Career
Later in 1913, Keiller founded the Sizaire-Berwick motor company, which produced copies of Rolls-Royce cars. After the outbreak of the First World War, he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a temporary lieutenant, moving to the Royal Naval Air Service in December 1914. In 1915 he was invalided out of the service, but in 1918 he joined air intelligence, where he remained until the end of the war.
Keiller began to pursue an interest in archaeology. In 1922 he and O. G. S. Crawford undertook an aerial survey of archaeological sites in south western England. This work led to their publication of Wessex from the Air in 1928, the first book of aerial archaeology to be published in the UK.
Using his wealth, Keiller decided to buy nearby Windmill Hill and then undertake excavations there. His work proved that the site was a causewayed enclosure, and it became the monument type-site for decades afterward. In 1934, he began a two-year excavation of the West Kennet Avenue, which led south east from the Avebury stone circle. As he discovered buried stones, he had them re-erected, and marked the stone-holes with pillars.
Keiller's first major excavation at Avebury was in 1937, the first of three seasons over the ensuing years. Each concentrated on a quadrant of the circle, clearing undergrowth, restoring and conserving the site. Buried stones, some up to a metre below ground, were uncovered and replaced in their original stone-holes. As with the avenue, he placed concrete pylons to denote missing stones. That same year, he founded the Morven Institute of Archaeological Research.
In 1938 he discovered the famous barber surgeon of Avebury skeleton in the south west quadrant. Keiller opened a museum that year, to display finds from the Windmill Hill, West Kennet, and Avebury excavations.
Keiller leased and restored Avebury Manor & Garden, now a National Trust property consisting of an early 16th-century manor house and its surrounding garden.
The Second World War ended excavations at Avebury. Keiller joined the special constabulary at Marlborough. As his duties left little time for archaeology, he had the museum mothballed.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Keiller
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