Barry Cunliffe taught archaeology in the Universities of Bristol and Southampton and was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2008, thereafter becoming Emeritus Professor. He has excavated widely in Britain (Fishbourne, Bath, Danebury, Hengistbury Head, Brading) and in the Channel Islands, Brittany, and Spain, and has been President of the Council for British Archaeology and of the Society of Antiquaries, a Governor of the Museum of London, and a Trustee of the British Museum. He was a Commissioner of English Heritage from 2005 to 2013. His many publications include The Ancient Celts (1997, second edition 2018), Facing the Ocean (2001), The Druids: A Very Short Introduction (2010), Britain Begins (2012), By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean (2015), The Scythians (2019), and Facing the Sea of Sand (2023), all published by Oxford University Press. He received a knighthood in 2006.
