I have just belatedly learned of the April 27 death of Graham Ritchie, an archaeologist based in Edinburgh who was much loved by his colleagues. I only met him once in person, at a meeting in Bougon, France a few years ago devoted to megalithic monuments in Europe (of which Stonehenge and Carnac are famous examples.) However, I spent many hours talking (and lunching and dining) with him and his Edinburgh colleague Magdalena Midgley, also an expert on megaliths, and I have kept in touch with both of them since. Indeed, early this year Graham invited me to stay with him and his wife Anna the next time I was in Edinburgh.

Although he was nearly 60 years old at the time that I met him, Graham had an amazingly childlike nature, in the best possible sense--full of enthusiasm for archaeology and wonder and curiosity about what the megalith builders of Europe had achieved. He also loved France not to mention its food and wines. The last time I saw him, we sat at a cafe table together, waiting for different trains to take us away from Bougon, and had a long talk over coffee. He seemed full of hope about the years to come and what he might do with them. It is heartbreaking that his life was cut short, at the age of 62, and I find myself surprised at how sad his death makes me even though I did not know him very well. I am sure that everyone who knew him feels the same way.