Peter J. Ucko

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Peter John Ucko (born July 27, 1938 in London , † June 14, 2007 in London) was a British anthropologist and archaeologist .

From 1962 to 1972 Peter J. Ucko was lecturer in anthropology at University College London , 1972–1981 Principal of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies ; 1981–1996 Professor of Archeology at the University of Southampton . From 1996 to 2006 he was Professor of Comparative Archeology and Head of the Institute of Archeology at University College London.

During his lifetime, Peter Ucko was considered to be one of the most important but also most controversial archaeologists. In his work he endeavored to free archeology from its social isolation and brought political questions into the subject. He repeatedly pointed out how the subject is dominated by racism and views of colonialism .

At the first World Archaeological Congress, which he organized in 1986 , he insisted on the participation of scientists from the Third World and indigenous communities in order to set a counterpoint to the Eurocentric view of archeology. He also supported the wish of many non-European participants and the host university for an academic boycott of South Africa due to the apartheid regime of the time , which in turn earned him criticism from many conservative colleagues and the withdrawal of the conference as an official UIPP event . The very successful conference with over 1000 participants is considered to be the beginning of the opening of archeology to social issues.

When he retired , the Institute of Archeology was the largest archaeological institute in the world. He was the editor of numerous books dealing mainly with overarching topics. Peter Ucko died in June 2007 of complications from diabetes .

Fonts (selection)

  • With Andrée Rosenfeld: rock art in the Paleolithic . Kindler, Munich 1967.
  • Anthropomorphic figurines of predynastic Egypt and neolithic Crete, with comparative material from the prehistoric Near East and mainland Greece . Andrew Szmidla, London 1968. 530 pp.
  • Academic Freedom and Apartheid: The Story of the World Archaeological Congress. Duckworth, London 1987, ISBN 0-7156-2191-2
  • Introduction: archaeological interpretation in a world context. In PJ Ucko (Ed.): Theory in Archeology. London 1995, pp. 1-27
  • With T. Champion: The Wisdom of Egypt: changing visions through the ages . UCL Press, London 2003.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the obituary ( memento of July 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) of the Independent of June 21, 2007 and the obituary ( memento of November 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) of the Archaeological Institute of University College London of June 2007.
personal data
SURNAME Ucko, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ucko, Peter J.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British anthropologist and archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 2007
Place of death London