{"id":3906,"date":"2025-01-25T23:53:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T23:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/?page_id=3906"},"modified":"2025-04-29T00:48:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T00:48:44","slug":"revisiting-vere-gordon-childe-a-contemporary-lens-on-archaeological-theory-and-practice","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/revisiting-vere-gordon-childe-a-contemporary-lens-on-archaeological-theory-and-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting Vere Gordon Childe: A Contemporary Lens on Archaeological Theory and Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Format: Paper presentations with discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convenors<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katsuyuki Okamura, Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Japan
arc-alc@zeus.eonet.ne.jp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robin Derricourt, School of Humanities & Languages, University of New South Wales, Australia
robin@derricourt.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randall H. McGuire, Anthropology, Binghamton University, US
rmcguire@binghamton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cThe Dawn of European Civilization\u201d 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 In addition, thanks to the recent examination of previously unpublished materials, his achievements are being examined and elucidated from a new perspective.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\u2019s legacy can inform contemporary research and foster innovative approaches to understanding human societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papers:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reading and Misreading V. Gordon Childe in North America<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randall H. McGuire, Anthropology, Binghamton University, USA<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Reception of Vere Gordon Childe\u2019s Work in Latin America, 1950-1980<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irina Podgorny, Museo de La Plata\/CONICET<\/em>
Sebasti\u00e1n Frete, Universidad de Buenos Aires<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1981, Argentinean archaeologist Jos\u00e9 Antonio P\u00e9rez Goll\u00e1n (1937-2014) edited \u201cPresencia de Vere Gordon Childe\u201d, a book where he translated 21 articles that Childe had submitted to academic journals. P\u00e9rez Goll\u00e1n remarked that in Ibero-America Childe\u2019s work and life were known only in a fragmentary way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latin American publisher houses had been translating Childe\u2019s books since the 1950s. As it is well known, the English editions of Man Makes Himself<\/em> (1936) and What Happened in History<\/em> (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 Econ\u00f3mica, and the Argentinean La Pl\u00e9yade and Leviat\u00e1n, 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Savagery\u2019 in Childe\u2019s World<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robin Derricourt, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Childe\u2019s three categories of human society he labelled civilisation, barbarism and \u2013 for forager (hunter-gatherer) societies \u2013 \u2018savagery\u2019. In much of the archaeology and social\/cultural anthropology of the later 19th and 20th centuries, the Aboriginal populations of Childe\u2019s 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\u2019s work. Here I consider the place of savagery\u2019 in the Childe model and seek to explain this enigma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Texts to Towns: Assessing the Urban Legacy of Ancient India Employing V. Gordon Childe\u2019s Ten Traits of the Urban Revolution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ankush Gupta, Dept of Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, India<\/em>
Dr Vinod Kumar Jaiswal, Assistant Professor, Dept of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, India<\/em>
Atul Kumar, Dept of Economics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Ujjayin\u012b and P\u0101taliputra. It begins by tracing the roots of Indian town planning through historical texts and architectural treatises, such as the M\u0101nas\u0101ra 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has Childe Been Read in Japan and the World?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katsuyuki Okamura, Osaka City Museums of Fine Arts, Japan<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, a Japanese translation of The Dawn of European Civilization<\/em> 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 Archaeology<\/em>12, 2009) and relates that his major works have been translated into 22 languages and are still being reprinted today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, his major works were introduced within a few years of the publication of The Dawn<\/em>, and seven of his books have been translated to date. Of these, Man Makes Himself<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ideas of V. Gordon Childe and Korean Archaeology: Contributions and Limitations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ilhong KO, Asia Centre (SNUAC), Seoul National University, Korea<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

V. Gordon Childe\u2019s 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 \u2018patterns\u2019 in the archaeological data, archaeologists producing \u2018models\u2019 to account for past social processes, and archaeologists presenting \u2018narratives\u2019 of how humans in the past interacted with material culture to construct themselves and society. In such a context, Childe\u2019s conception of \u2018archaeological cultures\u2019 and how they were used in his narrative of civilisations has shown Korean archaeologists how to make interpretations of the patterns (i.e. identify \u2018cultures\u2019) in the archaeological data without falling into the trap of equating \u2018cultures\u2019 with \u2018peoples.\u2019 Childe\u2019s ideas of the \u2018Neolithic Revolution\u2019 and \u2018Urban Revolution,\u2019 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\u2019s ideas are addressed in detail in this paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Format: Paper presentations with discussion Convenors: Katsuyuki Okamura, Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Japanarc-alc@zeus.eonet.ne.jp Robin Derricourt, School of Humanities & Languages, University of New South Wales, Australiarobin@derricourt.com Randall H. McGuire, Anthropology, Binghamton University, USrmcguire@binghamton.edu Vere Gordon Childe (1892-1957), the Australian-born archaeologist, is renowned for his groundbreaking theories on the development of human history and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1157,"featured_media":276,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-3906","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"pmpro-has-access","7":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3906"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7715,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3906\/revisions\/7715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}