Vere Gordon Childe British historian, one of the leading archaeologists of the 20th century. Date of Birth: 14.04.1892 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Vere Gordon Childe

Vere Gordon Childe was a British historian and one of the leading archaeologists of the 20th century. He was born on April 14, 1892, in Sydney, Australia. Childe arrived in England in 1914 as a scholar to study classical languages at Queen's College, Oxford University. From 1919 to 1921, he served as the personal secretary to the Premier of New South Wales.

In 1925, Childe returned to London and became the librarian of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Two years later, he moved to Scotland and became the head of the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. From 1946 to 1956, Childe served as the director of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of London.

Childe conducted excavations on the Orkney Islands, Scotland (Skara Brae, 1928-1930), as well as in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Greece, the Balkans, Iraq, India, and the United States. He sought to explain the phenomenon of European civilization through the study of its origins. This theme is the focus of both his first book, "The Dawn of European Civilization" (1925), which was subsequently reprinted multiple times, and his last posthumously published work, "Prehistory of European Society" (1957). His research was reflected in a number of popular works that brought him worldwide recognition, including "What Happened in History" (1942) and "Social Evolution" (1952).

Vere Gordon Childe passed away near Katoomba, New South Wales, on October 19, 1957.