Dr. Richard Hodges‘ career spans roughly five decades, and among his greatest academic achievements are his ground-breaking archaeological discoveries at San Vicenzo al Volturno in Molise, Italy, and at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Butrint, Albania. A prolific writer, Hodges has published an array of monographs, has contributed to many collections and co-authored volumes, and has interacted with public audiences through his personal blog and a column in the Current World Archaeology magazine.
As a young student, Hodges began attending local lectures and volunteering in excavations in Box, Wiltshire, England. His passion for archaeology continued when he began studies in archaeology and medieval history at the University of Southampton in 1970. He remained at Southhampton to pursue his doctorate, under the guidance of Colin Renfrew, and earned his PhD in 1977. His research focused on the great upheaval caused by the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, examining how the social and economic fabric of early-medieval Europe was rebuilt.
From 1976 to 1988, Hodges was a lecturer at the University of Sheffield. During his tenure there, he and his students excavated in Derbyshire’s Roystone Grange, and he launched an exhibition in Montarrenti, Tuscany as well. At this time, Hodges also began one of his longest, richest excavation projects at the monastic compound San Vincenzo al Volturno, nicknamed the “Monastic Pompeii.”
In 1988, Hodges accepted the role of director at the British School at Rome, during which his efforts at San Vincenzo expanded. He also became the scientific director of the Butrint Foundation in Butrint and managed excavations at its World Heritage Site, starting in 1993. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1995. From 1996 to 1998, Hodges headed the Prince of Wales’ Institute of Architecture, and in 1998, he began a professorship at the University of East Anglia, Norwich.
Throughout his career, Hodges served as Visiting Professor for many institutions, such as SUNY-Binghamton in 1983, the University of Siena from 1984 to 1987, and the University of Copenhagen from 1987 to 1988. Additionally, he acted as an adviser for cultural heritage institutions and government bodies, namely advising the Ministry of Culture in Albania in 1999 and the Packard Institute in 2000.
He also served as the Williams Director at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology from 2007 to 2012. In 2012, Hodges became the president of one of the Norwegian Institute’s neighbors, the American University of Rome, a position he occupied until his retirement in 2020.
Working in and among the scholars of Rome for many decades, Hodges interacted with the Norwegian Institute in Rome on many occasions, collaborated with Norwegian researchers and attended lectures at the institute. He also wrote the foreword to a monograph on the Greek island Naxos, a publication overseen by the Norwegian Institute of Athens and supported by the efforts of the universities of Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Oslo.
The Richard Hodges fondo at the Norwegian Institute of Rome is a small donation which primarily consists of the history and archaeology of the Late Antique to Early Medieval periods. Notably, his pivotal work on the Church of San Vicenzo al Volturno is featured, as well as other related works that concern Istria, Dalmatia, and other regions. He also donated works on Cividale del Friuli.
Bibliography
Selected Works
Hodges, Richard. The Anglo-Saxon Achievement: Archaeology & the Beginnings of English Society. Cornell University Press, 1989.
_________. Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Towns and Trade A.D. 600-1000. Second edition. New Approaches in Archaeology. Duckworth, 1989.
_________. Goodbye to the Vikings? Re-Reading Early Medieval Archaeology. Duckworth, 2006.
_________. “The Not-So-Dark Ages.” Archaeology 51, no. 5 (1998): 61–65
_________. Towns and Trade in the Age of Charlemagne. Duckworth Debates in Archaeology. Duckworth, 2003.
_________. Travels with an Archaeologist: Finding a Sense of Place. Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.
Secondary Literature
Hodges, Richard. “Richard Hodges. Archaeologist. Author. University President, Rome.” Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.richardhodges.net.
_________. “Travel: Richard Hodges’ Homage to Apalirou.” Current World Archaeology, January 23, 2019.
Olszewski, Deborah I. “Richard Hodges, The Williams Director.” Exhibition (Philadelphia) 50, no. 1 (2008): 4–5.
“Penn Museum Director: Richard Hodges.” Almanac (Philadelphia) 54, no. 2 (2007).