David Wengrow
{{Short description|British archaeologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = David Wengrow
| image = David Wengrow no Fronteiras do Pensamento 2023 em São Paulo (53235359260) (cropped).jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Wengrow in 2023
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1972|07|25|df=y}}
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| occupation = {{Flatlist|
- Archaeologist
- Author
- Academic
}}
| nationality = British
| education = University of Oxford (BA, MSt, DPhil)
| subject = Archaeology
| awards =
| website =
| influences =
| influenced =
| alt = Photo of Wengrow in 2023
}}
David Wengrow FSA (born 25 July 1972) is a British archaeologist and Professor of Comparative Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.[https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/people/david-wengrow-professor-comparative-archaeology UCL Homepage] He co-authored the international bestseller The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity which was a finalist for the Orwell Prize in 2022.{{Cite web|title=The Orwell Prizes|date=17 May 2022 |url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-prizes/2022-prizes/finalists}} Wengrow has contributed essays on topics such as social inequality and climate change to The Guardian[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/31/man-not-trapped-in-deadly-game-with-earth-there-are-ways-out Humanity is not trapped in a deadly game with the Earth – there are ways out, The Guardian, Opinion COP26, 31 October 2021] and The New York Times.[https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/opinion/graeber-wengrow-dawn-of-everything-history.html Ancient History Shows How We Can Create a More Equal World, The New York Times, Opinion, Guest Essay, 4 November, 2021] In 2021 he was ranked No. 10 in ArtReview's Power 100 list of the most influential people in art.[https://artreview.com/power-100/ ArtReview Power 100, 2021]
Education
Wengrow enrolled at the University of Oxford in 1993, obtaining a BA in archaeology and anthropology.[https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/people/david-wengrow-professor-comparative-archaeology UCL Institute of Archaeology, D. Wengrow 'Education and biography'] He went on to qualify for an MSt in world archaeology in 1998 and then studied for a D.Phil. under the supervision of Roger Moorey completed in 2001.[https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/17-Moorey.pdf Obituary Roger Moorey, (1937–2004) The British Academy] Andrew Sherratt was a notable influence during Wengrow's time at Oxford.[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/have-you-read-it/F7BCB273E7F9B1429A6C529D1C96A711 J. O'Shea, S. Shennan and D. Wengrow, 'Andrew Sherratt Remembered', Antiquity Sep 2006, Vol.80 (309), pp.762–766]
Academic career
Between 2001 and 2004 Wengrow was Henri Frankfort Fellow at the Warburg Institute and Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church, Oxford. He was appointed to a lectureship at the UCL Institute of Archaeology in 2004, and in 2011 he was made Professor of Comparative Archaeology (a post formerly held by Peter Ucko).[https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/people/david-wengrow-professor-comparative-archaeology Wengrow, Education and Biography as listed by University College London, 1.1.2020] Wengrow has conducted archaeological excavations in Africa and the Middle East, most recently with the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Iraqi Kurdistan.[https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1555780/1/Wengrow%20et%20al.%202016.pdf Field report, "New Excavations in the Shahrizor Plain, Iraqi Kurdistan". Iraq (2016) 78: 253–284] He is the author of three books and numerous academic articles on topics including the origins of writing, ancient art, Neolithic societies, and the emergence of the first states in Egypt and Mesopotamia.{{Cite web|url=https://ucl.academia.edu/DavidWengrow|title = David Wengrow | University College London - Academia.edu}} In 2020 Wengrow completed a book on the history of inequality with the anthropologist David Graeber just three weeks before Graeber's death.{{Cite web|last1=Harper|first1=Annie|last2=Read|first2=Mark|last3=Herrine|first3=Luke|last4=Neary|first4=Dyan|last5=Liu|first5=Yvonne Yen|last6=Bookchin|first6=Debbie|last7=Jordan|first7=John|last8=Frémeaux|first8=Isabelle|last9=Ross|first9=Andrew|last10=Wengrow|first10=David|last11=Sahlins|first11=Marshall|date=5 September 2020|title=David Graeber, 1961–2020|url=https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/09/05/david-graeber-1961-2020/|access-date=2020-09-15|website=The New York Review of Books|language=en}} The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was published in the autumn of 2021.{{Cite web|title='Inspirational' Activist Author David Graeber Dies|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/september/david-graeber-author-activist-dies.html|access-date=2020-09-15|website=www.penguin.co.uk|date=3 September 2020 }}
Honours
Wengrow is a recipient of the Antiquity Prize[https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/ai/article/id/2091/ Director's report, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 2015]
and has delivered the Rostovtzeff Lectures (New York University),[https://isaw.nyu.edu/events/rostovtzeff-lecture-series The Rostovtzeff Lectures, list of past recipients, New York University, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World] the Jack Goody Lectures (Max Planck Institute)[https://www.eth.mpg.de/3789573/Goody_Lectures The Jack Goody Lectures, list of past recipients, Max Planck Institute for Ethnology and Social Anthropology] the Biennial Henry Myers Lecture (Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain),[https://www.therai.org.uk/awards/honours-prior-recipients/henry-myers-lecture-prior-recipients The Henry Myers Lecture, past recipients, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain] the Radcliffe-Brown Lecture in Social Anthropology (British Academy),[https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/lectures/listings/radcliffe-brown-lectures-social-anthropology/ The Radcliffe-Brown Lecture, past recipients British Academy] and the Sigmund H. Danziger Jr. Memorial Lecture in the Humanities (University of Chicago).{{cite web | url=https://classics.uchicago.edu/news-and-events/annual-events/sigmund-h-danziger-jr-distinguished-lecture-series | title=Sigmund H. Danziger Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series | Department of Classics }} He served as external coordinator of the Mellon Research Initiative at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts[https://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/research/mellon/mellon-events.htm Mellon Research Initiative, Homepage, New York University, Institute of Fine Arts] and was Distinguished Visitor at the University of Auckland.[https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/news/2019/jul/david-wengrow-awarded-distinguished-visitor-award-2019-university-auckland Announcement (UCL), 'David Wengrow named as Distinguished Visitor, University of Auckland, 2019] In 2023, Wengrow was awarded the Albertus Magnus Professorship by the University of Cologne, among the university's highest academic honours,{{cite web | url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2023/jun/comparative-archaeology-expert-recognised-prestigious-honour-and-lecture-series | title=UCL News, Comparative archaeology expert recognised with prestigious honour and lecture series| date=21 June 2023}} with previous recipients including such renowned scientists and researchers as Michael Tomasello, Bruno Latour, and Judith Butler.{{cite web | url=https://portal.uni-koeln.de/en/research/internal-research-funding-and-awards/albertus-magnus-professorship | title=Albertus Magnus Professorship, University of Cologne}} He is an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.[https://www.sal.org.uk/2024/09/august-2024-ballot-results/title=Antiquaries Appointments 2024]
Selected publications
= Books =
- The Archaeology of Early Egypt: Social Transformations in North-East Africa, 10,000–2650 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006.
- What Makes Civilization?: The Ancient Near East and the Future of the West. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press 2010.
- The Origins of Monsters: Image and Cognition in the First Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 2014.
- The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (co-authored with David Graeber). New York City: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2021
= Short essays =
- "[https://aeon.co/ideas/a-history-of-true-civilisation-is-not-one-of-monuments A History of True Civilisation is Not One of Monuments"]. Aeon 2018.
- (co-authored with David Graeber). "[https://www.eurozine.com/change-course-human-history/ How to Change the Course of Human History (At Least the Part That's Already Happened)"]. Eurozine 2018.
- "[https://medium.com/whose-society-whose-cohesion/rethinking-cities-from-the-ground-up-73d92059b15f Rethinking Cities from the Ground Up"]. The British Academy 2019.
- (co-authored with David Graeber). "[https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/democracy/hiding-plain-sight Hiding in Plain Sight: Democracy's Indigenous Origins in the Americas"]. Laphams Quarterly 2020
- "[https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/ancient-apocalypse-graham-hancock/ Apocalypse No! Pseudo-Archaeology, Ancient Tech-Lords, and Ordinary People."]. The Nation 2022.
- "[https://aeon.co/essays/an-archeological-revolution-transforms-our-image-of-human-freedoms Beyond kingdoms and empires: an archaeological revolution transforms our image of human freedoms"]. Aeon 2024.
References
= External links to academic articles =
- [https://ucl.academia.edu/DavidWengrow Wengrow's articles at UCL]
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Category:Academics of the UCL Institute of Archaeology
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:21st-century British archaeologists
Category:Academics of the Warburg Institute