Vere Gordon Childe and the Great War: a conflict of ambition and conscience

Abstract

Australian-born Vere Gordon Childe was an archaeologist and prehistorian who died in 1957, after three decades of international acclaim. Yet, his early career was notably undistinguished in the field of archaeology. After an initial scholarly research publication in 1915, Childe had little further engagement until 1925. Using a life-writing methodology, this thesis explores the early antipodean background of Childe and his social and intellectual milieu, inquiring why he had such an odd academic trajectory. From the outset, he had access to the tightly entwined political and legal elite of Sydney, Australia and travelled to Britain in 1914 with their endorsement. During 1916, however, he became an impassioned advocate against Britain’s new conscription laws. Notably, this activism developed after his 1915 trip to Greece and the later revelations of the Gallipoli slaughter. Intriguingly, only a few years after the 1918 Armistice, Professor JL Myres, his mostly-absent Oxford supervisor who had been an active member of British Intelligence in the Mediterranean during the War, would assist Childe’s resumption of an academic career. Problematically, the contemporary emphasis on academic specialisation may obstruct the interrogation of intricate connections between early twentieth century polymaths, since these networks can straddle modern, disciplinary boundaries. This thesis identifies previously overlooked linkages between people and events in Childe’s first decades. With further investigation, they may refine our perspectives of his later oeuvre.