Schuyler Jones was an American-born anthropologist and museum curator whose adventures drew comparisons to the iconic movie character Indiana Jones. He undertook numerous fieldwork expeditions and during 1951–1952 he visited the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Southern Algeria and French West Africa. In 1952–1954 he visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Algeria, the Sahara, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. Jones completed ten expeditions to Nuristan in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan between 1960 and 1970 which resulted in his best known published works.
After completing his doctoral studies, Jones was appointed Assistant Curator and University Lecturer in Ethnology at the Pitt Rivers Museum and Linacre College. He held this post from 1971 to 1985 when he was appointed Director of the Museum. Jones retired as Director in 1997, after which he returned to the USA. In 1998, he was appointed a CBE for services to the Pitt Rivers Museum in the Queen’s birthday honours.
Linacre Principal, Nick Leimu-Brown, said;
“Sky Jones was a towering figure in the field of ethnography and a global expert on Nuristan in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. It was an honour to have known him and for this college to have had him as a fellow.”
