| 1 | Name: | Lord Colin Renfrew | |
| Institution: | McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge | ||
| Year Elected: | 2006 | ||
| Class: | 4. Humanities | ||
| Subdivision: | 403. Cultural Anthropology | ||
| Residency: | International | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1937 | ||
Colin Renfrew is one of the most influential and renowned archaeologists in the world today. From his important excavations in Greece and the Aegean - at Saliagos, Melos, and Sitagroi - and the influential publications on this research that followed, to his research on the Orkneys in northern Scotland, he has played a leading role in world archaeology for more than three decades. He is the author of the path-breaking books The Emergence of Civilization: The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium B.C. and Before Civilization: the Radiocarbon Revolution and Prehistoric Europe in the early 1970s, which had profound impacts on scholarly understanding of Aegean and European prehistory. He has also made numerous contributions to archaeological theory and method, such as his early research on trace element analysis of obsidian and trade and his formulations on peer polity interaction and the rise of political complexity, to his pioneering work in cognitive, social and linguistic archaeology. With his elevation to a life peerage and a seat in the House of Lords, Lord Renfrew also has been able to play an important political role in furthering the role of arts and culture in the United Kingdom and in combating the ravages of archaeological looting. Lord Renfrew received his Sc.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1976 and has been Disney Professor of Archaeology Emeritus there since 2004. He also serves as Director Emeritus of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. | |||