Myra Wilkinson-van Hoek obtained a 'Drs' degree (the equivalent of a British MA) in English and Translating at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands in 1993. She subsequently worked as an academic translator and as a subtitler for Dutch television.

Having married an English archaeologist and swapped Amsterdam for the southern English countryside, she soon embarked on an MA in archaeology at the University of Reading, for which she was awarded a Distinction in 2003. She has been actively involved in archaeology since 2000. Her fieldwork experience includes participation in regional survey in Greece, Spain and France, and in excavations in England and France with a variety of HE institutions as well as the Institute of Field Archaeologists, of which she is a member at the Practitioner level. She is also actively involved in archaeological consultancy work with ARCA, based at the University of Winchester.