John Hunter has undertaken extensive excavations in the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland and elsewhere. He is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham and Affiliate of the Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow. As a Royal Commissioner on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland for eleven years he was involved in its merger into Historic Environment Scotland. In 2012 he was awarded an OBE for services to scholarship.