Vere Gordon Childe (April 14, 1892, Sydney, New South Wales–October 19, 1957, Mt. Victoria, New South Wales) was an Australian philologist by training who later specialised in archaeology, perhaps best known for his excavation of the unique Neolithic site of Skara Brae in Orkney and for his Marxist views which informed his thinking about prehistory. He is also credited with coining the terms "Neolithic Revolution" and "Urban Revolution". He was one of the great archaeological synthesizers attempting to place his discoveries inside a theory of prehistoric development on a wider European and world scale. April 14 is the 104th day of the year (105 in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 261 days remaining. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of over 4. ... Capital Sydney Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Professor Marie Bashir Premier Morris Iemma (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 50  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $305,437 (1st)  - Product per capita  $45,153/person (4th) Population (End of March 2006)  - Population  6,817,100 (1st)  - Density  8. ... October 19 is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The most westerly village/township in the Blue Mountains is Mount Victoria. ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... The term archaeological excavation has a double meaning. ... An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. ... Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located in the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of mainland Orkney, Scotland. ... Orkney (sometimes known as the Orkney Islands) is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles north of the coast of Caithness. ... Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ... It has been suggested that First agricultural revolution be merged into this article or section. ... In anthropology and archaeology, the urban revolution is the process by which small, kin-based, nonliterate agricultural villages are transformed into large, socially complex, civilized urban centres. ...

Biography

Childe was born in 1892 in Sydney, and came to Britain to attend the University of Oxford (Queen's College). He returned to Australia, where he became Private Secretary to John Storey, Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council for Balmain and shortly thereafter New South Wales Premier. His 1923 book How Labour Governs was based on his experience in this period of his life. On Storey's sudden death in 1921, Childe left politics and travelled in Europe. 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of over 4. ... The University of Oxford (usually abbreviated as Oxon. ... College name The Queens College Collegii Reginae Named after Queen Philippa of Hainault Established 1341 Sister College Pembroke College Provost Sir Alan Budd JCR President Vishal Mashru Undergraduates 350 MCR President Matthias Range Graduates 133 Homepage Boatclub High Street entrance to Queens College from the main quad. ... See Private Secretary to the Sovereign. ... John Storey (Born Jervis Bay, May 15, 1869; Died Sydney October 5, 1921. ... The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. ... Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. ... Capital Sydney Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Professor Marie Bashir Premier Morris Iemma (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 50  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $305,437 (1st)  - Product per capita  $45,153/person (4th) Population (End of March 2006)  - Population  6,817,100 (1st)  - Density  8. ... The Premiers of the Australian states are the heads of the executive governments in the six states of the Commonwealth of Australia. ... {{year nav|1939 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ...

His book, The Dawn of European Civilisation (1925) won him immediate recognition, and he followed it up with other books on archaeological theory. In that first book he laid out his ideas on the relation between European and Near Eastern development. He also explored the relation of archeology and Indo-European languages which he further developed in The Aryans: a study of Indo-European origins, (1926). He posited a modified diffusionist theory of the spread of civilization, identifying South Russia as the homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans and studied this theory in the context of the archeological record. His basic ideas contributed to the Kurgan invasion theory later suggested by Marija Gimbutas. Childe’s original concept of the Aryans was inevitably influenced by the racist ideology of his time, but nevertheless it differed from the Nazis' crude Aryan supremacist ideas, which he attacked strongly throughout the thirties. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age. ... Sarmatian Kurgan 4th c. ... Marija Gimbutas by Kerbstone 52, at the back of Newgrange, Co. ...

He was multi-talented, being an accomplished linguist, and by 1927 had been appointed Abercromby Professor of Archaeology at Edinburgh, a post which he held until 1946. His excavation of Skara Brae took place in 1928, when he was summoned to supervise work which had begun after a storm had uncovered previously undiscovered additional structures. For Childe, this was unusual, as he was not a great excavator; his main skill lay in interpreting of data discovered by others. That year also saw the publication of his book, The Most Ancient East (1928), which explored the rise of civilisation in the Near East. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar). ... Lord John Abercromby, 5th Baron of Aboukir and Tullibody (1841-1924) was a Scottish soldier and scholar who most famously studied European prehistory. ... Edinburgh (pronounced ; Scottish Gaelic: ) is the capital of Scotland and its second-largest city. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ...

Childe was also an accomplished populiser: his two most widely read books, What Happened in History (1942) and Man Makes Himself (1951), were readable accounts that brought archaeology to a wider audience and helped make him well known. After leaving Edinburgh, Childe was appointed director of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of London for the ten years until his retirement in 1956. He returned to Australia, but died in 1957 in the Blue Mountains. He fell to his death in circumstances which may have been accidental; however, in view of his personal circumstances, it is thought more likely that he committed suicide. Childe had been involved in left-wing politics in Australia, but his Marxism was more intellectual than activist. The Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom. ... The University of London is a university based primarily in London. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A panoramic view of the Blue Mountains The Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, are situated approximately 100 kilometres west of Sydney. ...

Childe was the first to explore developments he called the "Neolithic Revolution" and "Urban Revolution" in the archeological record, and they are still vital concepts in prehistoric studies. Further developments in civilisation (Childe did concentrate his attention on Europe and the Near East, despite the occasional excursus) could be explained with reference to the changes in technology that occurred, which were accessible from the archaeological record. To do this, Childe started to use terms like Bronze Age or Iron Age as a way of exploring shifts from one level of material development to another, rather than just for dating. It has been suggested that First agricultural revolution be merged into this article or section. ... In anthropology and archaeology, the urban revolution is the process by which small, kin-based, nonliterate agricultural villages are transformed into large, socially complex, civilized urban centres. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ...

Childe was unusual in emphasising the Hellenistic period as the apex of Graeco-Roman civilisation, rather than the world of Athens in the 5th century BC, or that of the Roman Empire. In the Hellenized eastern Mediterranean, and particularly at Alexandria he saw the culmination of classical culture. The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Greco-Roman refers to the culture of Ancient Greece and Classical Rome and reflects the essential unity of the Mediterranean world at the time when those cultures flourished, between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD. Categories: Historical stubs | Ancient Rome | Ancient Greece ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα - Athína) is the largest city and capital of Greece, located in the Attica prefecture of Southern Greece. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 5th century BC started on January 1, 500 BC and ended on December 31, 401 BC. // The Parthenon of Athens seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... Motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, c. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... ---- Alexandria (Greek: , Coptic: , Arabic: , Egyptian Arabic: Iskindireyya), (population of 3. ...

Works

• How Labour Governs (1923)
• The Dawn of European Civilization (1925)
• The Aryans: A Study of Indo-European Origins (1926)
• The Danube in Prehistory (1929)
• The Bronze Age (1930)
• The Forest Cultures of Northern Europe: A Study in Evolution and Diffusion (1931)
• The Continental Affinities of British Neolithic Pottery (1932)
• Neolithic Settlement in the West of Scotland (1934)
• New Light on the Most Ancient East (1935)
• Prehistory of Scotland (1935)
• Man Makes Himself (1936, slightly revised 1941, 1951)
• Prehistoric communities of the British Isles (1940, 2nd edition 1947)
• What Happened in History (1942)
• The Story of Tools (1944)
• Progress and Archaeology (1944, 1945)
• History (1947)
• Social Worlds of Knowledge (1949)
• The Constitution of Archaeology as a Science (1953)
• Society and Knowledge (1956)
• Piecing Together the Past: The Interpretation of Archeological Data (1956)

References and further reading

• Braidwood, Robert J. "Vere Gordon Childe, 1892–1957: [Obituary]", American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 60, No. 4. (Aug., 1958), pp. 733–736.
• [Childe, V. Gordon]. Foundations of Social Archaeology: Selected Writings of V. Gordon Childe, edited by Thomas C. Patterson and Charles E. Orser, Jr.. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2005 (hardback, ISBN 1-84520-272-4; paperback, ISBN 1-84520-273-2).
• Daniel, Glyn Edmund; Chippindale, Christopher. The Pastmasters: Eleven Modern Pioneers of Archaeology: V. Gordon Childe, Stuart Piggott, Charles Phillips, Christopher Hawkes, Seton Lloyd, Robert J. Braidwood, Gordon R. Willey, C.J. Becker, Sigfried J. De Laet, J. Desmond Clark, D.J. Mulvaney. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989 (hardcover, ISBN 0500050511).
• Gathercole, P. "'Patterns in Prehistory': An Examination of the Later Thinking of V. Gordon Childe", World Archaeology, Vol. 3, No. 2. (Oct., 1971), pp. 225–232.
• Green, Sally. Prehistorian: A Biography of V. Gordon Childe. Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England: Moonraker Press, 1981 (hardcover, ISBN 0-239-00206-7).
• Harris, David R. (ed.) The Archaeology of V. Gordon Childe: Contemporary Perspectives. Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1994 (hardcover, ISBN 0-522-84622-X).
• McNairn, Barbara. The Method and Theory of V. Gordon Childe. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1980 (paperback, ISBN 0-85224-389-8).
• Rouse, Irving. "Vere Gordon Childe, 1892–1957: [Obituary]", American Antiquity, Vol. 24, No. 1. (Jul., 1958), pp. 82–84.
• Sherratt, Andrew V. "Gordon Childe: Archaeology and Intellectual History", Past and Present, No. 125. (Nov., 1989), pp. 151–185.
• Trigger, Bruce G. Gordon Childe: Revolutions in Archaeology. London: Thames and Hudson, 1980 (hardcover, ISBN 0-500-05034-1); New York: Columbia University Press, 1980 (hardcover, ISBN 0-231-05038-0).
• Tringham, Ruth. "V. Gordon Childe 25 Years after: His Relevance for the Archaeology of the Eighties: A Review Article", Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 10, No. 1. (Spring, 1983), pp. 85–100.

External links

• Biography by American Anthropological Association.
• How Labour Governs (e-text).
• Profile of V. Gordon Childe, The Science Show, January 22, 2005.
• Vere Gordon Childe at BBC History.