Acta

Congregation of the Regent House on 29 November 2025

A Congregation of the Regent House was held at 10 a.m. All the Graces that were submitted to the Regent House (Reporter, 6805, 2025–26, p. 126) were approved.

A titular degree and the following degrees were then conferred:

in person

Master of Arts (honoris causa)

[Grace 1 of 24 October 2025]

Christopher Evans

Senior Research Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and formerly Director of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit

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The Orator made the following speech when presenting to the Vice-Chancellor the recipient of the Honorary Degree of Master of Arts.

LAVDABILIS nobis est consuetudo iis quibus pro multis et egregiis utilitatibus uel huic comitatui et urbi uel almae Academiae praebitis gratias reddere uolumus pallam atram donare ut in intimum nostrum magistrorum ordinem recipiantur. quae toga ne despiciatur quod simplicior sit neque coloribus neque infulis reticulatis adornata; hoc enim magistri nomen ueterem esse hereditatem moneo ab artificum peritissimorum sodaliciis traditam, et eo maioris aestimandam quo rarius honoris causa accipiatur: id quod hospitem hunc nostrum quippe qui Clio studiose assectetur bene intellegere opinor, cui et urbs et Academia gratiam quam maximam iure debet habere. Academiam dico quod archaeologiae ut dicitur disciplinam quae diutius inter hos comptos ebore et uitro parietes mente potius quam manu persecuta erat, tum cum illum manipulum ad eandem scientiam actiuam exercendam condidit hic uir e bibliotheca in campum eductam totam renouauit et omnem docendi rationem apud nos redintegrauit. et urbem quia per septem haec lustra ut quisquis aut aedificiorum fundamenta iacit aut uiam nouam munit uel tritam reparat aut aediculam uetustate sublapsam in meliorem restituit statum, ecce! ii quos ducit ad locum properant ut quidquid momenti spisso sub solo conditur quanta celeritate tanta sedulitate patefaciatur prius quam totum deleatur uel umbris sempiternis obruatur. neque intra hanc urbem tantum hic uir sed per totas has insulas et extra harum insularum fines mediorum hominum historiam et uitam quotidianam clarissima luce illustrauit.

non fortunae causa neque ob gloriam petendam glebas tulla subigit qui archaeologiae peritiam profitetur: immo, humili animo idcirco se exercet ne quod peractum est omnino pereat sed ut maiorum uita ante oculos reuocata aliquantula pristinae aetatis memoria e temporis naufragiis conseruetur. quod si quid fortunae aut gloriae haec disciplina apud nos adepta est, nullum esse dubium audeo affirmo quin e huius uiri laboribus in primis comparatum esse uideatur.

dignissima domina, domina Procancellaria, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum, Antiquitatis Admiratorum Societatis sodalem, Academiae Britannicae sodalem, Archaeologorum Instituto adscriptum, instituti nostri McDonaldiani socium, manus ad scientiam antiquitatis monumentorum exercendam apud nos conditae olim rectorem,

CHRISTOPHER EVANS,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Magistri in Artibus.

IT  is our laudable custom to offer to those whom we wish to thank for their outstanding service to the County or the City or the University of Cambridge a plain black gown and to welcome them into the most intimate circle of the Masters of Arts. Let not this mantle be thought less for its simplicity or for its lack of scarlet and lace fripperies: the degree of Master is a most ancient and honourable heritage handed down from the medieval guilds of skilled craftsmen, and a token of its distinction is the rarity with which it is offered. This is something which our present honorand, devoted student of Clio that he is, will know well, I think; and he is someone to whom the County, the City and the University owe a debt of thanks. I say the University is indebted to him because the science of archaeology had for too long among us been a theoretical pursuit until this man, when he co-founded the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, led the subject out of the ivory towers of the library and into the field, and by forever changing the way it is taught here breathed life into it anew. And I say the City, because for the past thirty-five years whenever the foundations of a building have been laid, or a new road has been built or an old one repaired, whenever renovations have been made to an historic edifice, his team have rushed to the scene and worked with equal speed and diligence to uncover whatever of significance is hidden beneath the soil, before it is lost or buried forever. Nor only within the City — for he has brought to light the everyday lives and history of ordinary people throughout these islands and beyond them.

The archaeologist does not worry the ground with his trowel for the sake of fortune and glory. ‘He digs,’ as another distinguished practitioner once wrote, ‘in pity and humility, that the dead may live again, that what is past may not be forever lost, that something may be salvaged from the wreck of ages.’1 But this I dare aver: that whatever fortune, whatever glory has been garnered by the science of archaeology here in Cambridge has been won in no small part thanks to the labours of this man.

Distinguished Vice-Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

CHRISTOPHER EVANS, f.s.a., f.b.a., m.c.i.f.a.,

Senior Research Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, formerly Director of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Master of Arts, honoris causa.

R. B. SACHERS, Director of Governance and Compliance

END OF THE OFFICIAL PART OF THE ‘REPORTER’