Vere Gordon Childe was an Australian archaeologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. He spent most of his life in the United Kingdom, working as an academic for the University of Edinburgh and then the Institute of Archaeology, London. He wrote twenty-six books during his career. Initially an early proponent of culture-historical archaeology, he later became the first exponent of Marxist archaeology in the Western world.
Childe in the 1930s
From 1919 to 1921, Childe worked for the leftist politician John Storey as his personal assistant.
Neolithic dwellings at Skara Brae in Orkney, the site excavated by Childe 1927–30
The Neolithic passage tomb of Maes Howe on Mainland, Orkney, excavated by Childe 1954–55
Prehistoric Europe refers to Europe before the start of written records, beginning in the Lower Paleolithic. As history progresses, considerable regional unevenness in cultural development emerges and grows. The region of the eastern Mediterranean is, due to its geographic proximity, greatly influenced and inspired by the classical Middle Eastern civilizations, and adopts and develops the earliest systems of communal organization and writing. The Histories of Herodotus is the oldest known European text that seeks to systematically record traditions, public affairs and notable events.
Tarxien Temples, Malta, around 3150 BC
Acheulean hand axes and hand axe-like implements, flint, 800,000–300,000 BC
Lascaux cave painting, Magdalenian, 15,000 BC
Adorant from the Geißenklösterle cave, Aurignacian, 42,000 to 40,000 BC