Stuart Piggott
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Stuart Piggott | |
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Born | 28 May 1910 |
Died | 23 September 1996 | (aged 86)
Nationality | British |
Citizenship | British |
Spouse | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Archaeology |
Institutions | University of Edinburgh |
Stuart Ernest Piggott,CBE,FBA,FSA,FRSE,FSA Scot(28 May 1910 – 23 September 1996) was a Britisharchaeologist,best known for his work on prehistoricWessex.
Early life
[edit]Piggott was born inPetersfield,Hampshire,the son of G. H. O. Piggott, and was educated there atChurcher's College.[1]
Career
[edit]On leaving school in 1927 Piggott took up a post as assistant atReading Museum,where he developed an expertise inNeolithicpottery.
In 1928 he joined theRoyal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Walesand spent the next five years producing a revolutionary study of the site ofButser Hill,nearPetersfield.He also worked with Eliot Cecil Curwen on their excavations atThe Trundlecausewayed enclosureinSussex.
In the 1930s he began working forAlexander Keiller,an amateur archaeologist who funded his work from the profits of hisDundee Marmaladebusiness. The two dug numerous sites in Wessex includingAveburyandKennet Avenue.In 1933, he joined his friendGrahame Clarkin writing the highly significant paper, "The age of the British flint mines" (Antiquity,1933): the resultant controversy led to the foundation of thePrehistoric Society.Still without any formal archaeological qualification, Piggott enrolled atMortimer Wheeler'sInstitute of Archaeology,London, taking his diploma in 1936. It was also here that he met his wife, Peggy (Margaret Guido). In 1937 he published another seminal paper, "The early Bronze Age in Wessex", and with his wife went on in June 1939 to join the burial chamber excavations atSutton Hooat the invitation ofCharles Phillips.
During theSecond World WarPiggott worked as an air photo interpreter. He was posted toIndia,where he spent time studying the archaeology of the sub-continent, eventually leading him to write the booksSome Ancient Cities of India(1946) andPrehistoric India(1950). These experiences provided him with a valuable external view of European prehistory, which was to prove useful on his return to Britain.
After the war he went toOxfordto study the work ofWilliam Stukeley,but in 1946 was offered theAbercromby Chair of ArchaeologyatEdinburgh University(now part of theSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology), in succession toGordon Childe.Piggott succeeded in making Edinburgh an archaeology department of international standing. He continued to publish widely. His bookNeolithic Cultures of the British Isles(1954) was highly influential, untilradiocarbon datingtests exposed flaws in its chronology. Piggott considered that radiocarbon dating was "archaeologically unacceptable", because every other shred of evidence pointed towards his dates being correct.Ancient Europe(1965) remained a popular survey of Old World prehistory for more than twenty years, demonstrating his view of the solidarity and continuity of the past in Europe. In 1956 his childless marriage ended.
In 1958 Piggott published a survey of Scottish prehistory,Scotland before History,and in 1959 a popular introductory volume,Approach to Archaeology.He was president of the Prehistoric Society from 1960 to 1963, president of theSociety of Antiquaries of Scotlandfrom 1963 to 1967, president of theCouncil for British Archaeologyfrom 1967 to 1970, and a trustee of theBritish Museumbetween 1968 and 1974). In 1963, he produced a thorough analysis of theBeaker culturein Britain, published as part of aFestschriftdedicated toCyril Fox.Piggott's interest in the early history of the practice of archaeology led to him writingThe Druidsin 1968; other books includedPrehistoric Societies(withGrahame Clark),The Earliest Wheeled Transport(1983), followed by its sequel,Wagon, Chariot and Carriage(1992). His final book wasAncient Britain and the Antiquarian Imagination(1989).
He died of a heart attack at his home nearWantageinOxfordshireon 23 September 1996. His remains were cremated on 30 September atOxfordcrematorium.
Family
[edit]On 12 November 1936, he married Celia Margaret Preston, an archaeologist and finds specialist; they had met while students at the Institute of Archaeology in London. By 1954, their relationship was over, and they divorced in 1956.[1]She became better known under her second married name,Margaret Guido.
Excavations
[edit]Sites he excavated (often withRichard Atkinson) includedCairnpapple Hillin West Lothian;Wayland's Smithyin Oxfordshire; andWest Kennet Long BarrowandStonehengein Wiltshire.
Honours
[edit]In 1957 he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh.His proposers wereRobert Schlapp,David Whitteridge,Sidney Newman,andJames Ritchie.[1]
He received theCBEin 1972, and was awarded numerous academic awards from scholarly institutions in Britain and abroad. He retired from the Abercromby Chair in 1977 and was awarded the gold medal of theSociety of Antiquaries of Londonin 1983 and theGrahame Clark Medalof theBritish Academyin 1992.
Reception and legacy
[edit]Vincent Megawcommented that "as [Piggott] himself has said, although he has done his fair share of field work and excavation, his prime concern has been to produce works of synthesis and interpretation".[2]Megaw added that Piggott viewed "archaeology as an oyster to be savoured whole and not simply to be subjected to the minutiae of macrofaunal and calorific analyses."[2]The historianRonald Huttonstated that it was "one aspect of his greatness that he fostered the study of early modern antiquaries as an integral part of the self-awareness of his profession."[3]
In 1968 a number of Piggott's former pupils and colleagues assembled a collection of essays dedicated to him, titledStudies in Ancient Europe.[2]In 1976 Megaw published a secondFestschrift,which brought in consideration of Piggott's work on the archaeology of Asia and the Americas.[4]
In the 2021 filmThe Dig,which told the story of the Sutton Hoo excavations, Piggott was portrayed byBen Chaplin,although the film takes some creative licence with its presentation of his marriage to his wifePeggy.[5]
Publications
[edit]Marjorie Robertson compiled a list of Piggott's books up to 1975 for hisfestschrift.[6]
Year of publication | Title | Co-author(s) | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|
1935 | The Progress of Early Man | – | A. and C. Black (London) |
1944 | Some Ancient Cities of India | – | Oxford University Press (Bombay) |
1948 | Fire Among the Ruins | Oxford University Press (London) | |
1949 | British Prehistory | Oxford University Press (London) | |
1950 | Prehistoric India to 1000 BC | Penguin (Harmondsworth) | |
1950 | William Stukeley: An Eighteenth Century Antiquary | Clarendon Press (Oxford) | |
1951 | Cairnpapple Hill, West Lothian | HMSO (Edinburgh) | |
1951 | A Picture Book of Ancient British Art | Glyn Daniel | Cambridge University Press (Cambridge) |
1953 | William Camden and the Britannia | Oxford University Press (London) | |
1954 | The Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles | Cambridge University Press (Cambridge) | |
1958 | Inventaria Archaeologica GB 25-34: Early and Middle Bronze Age Grave-Groups and Hoards from Scotland(edited volume) | Margaret Stewart (editors) | Garraway (London) |
1958 | Scotland Before History | Nelson (London) | |
1959 | Approach to Archaeology | A. and C. Black (London) | |
1961 | The Dawn of Civilization(edited volume) | Thames and Hudson (London) | |
1962 | The Prehistoric Peoples of Scotland(edited volume) | Routledge and Kegan Paul (London) | |
1962 | The West Kennet Long Barrow: Excavations 1955–56 | HMSO (London) | |
1963 | West Kennet Long Barrow: Wiltshire | HMSO (London) | |
1965 | Ancient Europe from the Beginnings of Agriculture to Classical Antiquity: A Survey | Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh) | |
1965 | Prehistoric Societies(The History of Human Society series) | Grahame Clark | Hutchinson (London) |
1967 | Celts, Saxons and the Early Antiquaries | Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh) | |
1968 | The Druids | Thames and Hudson (London) | |
1970 | Early Celtic Art | Derek Allen | Edinburgh University Press for the Arts Council of Great Britain (Edinburgh) |
References
[edit]- ^abcBiographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002(PDF).The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006.ISBN0-902-198-84-X.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved24 December2017.
- ^abcMegaw 1976,p. 9.
- ^Hutton 2005,p. 382.
- ^Megaw 1976,pp. 9–10.
- ^"What Netflix 'The Dig' Gets Right And 'Slanderously' Wrong About The Sutton Hoo Story".Forbes.Retrieved12 March2021.
- ^Robertson 1976,pp. 320–331.
Sources
[edit]- Bradley, R. (November 1996)."Obituary: Stuart Piggott".British Archaeology.19.Archived fromthe originalon 9 February 1999.
- Daniel, Glyn Edmund;Chippindale, Christopher(1989).The Pastmasters: Eleven Modern Pioneers of Archaeology: V. Gordon Childe, Stuart Piggott, Charles Phillips, Christopher Hawkes, Seton Lloyd, Robert J. Braidwood, Gordon R. Willey, C.J. Becker, Sigfried J. De Laet, J. Desmond Clark, D.J. Mulvaney.London: Thames and Hudson.ISBN9780500050514.
- Hutton, Ronald (2005). "The Religion of William Stukeley".The Antiquaries Journal.85:381–394.doi:10.1017/S000358150007445X.S2CID162733894.
- Megaw, Vincent(1976). "Editorial Preface". InMegaw, J. V. S.(ed.).To Illustrate the Monuments: essays on archaeology presented to Stuart Piggott on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday.London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 9–10.ISBN0500011494.
- Mercer, Roger J.(26 September 1996)."Obituary: Professor Stuart Piggott".The Independent.Retrieved17 December2016.
- Mercer, Roger J.(2004). "Piggott, Stuart Ernest (1910–1996)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63311.(subscription required)
- Robertson, Marjorie (1976). "Bibliography of Stuart Piggott's publications". InMegaw, J. V. S.(ed.).To Illustrate the Monuments: essays on archaeology presented to Stuart Piggott on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday.London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 320–331.ISBN0500011494.
- People from Petersfield
- Academics of the University of Edinburgh
- People associated with the University of Edinburgh School of History, Classics and Archaeology
- Alumni of the UCL Institute of Archaeology
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- 1910 births
- 1996 deaths
- People educated at Churcher's College
- Archaeologists of Stonehenge
- Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
- Recipients of the Grahame Clark Medal
- Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
- 20th-century British archaeologists
- Fellows of the British Academy
- Sutton Hoo