 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
| Copyright © 2012. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Terms of Use and Privacy Statement |
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 1
13io,qraphicat Memoirs
VOLUME 83
OCR for page 2
OCR for page 3
]. DESMOND CLARK
April 10. 1916-February 14, 2002
BY FRED WENDORF
BY ANY MEASURE ]. Desmond Clark was the most influen-
tial en c! productive archaeologist who ever worker! in
Africa. More than any other incliviclual he shaped our un-
clerstancling of African prehistory, en cl his interests en cl goals
have structures! almost all the prehistoric research now un-
clerway on that continent.
. .
I first met Clark in the fall of 1960, when he came to
Santa Fe to give a talk on his work in Northern Rhodesia. I
was then working as an American Southwestern archaeolo-
gist, but CIark's talk stimulatecl my interest in the archaeol-
ogy of Africa. It was only two years later, in 1962, en c! still
knowing nothing about African prehistory, that I found my-
self leacling the Combined Prehistoric Expedition in the
salvage excavations at prehistoric sites in the Aswan reser-
voir in Egypt and Sudan. It was my very good fortune that
Clark was the first person I turned to in my frantic scramble
to learn enough about African prehistory to clo my job en c!
not embarrass myself totally. Clark responclecl quickly with
a packet of reprints en cl a long list of reaclings that began
my African education. On many occasions since then I turner!
to him for guidance, en cl I found Desmoncl always to be
generous with his acivice en cl encouragement. I have also
3
OCR for page 4
4
B I O G RA P H I C A L
EMOIRS
learner! that I was not alone in receiving help from Clark.
In fact, there are very few archaeologists now working in
Africa, inclucling Africans, who have not benefited from his
acivice en c! support.
Clark was remarkably well informal about the archaeol-
ogy en cl Pleistocene geology of almost every part of Africa,
mostly because throughout his life he fount! opportunities
to clo fielcl work in a wicle variety of areas en cl over the
whole chronological range of human experience in Africa,
from the earliest human artifacts to an occasional ethno-
graphic study of modern tribal groups. He was also an ex-
ceptionally gifted synthesizer, en cl he cirew on his wicle ex-
perience to write several summary books that remain the
best available general texts on the archaeology of Africa
(1954, 1959, 1970, 1982~.
Desmonc! Clark was born in Lonclon into a fairly well-to-
clo merchant family. One of his grandfathers was a chemist
who hacl clevelopecl a profitable business in cosmetics, trav-
elec~ wiclely on the continent, en c! acquirer! a strong inter-
est in antiquities. Clark always creclitecl this grandfather with
stimulating his own interest in prehistory. CIark's father
was trainee! as an electrical engineer, but after he returnee!
from service on the Western Front cluring WorIcl War I he
took over the family cosmetic business en cl managed it un-
tiT his cleath. When his father returnee! from service, Desmonc!
and his family moved to the small village of Northend, in
the Chiltern Hills, a beautiful wooclecl area about 40 miles
west of London. It was here that Clark clevelopec! his inter-
est in the natural environment. At age six he was sent away
to boarcling school, first to a school at PortisheacI, near
Bristol, en c! then to Swanbourne House, a preparatory school
in Buckinghamshire, where he stucliecl for en cl passed his
common entrance exams. From there he went to Monkton
Combe School near Bath. Here his interests in archaeology
OCR for page 5
J. DESMOND CLARK
5
began to form, stimulates! by his teachers, of which one was
a local antiquarian.
In 1934 Clark was accepted by Christ's College, Cam-
bricige, where he stucliec! history for two years, then archae-
ology en cl anthropology uncler Miles Burkitt, who awakened
in him an interest in artifacts en cl the history of the clisci-
pline, en c! Grahame Clark, who taught him the importance
of the paleoenvironment to archaeology, primarily how
changes in the environment might influence human behav-
ior. Another significant influence on Desmonc! at this time
was Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who instructed him in rigorous
fielcl techniques. Clark workocl for Wheeler at Maiden Castle
cluring the 1936 Beld season and part of the summer of
1937. Desmond was an excellent student, and in 1937 he
received his bachelor of arts degree with first-cIass honors,
as well as an honorary bachelor scholarship from Christ's
College.
Despite his clistinguishecl unclergracluate academic record
there were almost no positions in archaeology when Clark
received his B.A. degree. In fact, there were only three per-
manent non-museum positions in archaeology in the entire
country, en c! none of these were open. Clark applier! un-
successfully for several museum positions in EnglancI. Then
in the late fall of 1937 he was offered a three-year appoint-
ment, with an option for a Tong-term contract, in Northern
Rhodesia (now Zambia) as secretary of the Rhocles-
Livingstone Institute en cl curator of the David Livingstone
Memorial Museum. The position incluclec! a salary of £400,
plus a house with basic furniture. Although not previously
interested in African archaeology, Clark eagerly accepted
the offer en c! in micI-December went by boat to Cape Town,
arriving there the first week of January 1938. A few days
later he travelecl by train to Livingstone, a three-clay jour-
ney. Although initially intending to stay only 3 years in North-
OCR for page 6
6
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
ern Rhodesia, he remainec! there en c! hell! the same two
positions for 23 years, until ~ 961, when he accepted an
appointment as professor of anthropology at the University
of California, Berkeley. He stayer! at Berkeley as professor,
en cl from 1986 as professor emeritus, until his cleath.
While at Cambridge, Clark met a fellow student who was
reacting moclern languages. Her name was Betty Baume,
en cl she was from Yorkshire. Their friendship soon blos-
somecI, en cl they became engaged cluring his final year.
Shortly after his arrival in Livingstone, Clark sought en c!
received permission to marry Betty from the governor (per-
mission to marry was required of all first-tour staff. In late
spring of ~ 938 Betty came to Livingstone, en c! a month
later they were married. This began one of the great part-
nerships in archaeology. Betty went with Desmoncl on all
his expeditions, she ran the field! laboratory while he super-
visecl the excavations, en cl she translatecl his notoriously
terrible handwriting en cl type cl many of his manuscripts.
She even server! as acting curator of the museum while he
was away in service cluring WorIcl War II. They hacl two
chilciren, a son, John Wynne Desmoncl Clark, now living in
England, and a daughter, Elizabeth Anne Cable Clark, who
resicles in Australia. Betty cliecl two months after DesmoncI.
During the 1930s Clark was one of the three or four
professional archaeologists in southern Africa, but when he
arrivecl in Livingstone his first efforts were to clo something
about the Rhocles-Livingstone Museum. Clark founcl the
museum to be a disorganized shambles, with collections,
mostly ethnographic and historical materials, displayed on
open tables, and housed in an old PalIadian-style building
that hac! previously server! as the Uniter! Services Club. There
was only one small display of archaeological artifacts, and
these were from Gatti's 1929 excavations at Mumbwa caves.
Most of the collections were still in boxes. There was no
OCR for page 7
J. DESMOND CLARK
7
technical staff en c! the collections were little more than
assemblages of artifacts en cl mineral specimens with few or
no records. He set about reorganizing the museum: creat-
ing thematic exhibits of both archaeological en c! ethnologi-
cal materials en cl writing an accompanying handbook. Clark
also clirectecl an annual two-week winter fielcl school in ar-
chaeology that was baser! at the museum. All these activities
en cl improvements at the museum were popular with the
local people en cl schooIchilciren, en cl after WorIcl War II
this popularity macle possible the construction of a new
museum with funcling from several private companies en cl
the Northern Rhodesia government.
With the museum in reasonable shape Clark turner! his
attention to research on the local archaeology. He began
his fieldwork with geologist Basil Cooke from Johannesburg,
en c! their stucly of the stone tools en c! fossils of the OIc!
Terrace gravels of the Zambezi River resultecl is his first
publication, in 1939, with H. B. S. Cooke. He publishecl two
other papers that same year, one a summary of the known
Stone Age sites in Northern Rhodesia (issuccl as the first
occasional paper of the Rhocles-Livingstone Museum), en cl
the other a discussion of the origin en c! aims of the Davic!
Livingstone Memorial Museum, which appeared in the Mu-
seums Journal (Lonclon). Clark also obtained a research
grant to excavate the Mumbwa caves in Northern Rhodesia,
en cl his report on that work (1942) recorclecl a sequence of
StilIbay, Rhoclesian Wilton, en cl Iron Age seasonal occupa-
tions in those caves.
From 1941 to 1946 Clark was in the British army, serv-
ing initially as a sergeant in the Seventh East African Fielcl
Ambulance Corps in Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Somalia.
His unit took part in the retaking of Berbera in British
Somaliland, and several engagements on the plateau at
Hargeisa en c! Boroma, en c! finally, in late 1941, atGonciar,
OCR for page 8
8
B I O G RA P H I C A L
EMOIRS
the last battle in the Ethiopian campaign. After officer training
he became a civil affairs officer in the British Military AcI-
ministration in Somalia, where he was stationed in the south-
ern part of the country. During this perioc! he also traveler!
to Kenya en cl became close friends with Louis en cl Mary
Leakey, visiting them frequently. While in Ethiopia and So-
maTia, in aciclition to his work as a soiclier en c! later as a civil
affairs officer, Clark also managed to clo some archaeology,
recording sites en cl even performing limitecl excavations.
In 1944 en c! 1945 he publisher! three short articles, all on
Stone Age sites he found in Ethiopia. By 1946, when he
took his discharge from the army, Clark hacl accumulatecl
22 petrol boxes of artifacts en c! quantities of field! notes
from his studies in Somalia en cl Ethiopia. With the help of
the army he managed to get them all safely to Livingstone,
en c! eventually to Cambridge. Later the sites he surveyed!
en cl the ciata he collectecl proviclecl an important part of his
Ph.D. dissertation en cl the basis of his highly respected book
The Prehistoric Cultures of the Horn of Africa ~ ~ 954) .
On his release from the army and his return to North-
ern Rhodesia in 1946, the improvement of his museum was
again CIark's first concern. One of his initial tasks was to
begin planning a new Rhocles-Livingstone Museum, the ciraw-
ings for which were publishecl in 1947. This was followocl in
the same year by an article issues! by the Rhocles-Livingstone
Institute on the public service role of museums. Other pub-
lications cluring this period were limitecl to a few brief ar-
ticles on a variety of topics, inclucling the Bushmen, copper
procluction in Central Africa, en cl the formation en cl chro-
nology of the Victoria Falls. Clearly, there was a lack of
focus, but this was to change shortly.
In 1947, less than a year after Clark returned to North-
ern Rhodesia, Louis Leakey organized en cl hostecl the First
Pan-African Congress on Prehistory. This congress brought
OCR for page 9
J. DESMOND CLARK
9
together for the first time almost everyone interested! in
African prehistory archaeologists, Quaternary geologists,
en cl paleontologists who came from 26 countries en cl from
all parts of Africa en c! abroad. It gave those who attenclec!
the opportunity to meet en cl learn what others were cloing
en cl to discuss mutual problems. It was a lancimark event
for African prehistory en c! for Clark. He gave a well-receivec!
paper on his research in the Somalilancis, but his engaging
personality, together with his scholarly competence en cl ex-
perience with the prehistory of southern en c! eastern Africa
gave him consiclerable prominence beyond his presenta-
tion. Most important, however, the discussions at the con-
gress stimulated CIark's commitment to archaeological re-
search, and over the next clecacle following ~ 947 Clark
concluctecl excavations in the upper Zambezi Valley, slug
the Late Stone Age cave of Nachikufu, en c! reexamines! the
Broken Hill site (1959) where "Rhoclesian man" hacl been
cliscoverecl in ~ 92 ~ .
T ~ ~ A ~ ~_1 1
In ~ u~ Flare took a year-e leave anct returnee! to Cam-
bricige to complete his residency requirement for a cloctor-
ate. He received his degree in 1951, writing his thesis on
his work in the Zambezi Valley en c! the Horn of Africa. The
previous year he publishecl his first regional synthesis, is-
succl as a monograph by the South African Archaeological
Society (1950~. In that year he also publisher! several ar-
ticles on a variety of archaeological topics, en cl served as
president of the South African Archaeological Society. Clark
was rapidity becoming a leacler among African archaeolo-
gists, a position that was reinforced by a remarkable publi-
cation record that included 57 papers and six books pub-
lishec! in the ~ O years between ~ 950 en c! ~ 959. He also
continual to be active in the museum fielcI, en cl in 1955 he
served as president of the South African Museums Associa-
OCR for page 10
0
B I O G RA P H I C A L
EMOIRS
tion, giving a presiclential aciciress on the role of museums
in public education.
Clark was also interested in cultural preservation, en cl
he realizer! that something neeclec! to be clone to protect
the archaeological en cl historical sites in Northern Rhocle-
sia. To provicle this protection, in 1950 he founclecl en cl was
secretary of the Northern Rhodesia National Monuments
Commission, with authority to protect all monuments built
before 1897. Clark served as secretary of the Commission
until 1961, when he left to go to Berkeley. He was then
electecl an honorary member of the commission, a position
he helcl until his cleath.
The Seconc! Pan-African Congress was hell! in 1952 in
Algeria, en cl Clark served as chairman of the prehistory
section. Stimulatecl by the papers en cl the collections he
saw while at the congress, Clark proposer! a correlation of
prehistoric cultures north en cl south of the Sahara that was
publishecl in the South African Archaeological Bulletin
(1954~. Although the mocle! he proposer! is now known to
be incorrect, it was CIark's first attempt to view African
prehistory as a whole.
The Thirc! Pan-African Congress was hell! in Livingstone
in 1955 with Clark as the organizing secretary en cl coeditor
of the proceedings. Shortly after the congress in Livingstone,
Clark was invites! to clo field! work in Angola, where mining
activities had exposed many archaeological horizons buried
in fossil clunes. He spent four fielcl seasons there (1959,
1960, 1963, en c! 1968) en c! he wrote four volumes on the
results of his excavations. These were publishecl by the Museu
clo Dunclo in Lisbon (1963, 1966~.
Although Clark mover! to Berkeley in 1961, he contin-
ued his archaeological research in Northern Rhodesia (each
year from 1962 through 1968 and again in 1972), as well as
smaller projects in South Africa (in 1962, 1966, 1979, and
OCR for page 11
J. DESMOND CLARK
11
1985~. He also fount! time to spenc! two field! seasons in
Syria (1964, 1965) en cl two more along the Nile in central
Sudan ~ ~ 972, ~ 973) .
In 1953 Clark cliscoverec! the most important site of his
career at Kalambo Falls in Northern Rhodesia. This was a
cleeply stratified, waterIoggecl Lower Paleolithic locality with
superb preservation of wood, semis, leaves, en c! pollen. Be-
cause of the aciclity of the soil, however, almost no bone
was preserved. It was here that Clark introclucecl the tech-
nique of "point plotting" each incliviclual artifact. This re-
sultecl in the first record of African Acheulian activity areas.
Because of his earlier training at Cambridge en cl his initial
experience with Cooke en c! other geologists, the research
at Kalambo Falls was organized as a multiclisciplinary project
with a focus on the reconstruction of the paleoenvironments
of the site. A number of students en c! young scholars, in-
clucling many who are now major figures in prehistoric studies
in Africa en cl elsewhere, participated in the excavation en cl
writing of the reports. The first two books on his work at
Kalambo Falls (1969, 1974) establishecl him as one of the
two leacling African prehistorians, the other being Louis
Leakey. The thirc! volume on Kalambo Falls (2001), an even
more massive report than the first two, was clelayocl in part
because of the enormous size of the effort and because
Clark began to lose his eyesight while he was working on
the manuscript. Fortunately he was able to finish the report
en cl see it through the press. He was nearly blincl when he
flier! a few months later.
Shortly after Clark arrivecl in Berkeley in 1961 he en cl
his colleagues in the Department of Anthropology began
the clevelopment of a research en c! graduate training pro-
gram in African prehistory and related disciplines that soon
became the most clistinguishecl center in the worIcl for such
studies. In aciclition to the outstanding faculty involves! in
OCR for page 12
12
B I O G RA P H I C A L
EMOIRS
the program, a key feature was the active recruitment of
students from Africa. By the time Clark retired from teach-
ing in 1986, 10 Africans from 6 different countries hacl
receiver! their doctorates uncler his direction. These Afri-
can graduates are now university teachers, museum clirec-
tors, en cl heacis of antiquities organizations in their own
countries. Beginning in 1974 Clark began a Tong-term project
in Ethiopia. Initially it was focused on the Arussi-Harar Pla-
teau en cl the Gacleb Plain, on the eastern sicle of the Rift
Valley in the southeastern section of Ethiopia. He worker!
there for four seasons, until 1978, en cl he publishecl several
interesting papers on the results of these investigations, which
were mostly at Lower Paleolithic (OIclowan) en c! AcheuTian
sites. Then in 1981 en cl 1982 he shifted to the Afar MicicIle
Awash Valley where he workocl in the rich Lower and MicicIle
Paleolithic localities in that area. Unfortunately only one
paper based on this work was published, in part because
the research was unfinished. The project was placecl on
hoist when the Ethiopian government cleciarec! an eight-
year moratorium on all paleoanthropological research in
Ethiopia by foreign scholars while the Ethiopian Ministry
of Culture establisher! new rules en c! regulations. It was not
until 1990 that Clark was able to return to the Middle Awash
en cl the Afar Basin.
Unable to work in Ethiopia, Clark turned his attention
to other areas, en cl for the first time he began to clevelop
long-term projects outside Africa. It had long been known
that Lower Paleolithic sites with lithic assemblages at least
superficially similar to those in Africa occurred in central
and western India. Clark was interested in these because
they inclicatec! possible contacts with Africa en c! might re-
late to the spreacl of early humans into Southeast Asia. In
1980 Clark, with several Indian colleagues, began a study of
several Lower Paleolithic sites in the Mac~hya Praclesh of
OCR for page 13
J. DESMOND CLARK
13
north-central India. He spent four seasons there between
1980 en cl 1983, In 1983 Clark publishecl a book with G. R.
Sharma on the results of this research. In many respects,
however, the results were disappointing. Preservation was
poor, associated fauna was limitecl to nonexistent, en cl ciat-
ing was insecure. In early 1987 Clark was invited to visit
north China en c! see the Paleolithic sites there en c! stucly
the collections from these sites. Later that year en cl con-
tinuing into 1988 he returned to visit the Paleolithic sites
in south China. His interest in China continues! in late
1989 en cl early 1990, when he clicl archaeological research
at several very early Paleolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin
in western China. Unfortunately the results of this research
hacl not been publishecl when he cliecI.
Clark received many honors for his research en cl schol-
arship. His first was in 1960 when he became a commander
of the Order of the British Empire. This was followocl in
1967 by the Commancleur cle I'Orcire National cle Senegal,
the Huxley Mecial from the Royal Anthropological Insti-
tute, Lonclon, in 1974, en cl in 1985 the GoIcl Mecial of the
Society of Antiquaries in Lonclon. In 1985 he also received
two honorary doctorates, one from the University of
Witwatersrancl in Johannesburg en cl the other from the
University of Cape Town. He was elected a foreign associ-
ate member of the National Academy of Science in 1986
en cl a full member in 1993. Clark also received the GoIcl
Mecial of the Archaeological Institute of America in 1989.
The quality of CIark's research en c! his establisher! recorc!
for publishing his results were widely admired by his col-
leagues, en cl for this reason his requests for funcis were
usually favorably receiver! by the aware! panels at the Na-
tional Science Foundation ~ ~ 0 grants between ~ 962 and
~ 984 for paleoanthropological research in Africa), the
Smithsonian Institution (five grants between 1980 en c! 1985
OCR for page 14
4
B I O G RA P H I C A L
EMOIRS
for research in central Inclia), en c! the Wenner Gren Foun-
ciation (with several grants to assist his research in Africa,
to publish two books Atlas of African Prehis tory en cl Back-
grounc! to Evolution in Africa], to funs! a movie on flaking
stone artifacts, en cl to assist with ciata analysis for volume
III of The Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site)
Possibly one of Desmoncl's most treasurer! public hon-
ors, anct certainly the most emotional, was the great party
helcl at Berkeley for him when he retired in 1986. Nearly
200 of his oic! students, friends, en c! colleagues came from
all over the worIcl to celebrate his enormous professional
achievements en cl to express their thanks for all that he
had done for them. It was a measure of his contributions to
archaeology as both teacher en cl scholar that they came
from several countries in Africa, from Europe, from China,
en c! from many universities en c! museums in the Uniter!
States.
. . · . .. . . ~ .
IN THE PREPARATION of this biographical memoir I have drawn exten-
sively on two publications: a brief autobiography by J. Desmond
Clark, "Archaeological Retrospect 10" in Antiquity 60~1986~:179-88
and a second by H. B. S. Cooke, T. W. K. Harris, and K. Harris, "T.
Desmond Clark: His Career and Contribution to Prehistory" in the
Journal of Human Evolution 16~1987) :549-81. I also wish to thank his
son, Tohn Clark, for the photograph of Desmond included with this
memoir and for help with his family's history.
OCR for page 15
J. DESMOND CLARK
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1942
15
Further excavations (1939) at the Mumbwa caves, Northern Rhode-
sia. Trans. R. Soc. S. Afr. 29:133-201.
1950
The Stone Age Cultures of Northern Rhodesia. Cape Town: South
African Archaeological Society.
1954
The Prehistoric Cultures of the Horn of Africa. London: Cambridge
University Press.
A provisional correlation of prehistoric cultures north and south of
the Sahara. S. Afr. Archaeol. Bull. 9~34) :51-66.
1959
The Prehistory of Southern Africa. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Further excavations at Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia. 7. R. Anthropol.
Inst. 89 (2) :201-32.
1960
Human ecology in Pleistocene and later times in Africa south of the
Sahara. Curr. Anthropol. 1 (4) :307-24.
1963
Prehistoric Cultures of Northeast Angola and Their Significance in
Tropical Africa. Lisbon: Museu do Dondo, Publicacoes Culturais
No. 62.
1965
The later Pleistocene cultures of Africa. Science 150 (3698) :833-47.
1966
The Distribution of Prehistoric Culture in Angola. Lisbon: Museu
do Dundo, Publicacoes Culturais No. 73.
OCR for page 16
16
B I O G RA P H I C A L
1967
EMOIRS
The Atlas of African Prehistory (compiler). Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
With W. W. Bishop, eds. Background to Evolution in Africa. Chi-
cago: University of Chicago Press.
1969
The Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site. Volume I. London: Cambridge
University Press.
1970
The Prehistory of Africa. London: Thames and Hudson.
1971
Human behavioral differences in southern Africa during the Later
Pleistocene. Am. Anthropol. 73~5) :1211-36.
1974
The Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site. Volume II. London: Cambridge
University Press.
1982
Ed. Cambridge History of Africa. Volume 1. From earliest times to
cat 500 BC. London: Cambridge University Press.
1984
With S. A. Brandt, eds. From Hunters to Farmers: The Causes and
Consequences of Food Production in Africa. Berkeley: University
of California Press.
1985
With J. W. K. Harris. Fire and its roles in early hominid lifeways.
Afr. Archaeol. Rev. 3:3-27.
2001
With M. R. Kleindienst. The Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site. Volume
III. London: Cambridge University Press.
OCR for page 17
Representative terms from entire chapter:
desmond clark
