Vere Gordon Childe was a remarkable
man who is considered the father of modern archaeology. Here are
some other biographical tidbits:
- He was better known as V. Gordon Childe
- He was born in Sydney in 1892 to an English family, and
educated at first the University of Sydney then later at the
University of Oxford
- He was a passionate and vocal socialist, and his political
views sometimes limited his access to academic work
opportunities
- He apparently had a penchant for wearing a red tie that was an
outward indication of his political leanings
- He also is reported to have enjoyed wearing very short shorts
with socks, sock suspenders and large boots during warm
weather
- He travelled widely and spoke several European languages
- He never married and was widely regarded as an eccentric
- He loathed (and was not particularly skilled
at) performing excavations, but was instead recognised for his
superior ability to interpret evidence
- His most famous excavation was of a Neolithic village in Skara
Brae in the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland from 1927 to 1930,
which was the topic of one of his many books
- He was Abercromby Professor of Archaeology at the University of
Edinburgh from 1927 to 1946, co-founder and president of the
Prehistoric Society and director of the Institute of Archeology
from 1946 until his death
- In 1957, he chose to end his life at the Grose Valley, at
virtually the same point where Charles Darwin had stood almost a
century earlier and realised that the Earth was a lot older than he
had ever imagined
- He is mentioned in the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Vere
[Faith], 6 November - 7 December, 2013.