Anthony Legge
Encyclopedia
Professor Anthony James Legge was born in Cambridge in 1939. After attending the Cambridge High School for Boys, he began work at the Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham, Cambridge, in the Pig Physiology unit with Dr Lawrence Mount. After National Service, Legge returned to the Babraham Institute, leaving there in 1966 to enter Churchill College, Cambridge
, as a mature student. He graduated in 1969, being awarded the college Special Book Prize for merit. Legge then joined Eric Higgs
' research group at Cambridge investigating the early origins of agriculture, where he specialised in archaeofaunal analysis. He worked on the animal remains from Nahal Oren, and from Tell Abu Hureyra
in Syria, which was to become a lifelong project. After working with Higgs until 1974, Legge was appointed to the University of London Department of Continuing Education, soon to become part of Birkbeck College
. Legge was appointed as Professor of Environmental Archaeology there in 2002.
Work on Tell Abu Hureyra
has shown that this is one of the few sites where the process of plant and animal domestication can be followed in detail, and is the only such site dug with modern methods with abundant samples of the organic remains needed in such investigations (see also Gordon Hillman
). The first volume of this work has been published.
Legge has also been involved in archaeological faunal analyses in Britain, Cyprus, Spain, Serbia,and Croatia, in each region seeking to follow the nature of animal domestication there.
At Grimes Graves
in England, he studied the animal bones from two Bronze Age middens, where the inhabitants kept cattle, some sheep and a few pigs, and from these remains, he identified an intensive form of dairy husbandry. This finding was based on herd structure and on the frequency of cull of the young cattle. This interpretation stimulated some controversy in 1981, though more recent work on milk residues in Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery shows that this form of husbandry was indeed widespread in European prehistory. Work in Spain at a Bronze Age farming site also showed evidence for dairy husbandry there, but also with evidence for extensive hunting and trade in furs, skins, and other organic materials. Legge worked with Peter Rowley-Conwy on a re-analysis of the animal remains from the Mesolithic site of Star Carr
in England, their work showing that human settlement at that site was in summer rather than in winter as was first proposed, and re-interpreting the hunting activities there.
Legge is now a Senior Fellow in the MacDonald Institute for Archeological Research at Cambridge, where he continues with work on material from Tell Abu Hureyra, and is engaged in work at Tell el Amarna in Egypt with Professor Barry Kemp.
Churchill College, Cambridge
Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.In 1958, a Trust was established with Sir Winston Churchill as its Chairman of Trustees, to build and endow a college for 60 fellows and 540 Students as a national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston Churchill; its...
, as a mature student. He graduated in 1969, being awarded the college Special Book Prize for merit. Legge then joined Eric Higgs
Eric Sidney Higgs
Eric Sidney Higgs He was the founder of the Cambridge Palaeoeconomy School, a school of thought that focused on the economic aspects of archaeology. His name is closely connected with the "Site catchment Analysis"....
' research group at Cambridge investigating the early origins of agriculture, where he specialised in archaeofaunal analysis. He worked on the animal remains from Nahal Oren, and from Tell Abu Hureyra
Tell Abu Hureyra
Tell Abu Hureyra is an archaeological site located in the Euphrates valley in modern Syria. The remains of the villages within the tell come from over 4,000 years of habitation, spanning the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic periods. Ancient Abu Hureyra was occupied between 11,000 and 7,500 years ago...
in Syria, which was to become a lifelong project. After working with Higgs until 1974, Legge was appointed to the University of London Department of Continuing Education, soon to become part of Birkbeck College
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...
. Legge was appointed as Professor of Environmental Archaeology there in 2002.
Work on Tell Abu Hureyra
Tell Abu Hureyra
Tell Abu Hureyra is an archaeological site located in the Euphrates valley in modern Syria. The remains of the villages within the tell come from over 4,000 years of habitation, spanning the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic periods. Ancient Abu Hureyra was occupied between 11,000 and 7,500 years ago...
has shown that this is one of the few sites where the process of plant and animal domestication can be followed in detail, and is the only such site dug with modern methods with abundant samples of the organic remains needed in such investigations (see also Gordon Hillman
Gordon Hillman
Professor Gordon Hillman B.Sc is Honorary Visiting Professor in Archaeobotany at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London ....
). The first volume of this work has been published.
Legge has also been involved in archaeological faunal analyses in Britain, Cyprus, Spain, Serbia,and Croatia, in each region seeking to follow the nature of animal domestication there.
At Grimes Graves
Grimes Graves
Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex near Brandon in England close to the border between Norfolk and Suffolk. It was worked between around circa 3000 BC and circa 1900 BC, although production may have continued well into the Bronze and Iron Ages owing to the low cost of flint...
in England, he studied the animal bones from two Bronze Age middens, where the inhabitants kept cattle, some sheep and a few pigs, and from these remains, he identified an intensive form of dairy husbandry. This finding was based on herd structure and on the frequency of cull of the young cattle. This interpretation stimulated some controversy in 1981, though more recent work on milk residues in Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery shows that this form of husbandry was indeed widespread in European prehistory. Work in Spain at a Bronze Age farming site also showed evidence for dairy husbandry there, but also with evidence for extensive hunting and trade in furs, skins, and other organic materials. Legge worked with Peter Rowley-Conwy on a re-analysis of the animal remains from the Mesolithic site of Star Carr
Star Carr
Star Carr is a Mesolithic archaeological site in North Yorkshire, England. It is around five miles south of Scarborough.It is generally regarded as the most important and informative Mesolithic site in Great Britain...
in England, their work showing that human settlement at that site was in summer rather than in winter as was first proposed, and re-interpreting the hunting activities there.
Legge is now a Senior Fellow in the MacDonald Institute for Archeological Research at Cambridge, where he continues with work on material from Tell Abu Hureyra, and is engaged in work at Tell el Amarna in Egypt with Professor Barry Kemp.