Sandi Toksvig awarded honorary archaeology doctorate

Broadcaster Sandi Toksvig has been awarded an honorary doctorate of science for her work in archaeology.

It comes after the former Bake Off presenter filmed an Iron Age dig with Bournemouth University (BU) researchers and students near Winterborne Kingston in Dorset.

The Channel 4 programme Hidden Wonders showed her taking part in a study suggesting the site's lineage could be traced to a single woman and that its communities were centred on mothers, with men joining women's families rather than the other way round.

Toksvig told the BBC: "It's really thrilling - I've had honorary doctorates in the past but this is a doctor of science, which I just feel has got that bit more class to it."

The comedian and former QI host was one of 400 students to graduate from BU during a ceremony earlier.

She already had a degree in archaeology and anthropology from Cambridge, but reignited her love of the subject by working with BU academics on the Iron Age programme in 2025.

They worked to uncover human remains and artefacts that shed light on past lives, including evidence of a matriarchal society led by powerful women.

Toksvig said she wanted to see more women join the profession to help rewrite history.

"We used to think that cave paintings were done by men between bison hunts and now they've analysed the fingerprints and we know that almost 90% of it was done by women - hanging around waiting for the pot to boil maybe," she said.

BU awarded Toksvig the honorary doctorate because of her involvement in the dig - and she said she was "excited to have a further link" to the university.

"I don't come and take these things and then go away with a certificate," she said.

She added: "I will try and get further involvement with the university so I'm hoping it's the beginning of my relationship with Bournemouth."

Fellow excavator Dr Megan Russell hopes Toksvig will work on another dig with the team in the future.

"What Sandi did for us is showcase to the whole of the UK the love and the care that archaeologists put into what we do and actually how emotional it can be for archaeologists," she said.

"So I think being able to celebrate what she has done for us and to be with her and for her to be so proud that she now gets to be tied to Bournemouth University is wonderful."

Her father and a director of archaeology at Bournemouth University is Dr Miles Russell.

He said: "I think in her original degree she didn't get to do much fieldwork so with us we're very fieldwork heavy - so you know it's an opportunity to go out outside, find things and really rediscover the past.

"I think that's the exciting thing - that's what she hopes to do more of in the future."