Jones achieved a great deal as a young man, identifying new archaeological sites while a teenager. He was elected to the Rome Scholarship for Classical Studies in 1959. From 1959 to 1962, Jones took part in the South Etruria Survey directed by
John Bryan Ward-Perkins of the
British School at Rome. After receiving his D.Phil. from Oxford, Jones continued to work in Italy, analyzing aerial photographs of
Apulia, leading to important discoveries at
Foggia. In 1964, he took an appointment at the
University of Manchester. While there, he conducted numerous field surveys and excavations of Roman sites in
Lancashire,
Cheshire,
Cumbria and
Derbyshire. He also worked at
Dolaucothi, a Roman
gold mine in
Carmarthenshire,
South Wales, his research there with Dr Peter R Lewis transforming knowledge about this unique site. He excavated the fort nearby, as well as at
Carmarthen. ==Libya==