Welcome to volume 26 of Archaeology International, the annual journal of record of the UCL Institute of Archaeology (IoA). As incoming Editor-in-Chief, my first task is to acknowledge the erudite stewardship of my predecessor Alice Stevenson, Editor-in-Chief from volume 21 (2018) to volume 25 (2022). Alice steered the journal through particularly challenging times in the context of the global pandemic, and it is to her credit that it stayed on the rails and continues as the principal organ of the IoA.
Archaeology International is for me an old friend, having been Assistant Editor under James Graham-Campbell from volume 13/14 (2009–11) to volume 16 (2013), when we introduced many new features, most of which are still to be found in the pages of the journal. The current issue sees a few changes. The new Director’s View sets out some of the directions where the IoA is headed, particularly in British archaeology, as well as highlighting new developments in research, staffing and teaching. Otherwise, most of the alterations are minor – largely adjustments to the ordering of the contents – but future additions are planned to extend its range and nature.
It is with a heavy heart, however, that my inaugural Editorial coincides with the passing of one of the most fondly regarded and influential colleagues I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and learning from – the late Tim Schadla-Hall, whose multi-author obituary can be found in this issue. Tim inspired a generation of critical thinkers, and represented one of the last of a kind in academia who saw it their duty to ignore the tidal wave of bureaucratic tedium that has steadily engulfed universities. His cavalier disregard for such represented a much-lamented fading light of the old ways of teaching and researching, but at the same time stoked a legacy of fires of resistance in the brightness of those that he inspired. As a community we miss him immensely and it is to Tim’s memory that this issue of Archaeology International is dedicated. Bye bye, Tim.