Fitton was born in Rochdale in 1953 and attended Bury Grammar School for Girls where she was friends with Victoria Wood. Fitton has spent her career working at the British Museum. She started as a research assistant in the Department of Greece and Rome, and then progressed to become the Assistant Keeper responsible for the Greek Bronze Age collections. Since 2007, Fitton has been the Keeper. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 29 April 1999. Fitton's current work includes the digitisation of the collection of Cypriot antiquities at the British Museum. She also works on Troy. Fitton has written a number of books to make her subject matter accessible to undergraduates and general readers. Her 2002 book Minoans was pitched to make the latest archaeological information accessible and affordable to students.
Television and film
Fitton has appeared or consulted on several television series:
Appearances
Troy: From Ruins to Reality
Attacking Troy
Consultant
The Minoans
Helen of Troy
Troy
Fitton also gave advice on historical accuracy to the producers and cast of Troy in 2004. Fitton reflected on her experience in a 2009 volume on the film, where she considered whether the film should have adhered more closely to historical facts. While Fitton believed that the film could have done more to reflect historical and archaeological realities, she concluded that:
Yet my personal view is that the story is not history, that Homer was not a historian, and that something of Homer would certainly have been lost in a purist archaeological approach. Ultimately, dramatic success matters more than the archaeological accuracy of Helen’s hairpins. It matters more for modern audiences to feel for Achilles in his progress from war machine to man, to sympathize with Hector in his efforts to defend all that was dear to him, and in the end to mourn for Priam and for Troy.
Selected publications
J.L. Fitton in ed. T Kiely Ancient Cyprus in the British Museum. Essays in honour of Veronica Tatton-Brown pp. v-viii.
J.L. Fitton 'Troy and the Role of the Historical Advisor' in ed. Martin M Winckler Troy: From Homer's Iliad to Hollywood Epic pp. 99–106.
J.L. Fitton, The Aigina Treasure. Aegean Bronze Age jewelry and a mystery revealed.
J.L. Fitton, N. Meeks and L. Joyner, 'The Aigina Treasure: Catalogue and Technical Report', in Fitton 2009, pp. 17–31.
J.L.Fitton, 'Links in a chain: Aigina, Dahshur and Tod’, in Fitton 2009, pp. 61–6.
J.L. Fitton, Contributions to, J. Aruz, K. Benzel and J. Evans, Beyond Babylon. Art, trade and diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C..
J. L. Fitton, Minoans.
J. L. Fitton, Cycladic Art.
J. L. Fitton, The Discovery of the Greek Bronze Age.
