Anna Ritchie

Anna Ritchie Hon (née Bachelier; 28 September 1943 – 8 May 2026) was a British archaeologist and historian. She is known for her work at archaeological sites in Orkney, and wrote a number of guidebooks for the HMSO and Historic Environment Scotland about Scottish history and historical sites. She was the first female president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland from 1990 to 1993 and an Honorary Fellow of the Society.

Early life and education Ritchie was born Anna Bachelier in Putney, south-west London, on 28 September 1943, and was raised in Surrey. Her interest in archaeology began as a young student at Woking Girls' Grammar School in the 1950s. The school had a small collection of Roman and Egyptian artefacts which the young Anna curated, catalogued and redisplayed. In an interview with the Egypt Centre at Swansea University, she recalled, "The artefacts were displayed in a shelved case in the main entrance hall of the school, and I loved looking after them. You are right in thinking that I compiled the first inventory, and indeed that the museum was a spur to my future as an archaeologist." She received her BA from Cardiff University (where her undergraduate dissertation was on the "Linear Earthworks of Wessex", studying with Richard J. C. Atkinson) and then moved to the University of Edinburgh to study with Stuart Piggott. The title of her doctoral thesis (1970) was "Settlements and Economy in Britain during the first millennium B.C."

Career Beginning her career in the late 1960s, she researched and published widely in academic and popular publications. In 1968, she married fellow archaeologist J N Graham Ritchie (died 2005) and the couple had two children. She and her husband (who worked for RCAHMS) often collaborated on fieldwork, research and writing projects, including Scotland: Archaeology and Early History (1981), the Oxford Archaeological Guide to Scotland (1998) and The Ancient Monuments of Orkney, published in 1978. Her research, excavations and publications span from the Neolithic of Scotland through to the later first millennium AD, particularly the Picts and early Norse. The site is celebrated for the sequence of Pictish buildings, with Anna reinterpreting the results over thirty years later. One of the key finds from the site, the Buckquoy spindle-whorl, inspired a collection of jewellery by notable Orkney Jeweller Sheila Fleet.

Ritchie subsequently co-directed the excavations at Skara Brae with David Clarke in 1972 and 1973, moving at the end of the 1973 season to excavate at Knap of Howar, commissioned by the Department of the Environment ahead of conservation, returning in 1975; The research questions from this excavation stimulated her subsequent excavations at the Holm of Papa Westray in 1982 and 1983. In the post-excavation work on these excavations she worked closely with Alison Sheridan, publishing the results many years later due to the challenges of post-excavation funding. Ritchie has also written extensively for more popular publications. She has authored numerous guidebooks and publications for the HMSO and Historic Environment Scotland, covering topics such as Scottish Prehistory, Picts, Vikings, early Medieval sculpture and place-focused works on the archaeology of Iona, Orkney, Shetland, and Bute. She was a panellist on a 1971 episode of the television show Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, discussing the Viking Age. She has also acted as a consultant for the television series Time Team and Blood of the Vikings. of which she was an Honorary Fellow; and the British Museum, and has been a long-standing supporter of heritage organisations the SCAPE Trust, Groam House Museum and The Govan Stones. She has served as a director for the Tarbat Historic Trust, the SCAPE Trust and the Prehistoric Society.

In March 2022 The Scottish Society for Northern Studies and the Pictish Arts Society held a conference in her honour. The papers as delivered at the conference were made available to view online, and its proceedings have since been published as a festschrift.

Death Ritchie died on 8 May 2026, aged 82.

Publications Selected books Ritchie, J.N.G. & A. (1972). Edinburgh and South East Scotland. Heinemann.

Ritchie, A. (1977). The Kingdom of the Picts. Chambers.

Ritchie, A. & Ritchie, G. (1978). The Ancient Monuments of Orkney. HMSO

Ritchie, G. & Ritchie, A. (1981). Scotland: Archaeology and History. Thames & Hudson.

Ritchie, A. (1985). Orkney and Shetland (Exploring Scotland’s Heritage), HMSO.

Ritchie, A. (1986). Brough of Birsay, HMSO.

Ritchie, A. (1988). Scotland BC: An Introduction to the Prehistoric Houses, Tombs, Ceremonial Monuments and Fortifications in the Care of the Secretary of State for Scotland. HMSO.

Ritchie, A. (1989). Picts: an introduction to the life of the Picts and the carved stones in the care of the Secretary of State for Scotland. HMSO.

Ritchie, A. & Breeze, D. J. (1991). Invaders of Scotland: Introduction to the Archaeology of the Romans, Scots, Angles and Vikings. HMSO.

Ritchie, A. (1993). Viking Scotland. Historic Scotland.

Ritchie, A. (1993). The Ancient Monuments of Orkney. Historic Scotland.

Ritchie, A. (ed) (1994). Govan and its early medieval sculpture. Sutton.

Ritchie, A. (1994). Perceptions of the Picts: from Eumenius to John Buchan. Groam House Museum Trust.

Ritchie, A. (1995). Prehistoric Orkney. Historic Scotland/Batsford.

Ritchie, A. (1996). Orkney (Exploring Scotland’s Heritage). HMSO.

Ritchie, A. (1997). Iona. Historic Scotland.

Ritchie, A. (1997). Shetland (Exploring Scotland’s Heritage). HMSO.

Ritchie, A. (1997). Meigle Museum: Pictish Carved Stones. Historic Scotland.

Ritchie, A. & G. (1998). Scotland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford University Press.

Ritchie, A. (1999). Govan and its carved stones. Pinkfoot Press.

Ritchie, A. (ed.) (2000). Neolithic Orkney in its European Context. McDonald Institute Monograph, Cambridge.

Ritchie, A. & Fisher, I. (2001). Iona Abbey and Nunnery. Historic Scotland.

Downes, J. & Ritchie A. (eds) (2003). Sea Change: Orkney and Northern Europe in the Later Iron Age AD 300–800. Orkney Heritage Society.

Ritchie, A. (2004). Hogback gravestones at Govan and beyond. Friends of Govan Old.

Ritchie, A. (ed.) (2005). Kilellan Farm, Ardnave, Islay: Excavations of a prehistoric to early medieval site by Colin Burgess and others 1954–1976 : Kilellan Farm, Ardnave, Islay: Excavations of a prehistoric to early medieval site by Colin Burgess and others 1954–1976. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Ritchie, A, Scott, I. G. & Gray, T. E. (2006). People of Early Scotland. From Contemporary Images. Pinkfoot Press.

Scott, I. G. & Ritchie, A. (2009). Pictish and Viking-Age Carvings from Shetland. RCAHMS.

Ritchie, A. (2009). On the Fringe of Neolithic Europe. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Ritchie, A. (2011). A Shetland Antiquarian: James Thomas Irvine of Yell. Shetland Amenity Trust.

Ritchie, A. (ed) (2012). Historic Bute: Land and People. Scottish Society for Northern Studies.

Selected papers Ritchie, A. (1977). 'Excavation of Pictish and Viking Age farmsteads at Buckquoy, Orkney'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 108 (1976–77), 174–227.

Ritchie, A. (1983). 'Excavation of a Neolithic farmstead at Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 113 (1983), 40–121.

Ritchie, A. (1985) 'The early settlers' (pp 36–53) and 'Orkney in the Pictish Kingdom' (pp 183–204), in Renfrew, C (ed) The Prehistory of Orkney, 183–204. Edinburgh University Press.

Brundle, A. Lorimer, D.H., and Ritchie, A. (2003). 'Buckquoy revisited' in Downes, J. and Ritchie, A. (eds) Sea change: Orkney and Northern Europe in the Later Iron Age AD 300–800. Balgavies: The Pinkfoot Press, 95–104.

A collection of her and her husband's papers and photos have been digitized and are available on Canmore.