He was an undergraduate at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where Graham Clarke, Eric Higgs and Charles McBurney were his instructors in archaeology.
He arrived in Australia in 1963 to take up a teaching position at the University of Sydney, where he later completed his PhD on Tasmanian Aboriginal archaeology.
He was married to fellow archaeologist Betty Meehan, with whom he travelled to Arnhem Land in the 1970s to live alongside and observe the Anbarra people.
[3] In the 2002 Queen's Birthday Honours Jones was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for "service to archaeology, particularly in the areas of research and teaching, and as a leader in matters relating to world heritage, conservation and indigenous social justice issues".
Notable winners have been John Mulvaney, Isabel McBryde, Harry Lourandos, Mike Smith, Sharon Sullivan and Anne Clarke (archaeologist).