Audrey Lilian Meaney FSA FAHA (19 March 1931 – 14 February 2021) was an archaeologist and historian specialising in the study of Anglo-Saxon England.
[3][4] This established Meaney's interdisciplinary approach to early medieval history, which is noteworthy for its combination of archaeological and textual sources.
[5] On finishing her PhD, Meaney moved to Australia, to the English Department at the University of New England; 'in the interests of her marriage'[2] she moved to Sydney, taking temporary academic positions there until, in 1968, she was appointed to the recently formed Macquarie University, where she taught until her retirement in 1989, balancing the requirements of work with those of motherhood.
Indeed, her interest in the role of women has been a dominant theme in her research into Anglo-Saxon culture, removing yet another layer of invisibility over women's place in history.Meaney took a leading role in founding the Sydney Medieval and Renaissance Group and the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
[11] In 2010, Oxbow Books published an anthology titled Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited, edited by the archaeologists Martin Carver, Alex Sanmark and Sarah Semple.