John Barry Mercer was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 archaeologist, author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 and weaver

Weaving

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

.

Born in Ibiza

Ibiza

Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...

 to British parents, he was educated in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He moved to Lealt on the Scottish island of Jura

Jura, Scotland

Jura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, situated adjacent and to the north-east of Islay. Part of the island is designated as a National Scenic Area. Until the twentieth century Jura was dominated - and most of it was eventually owned - by the Campbell clan of Inveraray Castle on Loch...

 in the 1960s where he spent more than a decade researching and excavating Jura and establishing it as a significant Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

 site.

Mercer wrote a children's novel, Lizard Island Expedition (1965), drawing on his own experiences in the Balearics. He also published a guidebook to the islands of Colonsay

Colonsay

Colonsay is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, located north of Islay and south of Mull and has an area of . It is the ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeill. Aligned on a south-west to north-east axis, it measures in length and reaches at its widest...

, Gigha

Gigha

The Isle of Gigha is a small island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of about 150 people, many of whom speak Scottish Gaelic. The climate is mild with higher than average sunshine hours and the soils are fertile.Gigha has a...

 and Jura (1974) and several books on the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

. He also published a history of wool spinning.

Books

Lizard Island Expedition (novel), Oliver and Boyd, 1965.

Canary Islands: Fuerteventura, David & Charles, 1973.

Hebridean Islands: Colonsay, Gigha, Jura, Blackie, 1974.

Spanish Sahara, Allen & Unwin, 1976

The Spinner's Workshop, Prism Press, 1978

The Canary Islanders : their prehistory, conquest, and survival, Collings, 1980.

Academic Papers

Mercer, J (1968) 'Stone tools from a washing-limit deposit of the highest postglacial transgression, Lealt Bay, Isle of Jura', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh...

 (Proc Soc Antiq Scot), 100 (1967-8), 1-46.

Mercer, J (1970) 'Flint tools from the present tidal zone, Lussa Bay, Isle of Jura, Argyll', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 102, (1969-70), 1-30.

Mercer, J (1971) 'A regression-time stone-workers' camp, 33ft OD, Lussa River, Isle of Jura', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 103 (1970-1), 1-32.

Mercer, J (1972) 'Roomed and Roomless Grain-Drying Kilns: the Hebridean Boundary?', Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society

Ancient Monuments Society

The Ancient Monuments Society is a registered charity in England and Wales, founded in 1924 "for the study and conservation of ancient monuments, historic buildings and fine old craftsmanship".-National Amenity Societies:...

(Trans Ancient Mon Soc), New Series, 19 (1972), 27-36.

Mercer, J (1972) 'Microlithic and Bronze Age camps, 75-26 ft OD, N Cam, Isle of Jura', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 104 (1971-2), 1-22.

Mercer, J (1974) 'Glenbatrick Waterhole, a microlithic site on the Isle of Jura', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 105 (1972-4), 9-32.

Mercer, J (1980) 'Lussa Wood I: the late-glacial and early post-glacial occupation of Jura', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 110 (1979-80), 1-31.

Mercer, J and Searight, S (1986) 'Glengarrisdale: confirmation of Jura's third microlithic phase', 'Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 116 (1986), 41-55.