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The Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn | |
|---|---|
_(Renfrew_cropped).jpg) Renfrew in 2018 | |
| Member of theHouse of Lords | |
| Life peerage 24 June 1991 – 15 September 2021 | |
| Disney Professor of Archaeology University of Cambridge | |
| In office 1981–2004 | |
| Preceded by | Glyn Daniel |
| Succeeded by | Graeme Barker |
| Master ofJesus College, Cambridge | |
| In office 1986–1996 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Alan Cottrell |
| Succeeded by | David Crighton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Andrew Colin Renfrew (1937-07-25)25 July 1937 Stockton-on-Tees, England |
| Died | 24 November 2024(2024-11-24) (aged 87) Cambridge, England |
| Party | Conservative |
| Education | St Albans School, Hertfordshire |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Air Force |
| Service years | 1956–1958 |
Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn,FBA,FSA,Hon FSA Scot (25 July 1937 – 24 November 2024) was a Britisharchaeologist, paleolinguist andConservative peer noted for his work onradiocarbon dating, theprehistory of languages,archaeogenetics,neuroarchaeology, and the prevention oflooting at archaeological sites.
Renfrew was also theDisney Professor of Archaeology at theUniversity of Cambridge and Director of theMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, and was a Senior Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Renfrew was educated atSt Albans School, Hertfordshire; where one of the houses is now named after him. From 1956 to 1958, he didNational Service in theRoyal Air Force. On 21 June 1956, he was granted a national service commission in the Technical Branch with the rank ofpilot officer.[1] Having completed his full-time service, he transferred to the reserve (national service list) on 25 March 1958.[2] He was promoted toflying officer on 25 June 1958, with seniority in that rank from 25 March 1958.[3]
He then went up toSt John's College, Cambridge, where he first readNatural Sciences, and thenArchaeology andAnthropology, graduating in 1962. He was elected president ofCambridge Union in 1961 and was a member of the University of Cambridge's Archaeological Field Club (AFC).[4] He had run against and lost an election toBarry Cunliffe to become president of the AFC. In 1965, he completed his PhD thesisNeolithic andBronze Age cultures of theCyclades and their external relations. In the same year, he marriedJane M. Ewbank.
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In 1965, Renfrew was appointed to the post of lecturer in theDepartment of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. Between 1968 and 1970, he directed excavations atSitagroi, Greece. In the1968 Sheffield Brightside by-election he unsuccessfully contested this parliamentary constituency on behalf of theConservative Party. He was elected a Fellow of theSociety of Antiquaries in that same year, Fellow of theSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1970, and an Honorary Fellow of theSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland in 2000.
In 1972, Renfrew became Professor of Archaeology at theUniversity of Southampton, succeedingBarry Cunliffe. During his time atSouthampton, he directed excavations atQuanterness in Orkney andPhylakopi on the island ofMilos, Greece. In 1973, Renfrew publishedBefore Civilisation: The Radiocarbon Revolution and Prehistoric Europe in which he challenged the assumption that prehistoric cultural innovation originated in theNear East and then spread to Europe. He also excavated withMarija Gimbutas at Sitagroi.
In 1980, Renfrew was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. In 1981 he was elected to theDisney Professorship of Archaeology in theUniversity of Cambridge, a post he held until his retirement. In 1990 Renfrew was appointed the founding Director of theMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
In 1987, he publishedArchaeology and Language: The Puzzle of the Indo-European Origins, a book on theProto-Indo-Europeans. His "Anatolian hypothesis" posited that this group lived 2,000 years before theKurgans, inAnatolia, later diffusing to Greece, then Italy, Sicily, Corsica, the Mediterranean coast of France, Spain, and Portugal. Another branch migrated along the fertile river valleys of theDanube andRhine into central and northern Europe.
TheAnatolian hypothesis argued thatProto-Indo-European, the reconstructed ancestor of theIndo-European languages, originated approximately 9,000 years ago inAnatolia and moved with thespread of farming throughout the Mediterranean and into central and northern Europe. This hypothesis contradictedMarija Gimbutas'sKurgan hypothesis, which states that Proto-Indo-European was spread by amigration of peoples from thePontic–Caspian steppe approximately 6,000 years ago.
From 1987 to 1991, he co-directed excavations atMarkiani onAmorgos and at Dhaskalio Kavos,Keros, Greece.
Renfrew's work in using the archaeological record as the basis for understanding the ancient mind was foundational to the field ofevolutionary cognitive archaeology.[5][6] Renfrew and his student,Lambros Malafouris, coined the phraseneuroarchaeology to describe an archaeology of mind.[7][8]
In 1996, Renfrew formulated asapient paradox, that can be formulated as "why there was such a long gap between emergence of genetically and anatomically modern humans and the development of complex behaviors?"[9][10]
Renfrew served asMaster ofJesus College, Cambridge from 1986 until 1997. In 2004, he retired from the Disney Professorship and was a Senior Fellow at the McDonald Institute. From 2006 to 2008 he directed new excavations on the Cycladic Island ofKeros and was recently co-director of the Keros Island Survey. He died on 24 November 2024, at the age of 87.[11]
The paradox is that there was a gap of well over 50 000 years between the speciation and tectonic phases.
called the "sapient paradox," that some of the complex behaviors now associated with humans took a long time to develop even after the emergence in Africa of humans who were fully modern in the anatomical and genetic senses.
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| Preceded by | Disney Professor of Archaeology, Cambridge University 1981–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Master ofJesus College, Cambridge 1986–1996 | Succeeded by |
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