Renowned Filipino archaeologist and Darwinian alumnus, Victor Joaquin Paz, has sadly died at the age of 57 years. On arrival in Cambridge from the University of the Philippines Diliman in the mid 1990s to embark on graduate study, Victor immediately made his presence felt in his College and Department as a vivacious and generous younger researcher with a strong sense of community.  While working on his doctoral thesis, a pioneering study of Indonesian archaeobotany, he succeeded in combining innovative research with contributing to his academic community, be it seminar groups, mentoring, or having fun, an approach to life and to those around him that he maintained even in final years of severe illness.

After graduating, Victor returned to the Philippines to build up an archaeological training programme to secure for the first time a structure and continuity for the Philippine archaeological profession. He pressed that forward on many fronts, including his directorship of that programme, his creation of publication opportunities, including his role as founding editor of the journal Hukay. He was also ahead of the curve in using social media for the communication and advancement of his field.

Victor led two of the Philippines’ longest continuous archaeological research projects: the Palawan Island Palaeohistoric Research Project and the Catanauan Archaeological and Heritage Project. He continued to work with colleagues he first met in Cambridge, including Helen Lewis on the Palawan project, and Graeme Barker at Niah Cave in Sarawak, Borneo.  In a recent interview he reflected on approaches he learned at Cambridge: approaches to students, to institutional culture, teamwork and cross-disciplinary international collaborations. His life’s work provides a role model of how to put those approaches into effective action. His legacy is one of the strongest national archaeological research and teaching cultures in Southeast Asia. His 57 years leave an indelible mark on the archaeology of South East Asia and beyond.