Iain MacIvor

Iain MacIvor (6 May 1928 – 17 February 2017) was a British archaeologist and civil servant. He was Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland from 1980 to 1989.

Biography Born in Carlisle, MacIvor began reading for an English degree at Durham University in 1949, and was inspired by Eric Birley to begin participating in archaeological excavations at the Temple of Mithras at Carrawburgh on Hadrian's Wall.

In 1955 he was appointed as assistant inspector of ancient monuments in the Edinburgh office of what was then the Ministry of Public Building and Works, eventually rising to full inspector, Principal Inspector and finally Chief Inspector before retiring in 1989. David Breeze, another former student of Eric Birley, succeeded to the vacated post. MacIvor's interests gradually progressed from the Roman to the medieval and later periods – his greatest professional interest was said to be military fortifications of the Jacobite era.

MacIvor was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1966, but resigned his fellowship in 2005.

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