Professor Emeritus Vincent Megaw

Overview

Vincent joined the then Discipline of Visual Arts at Flinders University in 1979 having previously held the Chair of Archaeology at the University of Leicester. From 1962 to 1971 he was on the staff of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sydney, during which time he carried out pioneering fieldwork on the Indigenous archaeology of the south Sydney region.

Instrumental in establishing an independent Department of Archaeology at Flinders, Vincent's main areas of interest are the archaeology and anthropology of art and museology. Together with Dr Ruth Megaw, he has been involved in a long standing research project on the art of the pre-Roman Iron Age in Europe. The Megaws have travelled and published extensively in this research area.

In addition, Vincent is interested in the archaeology of musical instruments and contemporary Aboriginal art, in which last area he introduced the first undergraduate course to be taught in an Australian University.

He has taught mainly in the area of European Iron Age Art and Archaeology and contemporary Aboriginal art. His third year Archaeology topics have included ARCH 3003: Early Celtic Art and Archaeology. Of his three hundred publications, Celtic art from its beginnings to the Book of Kells (Thames & Hudson, London 1989), written in collaboration with Dr Ruth Megaw, has recently been reprinted for the fourth time.

With the assistance of a large ARC grant, Professor Megaw recently co-directed a cooperative excavation examining the ancient salt-mine complex of Durenberg-bei-Hallein near Salzburg, Austria.

Although officially retired since 2002, as a Professor Emeritus with the status of Professor, he retains an active interest in the work of the Department. During the Australian winter months, both Megaws migrate to the University of Glasgow where they hold positions as Honorary Research Fellows in the Department of Archaeology.