spencer
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Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 12:09
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I've mentioned his book What Happened In History on here before.. I first became aware of it in 1972 when it was the inspiration behind Roy Harper's The Lord's Prayer - the Youtube live in Sunderland version of which is a total tour de force, imo - and have had a copy of it for many years now. It is still available as a cheap paperback. Those that buy it will, I hope, agree that the old ones are sometimes the best. If anything I have read - I've not read the orange book - has inspired my interest in archaeology and the past..or present..it is this. A Bible, to me. Others may think differently and are free to do so.
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tiompan
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Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 12:45
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One point that Lyotard arguably got right was a healthy " incredulity toward metanarratives." . That of course includes Bibles as well as lesser grand narratives .
Childe ,as I had mentioned here recently , was one of our greatest archaeologists , we have stood on his shoulders as well as a few others and that has helped in appreciating the problems posed by some of their over arching ideas .
There was also a recent Kenny Brophy comment pointing out the problems with Childe's theories , nevertheless the tacit nod towards to his abilities remained .
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spencer
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Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 13:33
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Thanks for the headsup, George. Will check out when I can..am having a hugely productive boring fieldwork phase at the moment. A bit busy, off out in the rain now. Asap. I'm pleased that we're on the same wavelength about at least one thing. Btw, I think I may have seen you with John Dummer...seemed to have survived that experience ; )
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tiompan
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Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 14:32
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Same wavelength ?
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tjj
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Edited Feb 11, 2017, 17:39
Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 17:17
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Confession: I knew nothing about Gordon Childe until seeing your post. I've just been reading a long article published by International Socialism which now seems essential reading (see link below). It seems he was also committed to the Labour Movement, Socialism and the fight against Fascism in the early 20th Century. Conversely, whatever he left as his legacy to prehistoric archaeology, to learn about the man is also to gain fresh insights into the political history of the 20th Century.
http://isj.org.uk/gordon-childe-and-marxist-archaeology/
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tiompan
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Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 17:54
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Good summary from Neil Faulkner .
The Arayan book is interesting from the historical perspective too .
Childe was mentioned a couple of times recently in relation to violence and the Neolithic and how it has often been overlooked , and also in a comment from Kenny Brophy in relation to the Orkney nonsense .
Atkinson's "howling Barbarians " has often been the source of criticism here and from the " Ancient Britons/people were not as primitive as we thought" headliners .
But when it comes to the use of the term Barbarians , Childe takes a bit of beating . "Most known Neolithic societies and most Neolithic barbarians of recent times also created new substances which do not occur
ready-made in nature. ", "Barbarian communities on a comparable level live, or lived quite recently, in parts of Africa, round the Pacific, and in the Americas"
Walter Benjamin had a more realistic and nuanced view of barbarism .
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nigelswift
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Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 18:20
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Tombo, who used to post here, demolished "the myth of barbarism" thus:
"Etymological dictionaries suggest that its ‘bar-bar’ sound was likely to have originated as a mocking imitation of the ‘unintelligible’ speech of foreigners. There is, then, no need for shame in the face of our ‘barbarian’ past: the word barbarian is every bit as xenophobic as civilisation."
https://heritageaction.wordpress.com/reclaiming-prehistory/
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tiompan
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Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 19:12
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It was all part of the grand narrative of a linear social evolution , Childe was by no means the worst proponent .
Benjamin's quote was "There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. "
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CianMcLiam
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Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 20:06
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I think it was Lewis Henry Morgan who first formalised the three stages of savagery, barbarism and civilisation. The terms weren't intended to be an insult, he classified societies according to the level of technology, savages had to be able to control fire and make pottery, barbarism was reserved for agricultural societies and civilisations had to have writing.
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spencer
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Re: Gordon Childe
Feb 11, 2017, 21:35
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Well worth looking at the definitions in assorted online dictionaries, in my opinion, and being aware of their wide variety. Words can get stuck in pigeon holes, sadly. Barbarian can simply mean uneducated, and I don't doubt there have been uneducated geniuses. The word doesn't necessarily mean 'thick' or rampageous.
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