Peter Ucko
Encyclopedia
Peter John Ucko FRAI FSA (27 July 1938-14 June 2007) was an influential English archaeologist
, noted for being the Professor Emeritus of Comparative Archaeology and also the former Executive Director of University College London
's Institute of Archaeology
. He was also noted for his organisation of the first World Archaeological Congress
in 1986. Another of his significant parts that he played in archaeology was, according to one obituary, to "take archaeological issues to groups not normally involved in the discipline - such as indigenous communities around the world". He was a Fellow of both the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Society of Antiquaries
.
, and his German
father was a professor of endocrinology
whilst his mother was a child psychologist. He was educated at a Bryanston School in Dorset
, a boarding school and later took his A-levels at the North Western Polytechnic in London
before reading Anthropology
at University College, London (UCL). He completed his Ph.D.
thesis on anthropomorphic figurines of the ancient Near East, particularly those of Egypt
in 1962, and was considered by many to primarily be an Egyptologist
.
Ucko became a lecturer at UCL, editing two books, The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals and Man, Settlement and Urbanism, that were widely accepted as standard works. His 1968 monograph Anthropomorphic Figurines of Predynastic Egypt and Neolithic Crete countered the Mother Goddess
theories espoused by Marija Gimbutas
, characterizing her interpretations as glib. He saw the figurines as sexless, unless they had unmistakable features like sex organs, breasts and beards, and he resolutely refused to see them as representations of deities, instead characterizing them as amulets of sympathetic magic, or even children's toys. His views were highly influential on the succeeding generation.
, where he countered then-racist
trends by appointing Australian Aborigines
to the council. In 1980 he advised the Zimbabwaean
government on cultural resource management
and in 1981 was appointed to succeed Colin Renfrew as professor of archaeology at the University of Southampton
. At Southampton, Ucko agreed to become National Secretary of the British Congress of the International Union of Pre- and Protohistoric Sciences which was to hold its next four-yearly meeting in England in 1986. At Ucko's urging, the Executive Board decided to follow the policy agreed by UNESCO and exclude South Africa
n and Namibia
n delegates because of the Apartheid regime in those countries. The archaeological community was split, leading to the foundation of the World Archaeological Congress
. He wrote about the moral issues involved in his most personal work, Academic Freedom and Apartheid.
, University College London amidst a minor controversy based upon the fact that the post was not advertised – Ucko had been chosen directly from his post at the University of Southampton. Whilst Director, he actively endeavoured to turn the Institute into the forefront of world archaeology, organising an overhauling of the former syllabus, in particular changing the undergraduate curriculum which "largely anticipated the benchmark archaeology curriculum developed nationally shortly afterwards".
In later years, he helped to forge greater links with archaeological departments in the People's Republic of China
, and in 2006 travelled to ten different Chinese cities to interview academics about how they taught archaeology - he had a plan to write a book about this, but this never materialised. He helped to found the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology, an institution devoted to promote the exchange of archaeologists between Europe and China, which has yielded several projects of collaboration in training and research, and a number of scholarships for Chinese students to be trained in archaeology at UCL.
Ucko retired in 2005, leaving the Institute as the largest archaeology department in the world, with over 70 academic staff and more than 600 students from over 40 different countries. In his last year as a Director he secured appointments as lecturers for ten early career scholars, in spite of the financial deficit of UCL. This move consolidated his reputation as a scholar committed to empower minorities, regardless of race, age or gender, and as a master of the art of investing funding even if he did not have it.
Future for Archaeology, edited by Robert Layton, Stephen Shennan and Peter Stone, was published in 2006 as a festschrift
for Ucko.
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, noted for being the Professor Emeritus of Comparative Archaeology and also the former Executive Director of University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
's Institute of Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology
The UCL Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of the Social & Historical Sciences Faculty of University College London , England. It is one of the largest departments of archaeology in the world, with over 80 members of academic staff and 500 students...
. He was also noted for his organisation of the first World Archaeological Congress
World Archaeological Congress
The World Archaeological Congress is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization which promotes world archaeology. It is the only global archaeological organisation with elected representation....
in 1986. Another of his significant parts that he played in archaeology was, according to one obituary, to "take archaeological issues to groups not normally involved in the discipline - such as indigenous communities around the world". He was a Fellow of both the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
.
Early life in Britain
Ucko was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and his German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
father was a professor of endocrinology
Endocrinology
Endocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation and the coordination of...
whilst his mother was a child psychologist. He was educated at a Bryanston School in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, a boarding school and later took his A-levels at the North Western Polytechnic in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
before reading Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
at University College, London (UCL). He completed his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
thesis on anthropomorphic figurines of the ancient Near East, particularly those of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in 1962, and was considered by many to primarily be an Egyptologist
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
.
Ucko became a lecturer at UCL, editing two books, The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals and Man, Settlement and Urbanism, that were widely accepted as standard works. His 1968 monograph Anthropomorphic Figurines of Predynastic Egypt and Neolithic Crete countered the Mother Goddess
Mother goddess
Mother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents motherhood, fertility, creation or embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.Many different goddesses have...
theories espoused by Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas , was a Lithuanian-American archeologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe", a term she introduced. Her works published between 1946 and 1971 introduced new views by combining traditional spadework with linguistics and mythological...
, characterizing her interpretations as glib. He saw the figurines as sexless, unless they had unmistakable features like sex organs, breasts and beards, and he resolutely refused to see them as representations of deities, instead characterizing them as amulets of sympathetic magic, or even children's toys. His views were highly influential on the succeeding generation.
World archaeology
In 1972, Ucko accepted the post of Principal of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, where he countered then-racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
trends by appointing Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
to the council. In 1980 he advised the Zimbabwaean
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
government on cultural resource management
Cultural resources management
In the broadest sense, Cultural Resources Management is the vocation and practice of managing cultural resources, such as the arts and heritage. It incorporates Cultural Heritage Management which is concerned with traditional and historic culture. It also delves into the material culture of...
and in 1981 was appointed to succeed Colin Renfrew as professor of archaeology at the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
. At Southampton, Ucko agreed to become National Secretary of the British Congress of the International Union of Pre- and Protohistoric Sciences which was to hold its next four-yearly meeting in England in 1986. At Ucko's urging, the Executive Board decided to follow the policy agreed by UNESCO and exclude South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n and Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
n delegates because of the Apartheid regime in those countries. The archaeological community was split, leading to the foundation of the World Archaeological Congress
World Archaeological Congress
The World Archaeological Congress is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization which promotes world archaeology. It is the only global archaeological organisation with elected representation....
. He wrote about the moral issues involved in his most personal work, Academic Freedom and Apartheid.
Directorship of the Institute of Archaeology
In 1996, Ucko was appointed to the post of Professor of Comparative Archaeology and Director of the Institute of ArchaeologyInstitute of Archaeology
The UCL Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of the Social & Historical Sciences Faculty of University College London , England. It is one of the largest departments of archaeology in the world, with over 80 members of academic staff and 500 students...
, University College London amidst a minor controversy based upon the fact that the post was not advertised – Ucko had been chosen directly from his post at the University of Southampton. Whilst Director, he actively endeavoured to turn the Institute into the forefront of world archaeology, organising an overhauling of the former syllabus, in particular changing the undergraduate curriculum which "largely anticipated the benchmark archaeology curriculum developed nationally shortly afterwards".
In later years, he helped to forge greater links with archaeological departments in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, and in 2006 travelled to ten different Chinese cities to interview academics about how they taught archaeology - he had a plan to write a book about this, but this never materialised. He helped to found the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology, an institution devoted to promote the exchange of archaeologists between Europe and China, which has yielded several projects of collaboration in training and research, and a number of scholarships for Chinese students to be trained in archaeology at UCL.
Ucko retired in 2005, leaving the Institute as the largest archaeology department in the world, with over 70 academic staff and more than 600 students from over 40 different countries. In his last year as a Director he secured appointments as lecturers for ten early career scholars, in spite of the financial deficit of UCL. This move consolidated his reputation as a scholar committed to empower minorities, regardless of race, age or gender, and as a master of the art of investing funding even if he did not have it.
Future for Archaeology, edited by Robert Layton, Stephen Shennan and Peter Stone, was published in 2006 as a festschrift
Festschrift
In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
for Ucko.
Publications
- Sully,D., Quirke,S., Ucko,P.J. (2006). Hathor, goddess of love and joy, a Norfolk wherry launched in 1905. Public Archaeology 5(1), 26-36. ISSN: 1465-5187
- Ucko,P. (2006). Unprovenanced Material Culture and Freud's Collection of Antiquities. Journal of Material Culture 6, 251-268. ISSN: 1359-1835
- Ucko,P.J. (2006). Living Symbols of Ancient Egypt. Public Archaeology, 5 (1),. ISSN: 1465-5187
- Ucko,P.J., Price,C., Quirke,S. (2006). A recent Egyptianizing house built on the bank of the Thames. Public Archaeology 5(1), 51-57. ISSN: 1465-5187
- Ucko,P.J., Price,C., Quirke,S. (2006). The Earl's Court Homebase car park facade. Public Archaeology 5(1), 42-50. ISSN: 1465-5187
- Ucko,P.J., Quirke,S. (2006). 2004 advertisement for the TV version of Agatha Christie's 'Death on the Nile Public Archaeology 5(1), . ISSN: 1465-5187
- Ucko,P.J., Quirke,S. (2006). Living Symbols of Ancient Egypt: Introduction. Public Archaeology 5(1), 5-14. ISSN: 1465-5187
- Ucko,P.J., Quirke,S. (2006). The Petrie Medal. Public Archaeology 5(1), 15-25. ISSN: 1465-5187
- Ucko,P.J., Quirke,S.Q., Sully,D. (2006). The past in the present and future: concluding thoughts. Public Archaeology 5(1), 58-72. ISSN: 1465-5187
- Ucko, P and T. Champion, (2003). The Wisdom of Egypt: changing visions through the ages. London: UCL Press. One of eight books in the Encounters with Ancient Egypt series edited by Peter Ucko
- Ucko, P, (2000). Enlivening a 'dead' past, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 4, 67-92
- Ucko, P, (1998). The Biography of a Collection: The Sir Flinders Petrie Palestinian Collection and the Role of University Museums, Museum Management and Curatorship, 17(4), 351-399
- Ucko, P, (1996). Mother, are you there? Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 6, 300-4
- Ucko, P, (1995). Introduction: archaeological interpretation in a world context, in P J Ucko (ed), Theory in Archaeology, 1-27. London: Routledge
- Ucko, P, (1994). Museums and sites: cultures of the past within education Zimbabwe, some ten years on, in P Stone & Molyneux B (eds), The Presented Past: heritage, museums and education, 237-282. London: Routledge
- Ucko, P, (1992). Subjectivity and the recording of Palaeolithic Cave Art, in T Shay & J Clottes (eds), The Limitations of Archaeological Knowledge, 141-180. Liege: University of Liege Press
- Ucko, P., 1987, Academic Freedom and Apartheid: The Story of the World Archaeological Congress, London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2191-2
- Ucko, Peter J. and Rosenfeld, Andree (1967) Palaeolithic Cave Art