Jim Leary

Dr Jim Leary is a writer, archaeologist, and lecturer at the University of York, with 30 years’ professional experience. Fascinated since childhood by the stone circles and round monuments that dot the British and Irish landscapes, Jim has spent his career seeking to understand them. He has directed major excavations across Britain, including Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, Europe’s tallest Neolithic monument, and Marden Henge, a vast prehistoric ceremonial arena between Avebury and Stonehenge. Jim is also a passionate walker and has rambled, roamed, trekked, and trailed across many prehistoric sites in the British Isles.

His new book, ‘The Seekers: Unearthing Britain’s Lost Neolithic People’, tells the epic story of Britain and Ireland’s first farmers, who lived at the end of the Stone Age, long before written history.

Jim has written several other books, including ‘Footmarks. A Journey into Our Restless Past’ (Icon, 2023), which was named a Waterstones ‘Best History Book of 2023’. The Chinese-language edition of ‘Footmarks’ was published in 2025 and won Openbook’s ‘Best Translated Book of 2025’ award. Other books include ‘The Remembered Land’ (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015) and ‘The Story of Silbury Hill’ (English Heritage, 2010), which features a foreword by Sir David Attenborough and was nominated for Current Archaeology’s ‘Book of the Year’ award. In 2018, he was among three nominated for the prestigious ‘Archaeologist of the Year’ award by Current Archaeology.

Jim has written for The Guardian and appeared on numerous history and science programmes. He lives on the North York Moors with his wife, two children, and a scruffy little dog.

‘The Seekers’ will be published in June 2027.