Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Convenors:
Katsuyuki Okamura, Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Japan
arc-alc@zeus.eonet.ne.jp
Robin Derricourt, School of Humanities & Languages, University of New South Wales, Australia
robin@derricourt.com
Randall H. McGuire, Anthropology, Binghamton University, US
rmcguire@binghamton.edu
Vere Gordon Childe (1892-1957), the Australian-born archaeologist, is renowned for his groundbreaking theories on the development of human history and social evolution, underpinned by his deep understanding of archaeological evidence, as well as his great contribution to archaeological methods and explanation. His major works were translated into 22 languages, with some are still in print and widely read, 100 years after the first edition of “The Dawn of European Civilization” was published in 1925. In addition, thanks to the recent examination of previously unpublished materials, his achievements are being examined and elucidated from a new perspective. This session invites participants to reconsider his methodologies, insights and impacts, and their current relevance to the archaeology of different regions and periods. We will discuss how his commitment to addressing grand questions about human history and social organization remains significant today, inviting a new generation of archaeologists to engage with these complex issues. Join us to explore how Childe’s legacy can inform contemporary research and foster innovative approaches to understanding human societies.
Papers:
Reading and Misreading V. Gordon Childe in North America
Randall H. McGuire, Anthropology, Binghamton University, USA
V. Gordon Childe had a long and significant association with North American anthropology and archaeology. Many of his ideas had a profound influence on North American scholarship that continues until today. Introductory textbooks consistently mention Childe’s ten criteria for civilisation and his theory for the origin of agriculture. North American archaeologists, however, have often misread Childe and misunderstood his theory. During the second half of the 20th century they labelled him first a diffusionist and later a neo-evolutionist. On the one hand, they correlated his concerns with history, diffusion, and archaeological cultures with a normative culture history. On the other hand, they read him as a neo-evolutionary materialist who took a systemic view of society, studied evolutionary change and searched for patterning in the archaeological record. These misreadings occurred because few North American archaeologists ever studied his writings on society and knowledge. More importantly, they did not read him as a Marxist. At the end of the 20th century, a handful of Anglophone archaeologists (most notably Bruce Trigger and Thomas Patterson) became serious about reading Marx. These scholars began to study, understand and employ the totality of Childe’s thought.
The Reception of Vere Gordon Childe’s Work in Latin America, 1950-1980
Irina Podgorny, Museo de La Plata/CONICET
Sebastián Frete, Universidad de Buenos Aires
In 1981, Argentinean archaeologist José Antonio Pérez Gollán (1937-2014) edited “Presencia de Vere Gordon Childe”, a book where he translated 21 articles that Childe had submitted to academic journals. Pérez Gollán remarked that in Ibero-America Childe’s work and life were known only in a fragmentary way.
Latin American publisher houses had been translating Childe’s books since the 1950s. As it is well known, the English editions of Man Makes Himself (1936) and What Happened in History (1942) by 1957 had sold over 300,000 copies as part of the extramural education movement for which Childe had worked. There is no assessment of their impact on the Spanish speaking countries, where they were published by three left-oriented publishing houses: the Mexican Fondo de Cultura Económica, and the Argentinean La Pléyade and Leviatán, collections created in 1942 by Gregorio Schvartz (1913-2001). This paper aims at presenting the reception of Gordon Childe in Ibero-america analysing the history of his Spanish editions (translators, number of copies, etc.) and the reception of Childe among archaeologists. How was Childe taught in university courses? Were those books used in university education or in extramural courses? Who were the archaeologists that referred to Gordon Childe in their own work?
‘Savagery’ in Childe’s World
Robin Derricourt, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Childe’s three categories of human society he labelled civilisation, barbarism and – for forager (hunter-gatherer) societies – ‘savagery’. In much of the archaeology and social/cultural anthropology of the later 19th and 20th centuries, the Aboriginal populations of Childe’s native Australia (which he finally left in 1921, aged 29) were held up as a definitive example of hunter-gatherer life. Yet they make minimal appearances in Childe’s work. Here I consider the place of savagery’ in the Childe model and seek to explain this enigma.
From Texts to Towns: Assessing the Urban Legacy of Ancient India Employing V. Gordon Childe’s Ten Traits of the Urban Revolution
Ankush Gupta, Dept of Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, India
Dr Vinod Kumar Jaiswal, Assistant Professor, Dept of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, India
Atul Kumar, Dept of Economics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
This paper investigates the evolution of urbanism in ancient India, highlighting the rich tapestry of settlement patterns, cultural vibrancy, and architectural sophistication in cities like Ujjayinī and Pātaliputra. It begins by tracing the roots of Indian town planning through historical texts and architectural treatises, such as the Mānasāra and Mayamata, which provide insights into urban organisation and design. The study further explores the emergence of urban centres from the Indus Valley civilisation to the later historical periods, examining the impact of agricultural surplus on population density and the development of non-agricultural classes. Employing V. Gordon Childe’s ten traits of the Urban Revolution as a framework, the paper evaluates the characteristics of early Indian urban centres. While several of Childe’s traits align with the realities of Indian urbanism, the study emphasises the need for contextual adaptations, particularly regarding the roles of divine kings and city gods. Literary sources and archaeological findings further enrich the analysis, illustrating the complex social, economic, and cultural interactions within these urban environments.
How has Childe Been Read in Japan and the World?
Katsuyuki Okamura, Osaka City Museums of Fine Arts, Japan
Last year, a Japanese translation of The Dawn of European Civilization was published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first edition, and included some essays that reflect on Childe’s achievements, influence, and relevance to contemporary archaeology. It also updates A Childe Bibliography (European Journal of Archaeology12, 2009) and relates that his major works have been translated into 22 languages and are still being reprinted today.
In Japan, his major works were introduced within a few years of the publication of The Dawn, and seven of his books have been translated to date. Of these, Man Makes Himself was translated as early as 1942, making it the second earliest foreign language translation of Childe’s works in the world. Many of the translations have been written by Marxist archaeologists and historians and have, in various ways, had a major impact on Japanese archaeology since the 1930s, including research on the development of social construction, urban theory and archaeological methodology. This paper will consider his contributions to Japanese archaeology, while overviewing Childe’s influence on world archaeology through translation.
The Ideas of V. Gordon Childe and Korean Archaeology: Contributions and Limitations
Ilhong KO, Asia Centre (SNUAC), Seoul National University, Korea
V. Gordon Childe’s ideas continue to influence Korean archaeology in terms of how archaeological data is interpreted and how archaeological results are presented to the public. The landscape of Korean archaeology in the 21st century has been formed by dialogues (or rather, competition) between archaeologists searching for ‘patterns’ in the archaeological data, archaeologists producing ‘models’ to account for past social processes, and archaeologists presenting ‘narratives’ of how humans in the past interacted with material culture to construct themselves and society. In such a context, Childe’s conception of ‘archaeological cultures’ and how they were used in his narrative of civilisations has shown Korean archaeologists how to make interpretations of the patterns (i.e. identify ‘cultures’) in the archaeological data without falling into the trap of equating ‘cultures’ with ‘peoples.’ Childe’s ideas of the ‘Neolithic Revolution’ and ‘Urban Revolution,’ on the other hand, have acted as obstacles when presenting the results of Korean archaeology to both the Korean and international public due to the dissonance between these ideas and the Korean archaeological phenomena. These contributions and limitations of V. Gordon Childe’s ideas are addressed in detail in this paper.