David Wengrow FSA (born 25 July 1972) is a British archaeologist and Professor of Comparative Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology,

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. He co-authored the international bestseller '' The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity'' which was a finalist for the

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are award ...

in 2022. Wengrow has contributed essays on topics such as social inequality and climate change to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. In 2021 he was ranked No. 10 in

ArtReview ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...

's Power 100 list of the most influential people in art.

Education

Wengrow enrolled at the University of Oxford in 1993, obtaining a BA in archaeology and anthropology. 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.

Andrew Sherratt Andrew George Sherratt (8 May 1946 – 24 February 2006) was an English archaeologist, one of the most influential of his generation. He was best known for his theory of the secondary products revolution. Early life and education Sherratt was ...

was a notable influence during Wengrow's time at Oxford.

Academic career

Between 2001 and 2004 Wengrow was Henri Frankfort Fellow at the

Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cros ...

and

Junior Research Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

. He was appointed to a lectureship at the

UCL Institute of Archaeology UCL's Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of the Social & Historical Sciences Faculty of University College London (UCL) which it joined in 1986 having previously been a school of the University of London. It is currently one of ...

in 2004, and in 2011 he was made Professor of Comparative Archaeology (a post formerly held by Peter Ucko). Wengrow has conducted archaeological excavations in Africa and the Middle East, most recently with the Sulaymaniyah Museum in

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...

. 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. In 2020 Wengrow completed a book on the history of inequality with the anthropologist

David Graeber David Rolfe Graeber (; February 12, 1961 – September 2, 2020) was an American and British anthropologist, Left-wing politics, left-wing and anarchism, anarchist social and political activist. His influential work in Social anthropology, social ...

just three weeks before Graeber's death. '' The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity'' was published in the autumn of 2021.

Honours

Wengrow is a recipient of the Antiquity Prize and has delivered the Rostovtzeff Lectures (New York University), the Jack Goody Lectures (Max Planck Institute) the Biennial Henry Myers Lecture (Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain), the Radcliffe-Brown Lecture in Social Anthropology (British Academy), and the Sigmund H. Danziger Jr. Memorial Lecture in the Humanities (University of Chicago). He served as external coordinator of the Mellon Research Initiative at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts and was Distinguished Visitor at the University of Auckland. In 2023, Wengrow was awarded the Albertus Magnus Professorship by the University of Cologne, among the university's highest academic honours, with previous recipients including such renowned scientists and researchers as

Michael Tomasello Michael Tomasello (born January 18, 1950) is an American developmental and comparative psychologist, as well as a linguist. He is professor of psychology at Duke University. Earning many prizes and awards from the end of the 1990s onward, he is ...

Bruno Latour Bruno Latour (; ; 22 June 1947 – 9 October 2022) was a French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist.Wheeler, Will. ''Bruno Latour: Documenting Human and Nonhuman Associations'' Critical Theory for Library and Information Science. Librari ...

, and

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In ...

. He is an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.Appointments 2024
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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

). New York City: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2021

Short essays

*
A History of True Civilisation is Not One of Monuments"
Aeon 2018. * (co-authored with David Graeber).
How to Change the Course of Human History (At Least the Part That's Already Happened)"
Eurozine 2018. *
Rethinking Cities from the Ground Up"
The British Academy 2019. * (co-authored with David Graeber).
Hiding in Plain Sight: Democracy's Indigenous Origins in the Americas"
Laphams Quarterly 2020 *
Apocalypse No! Pseudo-Archaeology, Ancient Tech-Lords, and Ordinary People."
The Nation 2022. *
Beyond kingdoms and empires: an archaeological revolution transforms our image of human freedoms"
Aeon 2024.

References

External links to academic articles

Wengrow's articles at UCL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wengrow, David 1972 births Academics of the UCL Institute of Archaeology Alumni of the University of Oxford 21st-century British archaeologists Living people Academics of the Warburg Institute Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford World historians