Peter Ucko
Peter Ucko | |
---|---|
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (1972–81) University of Southampton (1981–96) UCL Institute of Archaeology (1996–06) | |
Known for | World Archaeological Congress |
Peter John Ucko
Born in London to middle class German Jewish parents, Ucko attained his BA and PhD in the anthropology department of UCL, where he proceeded to work from 1962 to 1972, also publishing a number of significant books on archaeology. From 1972 to 1981 he worked as Principal of the
In 1996 he was controversially appointed director of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, overseeing largescale expansion to create the world's largest archaeology department. Also teaching there, he initiated reforms to the syllabus and forged links with the archaeological community in the People's Republic of China, co-founding the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology. Retiring in 2005, he continued developing connections between the UK and China until his death from diabetes.
Life
Early life: 1938–1972
Peter Ucko was born in Buckinghamshire[1]: 1 on 27 July 1938 to German Jewish parents.[2] His father was a professor of endocrinology who took a great interest in music, conducting orchestras and organising operas, while his mother was a child psychologist.[2][3] He formed an 'unwavering obsession' with Egyptology at the age of eleven.[1]: 1 He was sent to boarding school at Bryanston in Dorset, which he despised and left after displeasing the school authorities by refusing to play in a tennis double's match with a local girls school.[2][3]
Studying for a year at
Ucko worked in the UCL Department of Anthropology for the next decade, founding the School of Material Culture Studies. He organised two academic conferences there, which subsequently led to two edited volumes: The Domestication of Plants and Animals and Man, Settlement and Urbanism, both of which became "standard texts."[2][3] In 1967 he published Palaeolithic Cave Art, a book co-written with his girlfriend Andrée Rosenfeld, while the following year he published his doctoral research as a monograph titled Anthropomorphic Figurines of Predynastic Egypt and Neolithic Crete, which critiqued the claims regarding mother goddesses that had been popularised by Marija Gimbutas.[2]
World archaeology: 1972–1996
In 1972, he was appointed Principal of the
In May 1981, following a spell of consultancy work for the Zimbabwean government, he was appointed Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton in England; he took up the position, left vacant by Colin Renfrew, in January 1982.[1]: 3, 8 Pioneering new teaching methods, from 1993 to 1996 he was appointed Dean of Arts at Southampton, allowing him greater space to institute reform.[3]
Becoming national secretary of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (IUPPS), Ucko was charged with organising the organisation's eleventh congress, which was due to take place at Southampton University in 1986. Beginning preparations in 1984, he decided to abide by the international academic boycott of South Africa and Namibia, which had been implemented to protest the apartheid system in those countries; this meant that South African and Namibian delegates would be prevented from attending the congress. The decision caused controversy in the international archaeological community and raised questions of academic freedom. Senior figures in the IUPPS argued that the congress must be open to all archaeologists "with no distinction of race, country or political persuasion", a position supported by the Society for American Archaeology.[2][3] After IUPPS disavowed the conference, Ucko continued to stage it under a new banner as the World Archaeological Congress (WAC), thus developing a new international organisation committed to "the explicit recognition of the historical and social role, and the political context, of archaeological enquiry", which grew to become larger and more influential than IUPPS.[2]
Directorship of the UCL Institute of Archaeology: 1996–2005
In 1996 he was appointed Director of the UCL Institute of Archaeology in central London, also taking on the role of Professor of Comparative Archaeology. His appointment to the former was not universally popular.[3] His later successor as director, Stephen Shennan, would comment that Ucko went about his job "with characteristic forcefulness, making new appointments, overturning existing structures and overhauling the syllabus at all levels."[3] Ucko immediately implemented changes to the manner in which undergraduate courses were taught, based on his experiences at Southampton. Bringing in compulsory core courses for second and third years on such subjects as archaeological theory and public archaeology, he focused on generalisation at the undergraduate level, reserving specialisation for those students who went on to study at a master's degree level, expanding the number of master's degrees on offer.[5]
Taking a particular interest in the fields of
Having developed a keen interest in
Retirement: 2005–2007
Following his retirement, Ucko focused his attention on continuing dialogue between archaeological communities in the UK and PRC.[3] In 2006 he travelled to ten Chinese cities with colleague Wang Tao, interviewing academic archaeologists about how they taught the subject; he planned to produce a book on this topic, but had not done so by the time of his death.[4] A festschrift titled A Future for Archaeology, edited by Robert Layton, Stephen Shennan and Peter Stone, was produced in Ucko's honour in 2006.[2] Ucko had chronic diabetes, a condition that contributed to his death on 14 June 2007.[3]
Personal life
His obituary for The Telegraph described Ucko as a "combative, nervy man" who had a tendency to become aggressive under pressure and who viewed the world "in terms of friends and enemies". It furthermore noted that he was "genial and unpretentious" in the company of others, who often developed "strong affection" for him.[2] Shennan opined that Ucko was a charismatic and dedicated figure who led by example, remarking that his actions inspired many archaeologists, including those who had fallen out with him. Shennan also considered him to have been extremely generous, exhibiting a "massive fund of human warmth."[3]
His partner of 27 years was Jane Hubert, who supported him both emotionally and physically, sacrificing her own professional and personal interests to do so.[3]
The Peter Ucko Archaeological Trust
The Peter Ucko Archaeological Trust was established in 2007, and focuses particularly on providing financial assistance for indigenous and economically disadvantaged people to gain education and training in archaeology, heritage management and associated disciplines, and supports activities that address inequalities and cultural conflict in the areas of archaeological heritage and cultural property. The Trust is administered by the UCL Institute of Archaeology.[7]
The Ucko Collection
The Ucko Collection consists of archaeological objects originally collected by Peter Ucko. On his death, ownership passed to his partner Jane Hubert, who later approached members of the Institute of Archaeology's staff with a desire to donate the collection to a public institution, an act which inspired the "Transitional Objects" project (UCL, 2014–2016).[8]
Publications
- Books
- Ucko, P & T. Champion, (2003). The Wisdom of Egypt: changing visions through the ages. London: UCL Press. One of eight books in the Encounters with Ancient Egypt series edited by Peter Ucko
- Ucko, P., (1987). ISBN 0-7156-2191-2
- Ucko, P., (1968). Anthropomorphic figurines of predynastic Egypt and neolithic Crete, with comparative material from the prehistoric Near East and mainland Greece. London: Andrew Szmidla. 530 p.
- Ucko, Peter J. & Andrée Rosenfeld, (1967). Palaeolithic Cave Art. London: Cop.
- Articles
- Sully,D., Quirke,S., Ucko,P.J. (2006). "Hathor, goddess of love and joy, a Norfolk wherry launched in 1905", Public Archaeology 5(1): 26–36. ISSN 1465-5187
- Ucko, P. (2006). "Unprovenanced Material Culture and Freud's Collection of Antiquities", Journal of Material Culture 6: 251–268. ISSN 1359-1835
- Ucko, P.J. (2006). "Living Symbols of Ancient Egypt", Public Archaeology 5(1). ISSN 1465-5187
- Ucko, P.J., Price,C., Quirke,S. (2006). "A recent Egyptianizing house built on the bank of the Thames", Public Archaeology 5(1): 51–7. ISSN 1465-5187
- Ucko, P.J., Price,C., Quirke,S. (2006). "The Earl's Court Homebase car park facade", Public Archaeology 5(1): 42–50. ISSN 1465-5187
- Ucko, P.J., Quirke,S. (2006). "2004 advertisement for the TV version of Agatha Christie's 'Death on the Nile'", Public Archaeology 5(1). ISSN 1465-5187
- Ucko, P.J., Quirke,S. (2006). "Living Symbols of Ancient Egypt: Introduction", Public Archaeology 5(1): 5–14. ISSN 1465-5187
- Ucko, P.J., Quirke,S. (2006). "The Petrie Medal", Public Archaeology 5(1): 15–25. ISSN 1465-5187
- Ucko, P.J., Quirke,S.Q., Sully,D. (2006). "The past in the present and future: concluding thoughts", Public Archaeology 5(1): 58–72. ISSN 1465-5187
- Ucko, P, (2000). "Enlivening a 'dead' past", Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 4: 67–92
- Ucko, P, (1998). "The Biography of a Collection: The Sir Flinders Petrie Palestinian Collection and the Role of University Museums", Museum Management and Curatorship 17(4): 351–99.
- Ucko, P, (1996). "Mother, are you there?", Cambridge Archaeological Journal 6: 300–4.
- Ucko, P, (1995). "Introduction: archaeological interpretation in a world context", in Theory in Archaeology, ed. P J Ucko. London: Routledge, pp. 1–27.
- Ucko, P, (1994). "Museums and sites: cultures of the past within education Zimbabwe, some ten years on", in The Presented Past: heritage, museums and education, eds. P Stone & B. Molyneux. London: Routledge, pp. 237–82.
- Ucko, P, (1992). "Subjectivity and the recording of Palaeolithic Cave Art", in The Limitations of Archaeological Knowledge, eds. T Shay & J Clottes. Liege: University of Liege Press, pp. 141–80.
- Ucko, P.J. (1965). "Anthropomorphic ivory figurines from Egypt", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 92: 214–38.
- Ucko, P.J. & H.W. Hodges (1963). "Some pre-dynastic figurines: problems of authenticity", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 26(3/4): 205–22.
- Ucko, P.J., (1962). "The Interpretation of Prehistoric Anthropomorphic Figurines", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 92, no. 1 (Jan.-Jun. 1962): 38–54.
See also
References
- ^ OCLC 16468684.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Peter Ucko". The Daily Telegraph. London. 25 June 2007. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Steven, Shennan (9 July 2007). "Obituary: Peter Ucko". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
- ^ ISSN 1463-1725.
- ^ ISSN 1463-1725.
- ^ ISSN 1463-1725.
- ^ No author. 2007–2008. The Peter Ucko Archaeological Trust. Archaeology International 11, p. 14. DOI: [1]
- ^ Vida, C. & Sully, D., (2015). Transitional Objects: The Ucko Collection. A New Heritage Section Joint Research Project. Archaeology International. 18, pp.56–60. DOI: 10.5334/ai.1807
- Robert Layton, Stephen Shennan, Peter Stone, eds., A Future for Archaeology, 2006