Prof. V. Gordon Childe

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PROF. V. GORDON CHILDE, whose election as an honorary member of the Prehistoric Society of Switzerland in recognition of his services to prehistoric archæology is announced, has been professor of prehistoric archæology in the University of Edinburgh since 1927. This chair, which he is the first to hold, was founded in memory of the late Lord Abercromby, himself distinguished as a pioneer in study of the Bronze Age in Europe. Prof. Childe, who is an Australian by birth, has travelled extensively in Greece, the Balkans, central Europe, and the East. His early visits to eastern European sites strongly influenced the line of his development in archælogical thought, leading him to appreciate, more fully, perhaps, than had been done by archæologists previously, the importance of the Danube Valley and adjacent regions as a key position in the study of European prehistory. During his tenure of the chair in Edinburgh, Prof. Childe has not only been active in promoting general interest in archæcological studies in Scotland, but he has also taken a leading part in the organization of field research on Scottish sites. Of his own work in the field, the excavation of the stone age village settlement of Skara Brae in the Orkneys ranks as the most remarkable revelation of a complete prehistoric cultural unit which has yet been made in Northern Europe. His contributions to the literature of prehistoric archæology are nil remarkable for their grasp of detail, combined with an unusual breadth of view in tracing the general trends of development, as well us for insight into the interplay of the underlying forces, especially such as belong to the field of prehistoric economics.