Anna Ritchie (née Bachelier, born 28 September 1943) is a British archaeologist and historian.

She is known for her work at archaeological sites in Orkney, and has written a number of guidebooks for the HMSO and Historic Environment Scotland about Scottish history and historical sites.

[1] She was the first female president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

[2] Her interest in archaeology began as a young student at Woking Girls’ Grammar School in the 1950s.

The school had a small collection of Roman and Egyptian artefacts which the young Anna curated, catalogued and redisplayed.

In an interview with the Egypt Centre at Swansea University, she recalled, 'the artefacts were displayed in a shelved case in the main entrance hall of the school, and I loved looking after them.

You are right in thinking that I compiled the first inventory, and indeed that the museum was a spur to my future as an archaeologist.

[4] The title of her doctoral thesis is "Settlements and Economy in Britain during the first millennium B.C.".

Beginning her career in the late 1960s, she has researched and published widely in academic and popular publications.

In 1968, she married fellow archaeologist J N Graham Ritchie (died 2005) and the couple had two children.

[5] She and her husband often collaborated on fieldwork, research and writing projects, including Scotland: Archaeology and Early History (1981), the Oxford Archaeological Guide to Scotland (1998) and The Ancient Monuments of Orkney, published in 1978.

In the 1970s she directed excavations at three major archaeological sites in Orkney - the Pictish and Viking farmstead at Buckquoy in Birsay, the Neolithic farmstead of Knap of Howar on Papa Westray and a Neolithic chambered cairn on the Holm of Papa Westray.

As well as publishing widely in academic journals and books,[6] Ritchie has also written extensively for more popular publications.

She has authored numerous guidebooks and publications for the HMSO and Historic Environment Scotland, covering topics such as Scottish Prehistory, Picts, Vikings, early Medieval sculpture and place-focused works on the archaeology of Iona, Orkney, Shetland, and Bute.

She was a panelist on a 1971 episode of the television show Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, discussing the Viking Age.

She has also acted as a consultant for the television series Time Team and Blood of the Vikings.

[1] She was the first woman president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1990–93),[2] and now an Honorary Fellow,[7] was Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries (London)[1] and received an OBE for her services to archaeology in 1997.

[8] She has also served as a trustee of the National Museum of Scotland[9] and the British Museum, and has been a long-standing supporter of heritage organisations the SCAPE Trust, Groam House Museum and The Govan Stones.

[10] In January 2022 The Scottish Society for Northern Studies and the Pictish Arts Society announced a conference to be held in her honour in March 2022.

[11][12] The proceedings of the virtual conference are intended to be published as a festschrift, and the papers as delivered were made available to view online.

Orkney and Shetland (Exploring Scotland’s Heritage), HMSO.

Scotland BC: An Introduction to the Prehistoric Houses, Tombs, Ceremonial Monuments and Fortifications in the Care of the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Invaders of Scotland: Introduction to the Archaeology of the Romans, Scots, Angles and Vikings.

Perceptions of the Picts: from Eumenius to John Buchan.

Meigle Museum: Pictish Carved Stones.

Kilellan Farm, Ardnave, Islay: Excavations of a prehistoric to early medieval site by Colin Burgess and others 1954–1976 : Kilellan Farm, Ardnave, Islay: Excavations of a prehistoric to early medieval site by Colin Burgess and others 1954–1976.

Sea Change: Orkney and Northern Europe in the Later Iron Age AD 300-800.

A Shetland Antiquarian: James Thomas Irvine of Yell.

ISBN 9780953522644 A collection of her and her husband's papers and photos have been digitized and are available on Canmore.