Mervyn Popham Photographs of Sabratha

Photographs of Sabratha taken by Mervyn Popham during his time as a naval photographer during World War Two.

Mervyn Reddaway Popham (1927 - 2000) was an archaeologist and prehistorian.

"He was probably the most percipient archaeologist of the Late Bronze Age of Crete and the Aegean to have worked in the second half of the 20th century, and became almost as important in the archaeology of the Early Iron Age, which succeeded the Bronze Age. In his archaeology he took an analytical-empirical approach to what he saw as fundamentally historical problems, reaching unprecedented peaks of intelligent, and commonsensical, refinement."

The photographs within this small collection were taken when he apparently served as a naval photographer during the Second World War.

Source: P.J. Marshall, "Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 120, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, II", (British Academy, 2003).

1. Photographs

2. Administration Documents

Available for general access

Please contact the BILNAS General Secretary on gensec@bilnas.org If you wish to consult the archive.

The photographs were sent by Mervyn Popham to John [Lloyd?] at the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford. John [Riley?] then sent the collection to John Dore to deposit the photographs to the Society for Libyan Studies Archive on 9 February 1997.