Growing up in a small town in Ireland, Thomas Kiely studied archaeology, ancient and medieval history at the University of Liverpool and then completed a PhD in Cypriot prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford. He joined the Department of Greece and Rome at the BM in 2006 to work on the A.G. Leventis Foundation-sponsored Cyprus Digitisation Project. He also looks after the Aegean Bronze Age collection at the BM. Apart from researching and publishing the Cyprus collection and assisting with exhibitions (in the BM, the UK and worldwide), he also works on the history of the excavation and reception of Cypriot artefacts in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a special emphasis on social and economic matters and the trade in antiquities.