Mick Jones (MJJ) is one of us. By which I mean he is one of that happy breed of urban archaeologists whose careers, like my own (in Winchester then York), began in the 1970s and who have seen the early history of Britain’s towns and cities emerge from profound obscurity into the light of ever-increasing knowledge. As MJJ puts it in a Lincoln context: ‘Over five decades of intensive activity in the field backed up by analysis and research have produced a huge increase in our knowledge of the city’s origins and development and their environmental context — in effect a transformation in understanding.’

This book is an account of how this ‘transformation’ came to pass. MJJ is uniquely qualified to be our guide to Lincoln, having been involved in its archaeology since 1970 and director of the field team, in its various guises, from 1979 until his retirement as City Archaeologist in 2012. For over 30 years, his was the steady hand taking the city’s archaeology through many twists and turns in its organisation and funding — and Lincoln has had more of both than most places.

This is not an academic study of Lincoln’s archaeology, for which the reader should refer, first of all, to the Urban Archaeological Assessment (City by the Pool, 2003) and to MJJ’s own Roman Lincoln (2nd edn, 2011), although I did think the book could have done with a plan to show the location of all the sites referred to. What we are offered here is a slice of social history. MJJ begins by telling us something about his early life and how he became an archaeologist. As far as I am concerned, MJJ is also ‘one of us’ in having been born and raised in the West Riding. Showing commendable broadmindedness, however, he headed across the Pennines to Manchester University to study classics, where his interest in archaeology was inspired by the likes of Professor Barri Jones and other distinguished scholars.

The Lincoln story begins with a review of discoveries, such as the Roman upper west gate, by the antiquarians and early archaeologists of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries before the creation of the Lincoln Archaeological Trust in 1972. Then, in the main body of the book, MJJ sets the archaeological research after that date against a background of the way the city has come to terms with its heritage in a wider sense and how this has been studied, conserved and presented to the public. What is very striking is how many competences an archaeologist in MJJ’s position must have, whether in presenting information to the public via the media of one sort and another or in a museum environment, in more formal teaching, in dealing with staff, or in the ability to network on the local, national and even international stages to keep the show on the road. As we follow MJJ’s account, we meet the usual cast of characters with whom one would expect to have dealings in a historic city. First of all, there are the locals, including the grandees, such as Sir Francis Hill, renowned historian of Lincoln, or the formidable Dames Kathleen Kenyon and Kathleen Major, the elected representatives, some supportive, others less so, the local government officers, usually long suffering, the museum staff, members of the business community, especially property developers, and the citizens of Lincoln eager to play their part. In respect of the last group, FLARE (Friends of Lincoln Archaeological Research and Excavation) has been an exemplary organisation of its genre, no doubt due, in large part, to MJJ’s active support and encouragement. Then there are the academics, such as Sir David Wilson (Trust Chair in the late 1970s), who have generously provided advice and assistance over the years. Finally, we are introduced to the archaeologists who have done the actual work in Lincoln, the trusted professionals, the intellectual types who shone brightly before vanishing over the horizon, and the ever-willing local amateurs. In summary, this is a book which should be on the reading list for all courses in heritage management and related subjects as it takes you down to ground level and shows you how the job is done. Of particular interest for me was MJJ’s work in the early 2000s as City Archaeologist (‘curator’ in current jargon). Having been leader of a contracting team and subsequently a consultant, the two other sides of the triangle in the development-led archaeology of today, it was salutary to learn about some of the problems and frustrations experienced by MJJ in dealing with development through the planning system.

I am sorry to report that I did spot an error in the book. We are told (98) that it was in 1976 that ‘new lodgings for temporary excavators’ were found at 2 Yarborough Road, but I was accommodated there in 1974 when digging at the Danes Terrace and Steep Hill sites — never forgotten, as it must be the grandest house I have ever lived in (stained glass windows in the stair well)! This minor matter apart (one for the second edition?), what we are left above all on reading MJJ’s most excellent memoir is the impression of a career well spent and a life well lived.