to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Prehistoric Society. The Sara Champion Debate had the topic "This House believes that the study of the Stone Ages has contributed more to our knowledge of the human condition than study of the Metal Ages" and was led by Clive Gamble and Tim Champion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/events.html|title=The Prehistoric Society - Events|website=Ucl.ac.uk}}</ref>
The 2020–2021 lecture numbering system seems to have missed one out: the 20th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture.
{| class="wikitable" ! Lecture !! Date !! Title !! Lecturer !! Reference |- | 1st Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 24 October 2001 || "A new cart/chariot burial from Wetwang, East Yorkshire" || J D Hill || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.le.ac.uk/has/ps/past/past39.html|title=Prehistoric Society - Past No. 39|website=Le.ac.uk}}</ref> |- | 2nd Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 30 October 2002 || "The development of Bronze Age society in north Munster" || Carleton Jones || <ref>{{Cite journal|date=2003|title=The Prehistoric Society, 2002–2003|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0079497X00001390/type/journal_article|journal=Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society|language=en|volume=69|pages=335–336|doi=10.1017/S0079497X00001390|s2cid=233342693|issn=0079-497X|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nuigalway.ie/colleges-and-schools/arts-social-sciences-and-celtic-studies/geography-archaeology-irish-studies/disciplines/archaeology/research/researcher-profiles/carletonjones/|title=Researcher Profiles - NUI Galway|website=Nuigalway.ie}}</ref> |- | 3rd Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 15 October 2003 || "Social change in later prehistory: evidence from the northern roundhouse" || Rachel Pope || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/past/past45.html|title=Prehistoric Society - Past No. 45|website=Ucl.ac.uk}}</ref> |- |4th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 27 October 2004 || "The Irish Sea connection: exploring the origins of monumentality in western Britain" || Vicki Cummings || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.le.ac.uk/has/ps/past/past48.html|title=Prehistoric Society - Past No. 48|website=Le.ac.uk}}</ref> |- |5th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 26 October 2005 || "Seeing red: art, artefacts and colour in the Iron Age of Britain and Ireland" || Melanie Giles || <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric//past/PAST050.pdf|date=July 2005|title=PAST : THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY|website=ucl.ac.uk|access-date=6 December 2021}}</ref> |- |6th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || October 2006 || || || |- |7th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 24 October 2007 || "A crystal world from weeping stone: considering the relationships between Neolithic cave art and monument construction on Mendip" || Jodie Lewis|| <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340102150|title=Decoration on the Neolithic Painted Vessels in the Republic of Macedonia|website=ResearchGate}}</ref> |- |8th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || October 2008 || || || |- |9th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || October 2009 || || || |- |10th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 19 October 2011 || "Creative destruction: middens at the end of the Bronze Age" || Kate Waddington || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/news-and-events/news/internal/departmentalnewsletter/2011-12/newsletter22011-12/|title=Newsletter 2, 2011-12 - Archaeology, The University of York|website=York.ac.uk}}</ref> |- |11th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 17 October 2012 || "Tangled histories: British prehistorians, research practice and disciplinary change, 1975–2010" || Anwen Cooper || <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/the_11th_sara_champion_memorial_lecture/|title=The 11th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture | Events |publisher=The Prehistoric Society}}</ref> |- |12th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 16 October 2013 || "Making pots matter: social practice and early first millennium BC ceramics in East Anglia" || Matt Brudenell || <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/the_12th_sara_champion_memorial_lecture/|title=The 12th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture | Events |publisher=The Prehistoric Society}}</ref> |- |13th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 22 October 2014 || "'The personality of Britain' reconsidered: evaluating the relationship between the social and physical geographies of Bronze Age Britain (''c''. 2500–800 cal. BC)" || Neil Wilkin || <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/the_13th_sara_champion_memorial_lecture_the_personality_of_britain_reconsid/|title=The 13th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture: 'The Personality of Britain' Reconsidered | Events |publisher=The Prehistoric Society}}</ref> |- |14th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 28 October 2015 || "The evolution of religious branding in later prehistoric Europe: the case of Urnfield and Hallstatt bird imagery" || Sebastian Becker || <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/the_14th_sara_champion_lecture_the_evolution_of_religious_branding_in_later/|title=The 14th Sara Champion Lecture: The Evolution of religious branding in later prehistoric Europe | Events |publisher=The Prehistoric Society}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/23664958|title=The Evolution of Religious Branding in Later Prehistoric Europe: the case of Urnfield and Hallstatt bird imagery|first=Sebastian|last=Becker|access-date=6 December 2021|website=Academia.edu}}</ref> |- |15th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 26 October 2016 || "Antlerworking practices of the British Mesolithic: materials, identities and technologies within the landscape" || Ben Elliott || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mafiadoc.com/secrets-of-the-high-woods-the-prehistoric-society_5a0aced51723ddb0b78ce0e7.html|title=Secrets of the High Woods - The Prehistoric Society|website=mafiadoc.com}}</ref> |- |16th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 25 October 2017 || "Making and breaking the British Iron Age: a holistic approach to craft and material culture" || Julia Farley || <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/the_16th_sara_champion_memorial_lecture_making_and_breaking_the_british_iro/|title=The 16th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture "Making and breaking the British Iron Age | Events |publisher=The Prehistoric Society}}</ref> |- |17th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 31 October 2018 || "Though they but little... The Bronze Age funerary cups of Britain" || Claire Copper || <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/the_17th_sara_champion_memorial_lecture_though_they_but_little....the_bronz/|title=The 17th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture "Though they but little....The Bronze Age Funerary Cups o | Events |publisher=The Prehistoric Society}}</ref> |- |18th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 30 October 2019 || "Fragments of the Bronze Age. Destruction, deposition and personhood" || Matthew G. Knight || <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/the_18th_sara_champion_memorial_lecture_fragments_of_the_bronze_age._destru/|title=The 18th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture Fragments of the Bronze Age. Destruction, deposition and per | Events |publisher=The Prehistoric Society}}</ref> |- |19th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 21 October 2020 || "Becoming metallic: the emergence of metals in Britain and Ireland" || Rachel Crellin|| <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiJyAYza_S4|title=Dr Rachel Crellin 'Becoming metallic: the emergence of metals in Britain and Ireland'.|date=21 October 2020 |access-date=6 December 2021|via=YouTube}}</ref> |- |20th Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || || || || |- |21st Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 20 October 2021 || "Genetic change and relatedness in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain" || Tom Booth || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/2021-10-20|title=Genetic change and relatedness in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain |publisher=The Prehistoric Society|access-date=6 December 2021}}</ref> |- |22nd Sara Champion Memorial Lecture || 19 October 2022 || "'I see the hands of the generations' - perceiving the past through later prehistoric artefacts" || Sophia Adams || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/2022-10-19|title=Lecture 'I see the hands of the generations' - perceiving the past through later prehistoric artefacts The 22nd Sara Champion memorial Lecture |publisher=The Prehistoric Society |access-date=19 December 2022}}</ref> |- |23rd Sara Champion Memorial Lecture |16 October 2024 |Into the woods: new methods for studying Palaeolithic organic technologies |Annemieke Mills |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Into the woods: new methods for studying Palaeolithic organic technologies |publisher=The Prehistoric Society |url=https://prehistoricsociety.org/events/2024-10-16 |access-date=2025-05-22}}</ref> |}
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:1946 births Category:2000 deaths Category:British women archaeologists Category:20th-century British archaeologists