Background
Catling was born on 26 June 1924.
anthropologist archaeologist art historian
Catling was born on 26 June 1924.
He was educated at Bristol Grammar School, then a grammar school in the Clifton area of Bristol.
He went on to study Literae Humaniores at Street John"s College, University of Oxford. He remained there to take a doctorate on the Cypriot Bronze Age. This was later published under the tile Cypriot Bronze work in the Mycenaean World.
In 1951, Catling surveyed Hala Sultan Tekke.
Between 1955 and 1959, he was Archaeological Survey Officer of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus. From 1960 to 1971, he was successively assistant keeper and senior assistant keeper at the Department of Antiquities of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
In 1971, he was appointed director of the British School at Athens. He served in that post until 1989.
He was a Supernumerary Fellow of Linacre College, University of Oxford.
Following his retirement in 1989, Catling founded the Friends of the British School at Athens. He served as its honorary secretary until 2011. Catling died on 15 February 2013 at his home.
His funeral was held at Street Matthew"s Church, Langford, Oxfordshire on 1 March 2013.
He was buried in Church of Street Mary & All Saints, Broomfield.
German Archaeological Institute]
He was an Honorary Member of the Archaeological Society of Athens and a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute.