Lord William Desmond Taylour, FSA, KCSG (3 January 1904 – 2 December 1989) was a British archaeologist, specialising in Mycenaean Greece.

[5] On 2 September 1939, the day before the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, Taylour was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Armoured Corps, Territorial Army.

[5][6] He remained at the University of Cambridge to undertake a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Mycenaean pottery, which he completed in 1955.

[3] From 1949 onwards, he took part in numerous excavations in Greece, in particular at Mycenae with Alan Wace, and at Pylos with Carl Blegen.

[6] Their work led to an in-depth knowledge of the citadel of Mycenae and the development of the complex of buildings that he described as the cult centre.

[5] Between 1959 and 1977, he also excavated the site of Ayios Stephanos in Laconia, a small Bronze Age harbour,[1] demonstrating the commercial links between Minoan Crete and mainland Greece.