Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Page 82

Gavin Lucas
excavations in the Indus valley - They were
magnificent, the biggest archaeological dis-
covery in my day7. The remains of a large
cities were found, a highly developed cul-
ture from around 2000 BC.
And literature, inscriptions?
Much of that, but all illegible. We had no
idea about this civilization before.
But the nation, which built it?
No, it can hardly have been of Indo-Eu-
ropean origin. The Aryans probably de-
stroyed this state.
Have you looked at something further
west?
I have been in Mesopotamia, Turkey, Egypt
and Greece often, but not directed an exca-
vation except in Britain.
And what was the most remarkable find?
A village from the Stone Age, buried in
the sand at Skara Brae in the Orkneys. The
houses were beautifully preserved under
the sand providing invaluable evidence
about daily life in the Stone Age. Equally
well preserved human remains from this
period in history have not been found
elsewhere.8
Russian tragedy and Salka Valka
But people are always making new dis-
coveries in archaeology?
Our knowledge falls short in many places.
Russia was, for example, unknown by ar-
chaeologists before the revolution, and
now they have begun work in China.
You have been there, in the Orient?
I have looked at collections in Russia. They
do a lot of archaeology but technologically
they are at a similar level as archaeology
was in England 20 years ago. It is pleasing
to learn how carefully the Russians preserve
archaeological remains, even though they
are found when major development pro-
jects are underway.
But what do they lack, as archaeologists?
Equipment and, possibly, a wider perspec-
tive. They are too tradition-bound by the
theories of Engels, even though his founda-
tion is sound. It is a tragedy how they tried,
before 1950 to force their academic conclu-
sions into a pre-ordained framework. But
the Czechs are fine archaeologists; their ar-
chaeology combines perfect technology and
academic work, but I dont understand any
Czech.
7 Childe is here no doubt referring to the work of John Marshall from the 1920s - and later Mortimer Wheeler.
8 Childe excavated here between 1928 and 1930; most of Childes fieldwork took place in Scotland when he was
Abercromby professor of archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, a post he held between 1927 and 1946,
whereafter he moved to the Institute in London. Childe did not see himself as much of a field archaeologist
and indeed Skara Brae remains his most well-known field project.
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