Charles Higham

Charles Higham (2016)

Charles Higham ONZM (* 1939 in England ) is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Otago , in Dunedin in New Zealand. He made important contributions to the understanding of the archeology of Southeast Asia and Thai studies .

life and work

Higham's father was an architect. He was interested in archeology from his youth and at the age of 15 helped with his brother on excavations at Snail Down near Stonehenge and later on other excavations in Wales, France and Greece. He began his studies in archeology at the University of London and went to Cambridge University in 1959 , where he received his doctorate from Grahame Clark on the bones of cattle from excavations in Denmark and Switzerland. In 1967 he moved with his family to New Zealand to the University of Otago, where he studied the prehistoric migrations of the Maoris using the mussels in the waste . In 1969 he became professor of archeology there. In 1969 he met the US archaeologists Wilhelm Solheim, Donn Bayard and Chester Gorman in Thailand and took part in Gorman's excavations on the Khorat Plateau. In 1974 he and the Thai archaeologist Prisit Charoenwongsa discovered bronze works in Ban Chiang , which later turned out to be the oldest signs of metalworking there at an age of 4000 years. In 1981 he found further bronze works from around 1300 BC at Ban Na Di.

With Ratchanie Thosarat he led excavations at the grave mound of Khok Phanom Di through. Together, the two started a multidisciplinary research program on the origins of the Angkor civilization and exploring the region's Iron Age around 500 BC. Higham also dug in Nong Nor , Ban Lum Khao, and Noen U-Loke .

In 2001, Higham and Thosarat uncovered prehistoric material near the Khmer temple Baksei Chamkrong in Angkor . Subsequently, his research focused on the area of ​​northeast Thailand , the Isan . In 2006, Higham digs with Thai archaeologists at Ban Non Wat .

Charles Higham is a member of the British Academy . His son Thomas Higham is also an archaeologist and professor at the University of Oxford .

Works

• The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia
• Charles Higham and Rachanie Thosarat: Prehistoric Thailand . Bangkok River Books. ISBN 9748225305 .
• Early Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia , Art Media Resources 2003, ISBN 1-58886-028-0
• The Civilization of Angkor , University of California Press 2004, ISBN 0-520-24218-1
• Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations . Facts on File, New York 2004. ISBN 0816046409

literature

• Tom Gidwitz Uncovering Ancient Thailand , in Archeology July / August 2006

Web links

Commons : Charles Higham  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Professor Charles Higham - Department of Anthropology & Archeology - University of Otago - accessed August 27, 2012
• The Origins of Angkor - Department of Anthropology & Archeology - University of Otago - accessed August 27, 2012