Gray was born in 1872 in Lichfield. In 1888 he started working for the archaeologist Augustus Pitt Rivers and trained in archaeological techniques and later took over as his secretary.[2] In 1899 he became assistant to Henry Balfour at the Pitt Rivers Museum before leaving to become curator at the museum in Taunton, which later became the Museum of Somerset, where he stayed until 1949 and wrote frequent papers for their journal.[1][3] During this time he was involved in the dismissal of Frederick Bligh Bond as archaeologist at Glastonbury Abbey when he claimed that much of his work was helped by the "spirits of Glastonbury monks".[4]
Gray married Florence Young in 1899, and they had a son, Lionel.[5] Florence took part in excavations and field walking with Gray, and also carried out post-excavation work at the museum in Taunton.[5][6][7]
A photograph of the Avebury ditch showing Florence St George Gray and her son Lionel, taken on 28 April 1914, by Harold St George Gray.
Arbor Low
After leaving Pitt-Rivers he led the excavations at Arbor Low in 1901 and 1902,[10] and then worked on the rings on Bodmin Moor.[11]
Glastonbury Lake Village
In 1904 he was involved with Arthur Bulleid in the excavation of Glastonbury Lake Village and later at Meare Lake Village. One of Gray's contributions to archaeology was the scale of the excavations undertaken and the detailed records kept following the teaching of his mentor Pitt-Rivers.[12] He also developed techniques of making three dimensional models of the sites.[13]
Maumbury Rings
From 1908 to 1913 he was responsible for excavations at Maumbury Rings.[14] Gray's report for the 1910 excavations notes that Florence St George Gray was responsible for restoring antlers, a human skull and other objects.[15]
A photograph of excavations at Avebury ditch showing 12 workers, taken on 21 April 1922, by Harold St George Gray.
Avebury
Gray excavated for five seasons between 1908 and 1922 at Avebury (1908, 1909, 1911, 1914 and 1922).[16][17] His discovery of over forty antler picks at or near the bottom of the henge ditch at Avebury proved that it had been dug out of solid chalk to a depth of 11 m (36 ft) using red deer antlers as picks.[18][19] Excavations at Avebury were sponsored by the British Academy and private donors.[18]
^Dunning, RW; Baggs, R.J.E. Bush, AP; Bush, RJE (1978). "Parishes: Martock". A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 4. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
^Gray, Harold St George (1910). "Short report on the excavations at Maumbury Rings, 1910". Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 31.
^ abcSmith, I. (1965). Windmill Hill and Avebury: Excavations by Alexander Keiller 1925–1939. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 218.
^Pitts, Michael W.; Whittle, A. (1992). "Development and date of Avebury". Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 58: 203–212. doi:10.1017/s0079497x00004151. S2CID163758629.
