Editing V. Gordon Childe (section)

====Publications====

Childe continued writing and publishing books on archaeology, beginning with a series of works following on from ''The Dawn of European Civilisation'' and ''The Aryans'' by compiling and synthesising data from across Europe. First was ''The Most Ancient Near East'' (1928), which assembled information from across Mesopotamia and India, setting a background from which the spread of farming and other technologies into Europe could be understood.{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1pp=61–67|2a1=McNairn|2y=1980|2pp=21–24|3a1=Green|3y=1981|3p=90}} This was followed by ''The Danube in Prehistory'' (1929) which examined the archaeology along the [[Danube]] river, recognising it as the natural boundary dividing the Near East from Europe; Childe believed it was via the Danube that new technologies travelled westward. Although Childe had used culture-historical approaches in earlier publications, ''The Danube in Prehistory'' was his first publication to provide a specific definition of the concept of an [[archaeological culture]], revolutionising the theoretical approach of British archaeology.{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1pp=56–60|2a1=Green|2y=1981|2pp=90–92}}
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote="We find certain types of remains—pots, implements, ornaments, burial rites, house forms—constantly recurring together. Such a complex of regularly associated traits we shall term a 'cultural group' or just a 'culture'. We assume that such a complex is the material expression of what today would be called a people."|salign = right|source=— Gordon Childe, ''The Danube in Prehistory'', 1929.{{sfnm|1a1=Childe|1y=1929|1pp=v–vi|2a1=Johnson|2y=2010|2p=17}}}}

Childe's next book, ''The Bronze Age'' (1930), dealt with the [[Bronze Age]] in Europe, and displayed his increasing adoption of Marxist theory as a means of understanding how society functioned and changed. He believed metal was the first indispensable article of commerce, and that metal-smiths were therefore full-time professionals who lived off the [[social surplus]].{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1pp=67–74|2a1=McNairn|2y=1980|2pp=24–26|3a1=Green|3y=1981|3p=92}} In 1933, Childe travelled to Asia, visiting Iraq—a place he thought "great fun"—and India, which he felt was "detestable" due to the hot weather and extreme poverty. Touring archaeological sites in the two countries, he opined that much of what he had written in ''The Most Ancient Near East'' was outdated, going on to produce ''New Light on the Most Ancient Near East'' (1935), in which he applied his Marxist-influenced ideas about the economy to his conclusions.{{sfnm|1a1=McNairn|1y=1980|1pp=26–27|2a1=Green|2y=1981|2p=93}}

After publishing ''Prehistory of Scotland'' (1935), Childe produced one of the defining books of his career, ''Man Makes Himself'' (1936). Influenced by Marxist views of history, Childe argued that the usual distinction between (pre-literate) prehistory and (literate) history was a [[false dichotomy]] and human society has progressed through a series of technological, economic, and social revolutions. These included the [[Neolithic Revolution]], when hunter-gatherers began settling in permanent farming communities, through to the [[Urban Revolution]], when society moved from small towns to the first cities, and up to more recent times, when the [[Industrial Revolution]] changed the nature of production.{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1pp=83–87, 104–110|2a1=McNairn|2y=1980|2pp=27–30|3a1=Green|3y=1981|3pp=96–97}}

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Childe was unable to travel across Europe, instead focusing on writing ''Prehistoric Communities of the British Isles'' (1940).{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1pp=83–87|2a1=Green|2y=1981|2p=97}} Childe's pessimism regarding the war's outcome led him to believe that "European civilization—capitalist and [[Stalinist]] alike—was irrevocably headed for a Dark Age".{{sfn|Green|1981|pp=97–98}} In this state of mind he produced a sequel to ''Man Makes Himself'' titled ''What Happened in History'' (1942), an account of human history from the Palaeolithic through to the fall of the [[Roman Empire]]. Although [[Oxford University Press]] offered to publish the work, he released it through [[Penguin Books]] because they could sell it at a cheaper price, something he believed pivotal in providing knowledge for those he called "the masses".{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1pp=110–114|2a1=McNairn|2y=1980|2pp=33–38|3a1=Green|3y=1981|3pp=97–98}} This was followed by two short works, ''Progress and Archaeology'' (1944) and ''The Story of Tools'' (1944), the latter an explicitly Marxist text written for the [[Young Communist League]].{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1pp=114–117, 151|2a1=Green|2y=1981|2pp=99–100}}