Editing V. Gordon Childe (section)

====Excavations====

[[File:Skara Brae - geograph.org.uk - 582968.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Neolithic dwellings at [[Skara Brae]] in [[Orkney]], the site excavated by Childe 1927–30]]

Childe's university position meant he was obliged to undertake archaeological excavations, something he loathed and believed he did poorly.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=64}} Students agreed, but recognised his "genius for interpreting evidence".{{sfn|Green|1981|p=66}} Unlike many contemporaries, he was scrupulous with writing up and publishing his findings, producing almost annual reports for the ''[[Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]]'' and, unusually, ensuring that he acknowledged the help of every digger.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=67}}

His best-known excavation was undertaken from 1928 to 1930 at [[Skara Brae]] in the [[Orkney Islands]]. Having uncovered a well-preserved Neolithic village, in 1931 he published the excavation results in a book titled ''Skara Brae''. He made an error of interpretation, erroneously attributing the site to the Iron Age.{{sfnm|1a1=Green|1y=1981|1pp=68–71|2a1=Richards|2y=1995|2pp=119–122}} During the excavation, Childe got on particularly well with the locals; for them, he was "every inch the professor" because of his eccentric appearance and habits.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=69}} In 1932, Childe, collaborating with the [[anthropologist]] [[C. Daryll Forde]], excavated two Iron Age [[hillfort]]s at [[Earn's Hugh]] on the [[Berwickshire]] coast,{{sfn|Green|1981|pp=66–67}} while in June 1935 he excavated a [[promontory fort]] at [[Larriban]] near to [[Knocksoghey]] in Northern Ireland.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=68}} Together with Wallace Thorneycroft, another Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Childe excavated two vitrified Iron Age forts in Scotland, at [[Finavon]], [[Angus, Scotland|Angus]] (1933–34) and at [[Rahoy]], [[Argyllshire]] (1936–37).{{sfn|Green|1981|p=63}} In 1938, he and Walter Grant oversaw excavations at the Neolithic settlement of [[Rinyo]]; their investigation ceased during the Second World War, but resumed in 1946.{{sfn|Richards|1995|pp=123–125}}