Julian Stewart Thomas (born 1959) is a British

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, publishing on the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

of Britain and north-west Europe. Thomas has been vice president of the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

since 2007. He has been

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Archaeology at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

since 2000, and is former secretary of the World Archaeological Congress. Thomas is perhaps best known as the author of the academic publication ''Understanding the Neolithic'' in particular, and for his work with the

Stonehenge Riverside Project The Stonehenge Riverside Project was a major Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded archaeological research study of the development of the Stonehenge Landscape, Stonehenge landscape in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain. In particular, the pro ...

Education

Born in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, Thomas studied archaeology at the University of Bradford, where he acquired a

Bachelor of Technology A Bachelor of Technology (BTech) is an undergraduate degree that is awarded for a higher education program in engineering. Countries Australia In Australia, the Bachelor of Technology degree is offered by RMIT University, Edith Cowan Univ ...

(BTech) degree in archaeological science in 1981. He then transferred to the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

and graduated with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(MA) degree in 1982, and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(PhD) degree in 1986 for his research on the "social and economic change in the Neolithic of Wessex and the Upper Thames valley".

Career

Between 1987 and 2000 Thomas was a lecturer in archaeology at the

University of Wales, Lampeter University of Wales, Lampeter () was a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822, and incorporated by royal charter in 1828, it was the oldest Academic degree, degree awarding institution in Wales, with limited degree awarding powers sinc ...

(1987–1993) and at Southampton University (1994–2000). Thomas worked with

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

between 1994 and 2002, excavating prehistoric sites in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

and

Galloway Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...

as "Director of archaeological excavations of Neolithic and later prehistoric sites" – the record of which was published as ''Place and Memory: Excavations at the Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm'' in 2007. Originally published as ''Rethinking the Neolithic'' in 1991, Thomas revised his work, which was republished as ''Understanding the Neolithic'' in 1999. The book challenged the conventionally held view that human lifestyles transformed in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, from

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

s to Neolithic farmers – a process known as the "

Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution, also known as the First Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period in Afro-Eurasia from a lifestyle of hunter-gatherer, hunting and gathering to one of a ...

"– through interpretive analysis of "social theory, anthropology and critical hermeneutics". Between 1994 and 1999 Thomas was secretary of the World Archaeological Congress and became academic series editor (a ''

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

'' (unpaid) position held jointly with Martin Hall) of the

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

series ''Themes in Archaeology'' – which moved to Left Coast Press as the ''One World Archaeology Series'' in 2008. Ten books in the series were published during their tenure – between 2000 and 2005. Thomas took up the Chair of Archaeology at Manchester University in April 2000, a position he still holds. Thomas is co-director of the

– a collaborative archaeological study begun in 2003 as a consortium of university teams, funded by the AHRC and the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

. During excavations of sites surrounding

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

– including

Stonehenge Cursus The Stonehenge Cursus (sometimes known as the Greater Cursus) is a large Neolithic cursus monument on Salisbury plain, near to Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. It is roughly long and between and wide. Excavations in 2007 dated the construct ...

the Avenue The Avenue was a rugby union stadium and training pitches in Sunbury-on-Thames that belonged to the England, English club London Irish since 1931 when the team bought its . The team moved one season to the Stoop Memorial Ground thereafter to ...

and Woodhenge – Thomas found evidence of a large settlement of Neolithic houses, at Durrington Walls, nearby and discovered the

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches ...

and

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

, known as "

Bluestonehenge Bluestonehenge or Bluehenge (also known as West Amesbury Henge) is a prehistoric henge and stone circle monument that was discovered by the Stonehenge Riverside Project about south-east of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. All that remains of t ...

", on the west bank of the Avon. Thomas speculates that the 25

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of natural dimension stone, dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * diabase, dolerites in Tasmania, ...

s at

– originating in the Preseli Hills, away in modern-day

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

– stood in a circle, surrounded by a

, at

for around 500 years before being dismantled and moved to their current location around 2500 BCE. Thomas has been Vice President of the

since his election in 2007 and is a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

(also since 2007). Thomas is married to Catherine, and has two daughters and two step-daughters.

Publications

Sole author

# ''Rethinking the Neolithic'' (1991), revised and republished as ''Understanding the Neolithic'' (1999) # ''Time, Culture and Identity: An Interpretive Archaeology'' (1998) # ''Archaeology and Modernity'' (2004)

Co–author

# ''Writing the past in the present'' (1990) by Frederick Baker, Julian Thomas # ''Anglesey archaeological landscape project: second interim report 1991'' (1992) by Mark Edmonds, Julian Thomas, Matthew Johnson, St. David's University College, (

Lampeter Lampeter (; (formal); ''Llambed'' (colloquial)) is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, after Aberystwyth and C ...

, Wales), Department of Archaeology # ''Place and Memory: Excavations at the Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm'' by Julian Thomas, Matt Leivers, Julia Roberts, Rick Peterson # ''Overcoming the modern invention of material culture: proceedings of the TAG session, Exeter 2006'' (2007) by Vítor Oliveira Jorge, Julian Thomas, Theoretical Archaeology Group (England). Conference

Editor or co–editor

# ''Interpretive archaeology: a reader'' (2000), edited by Julian Thomas # ''Destruction and conservation of cultural property'' (2001), edited by Robert Layton, Julian Thomas, Peter G. Stone # ''Neolithic enclosures in Atlantic northwest Europe'' (2001), edited by Timothy Darvill, Julian Thomas # ''Handbook of landscape archaeology'' (2008), edited by Bruno David, Julian Thomas

Chapters in books

# 'Some Problems with the Notion of External Symbolic Storage, and the case of Neolithic Material Culture in Britain', ''Cognition and Culture: The Archaeology of External Symbolic Storage'' (1998) # 'The identity of place in Neolithic Britain: examples from south-west Scotland', ''Neolithic Orkney in its European Context'' (2000) # 'Reconfiguring the social, reconfiguring the material', ''Social Theory in Archaeology'' (2000) # 'Intersecting landscapes', ''Contested Landscapes: Movement, Exile and Place'' (2001) # 'Archaeologies of Place and Landscape', ''Archaeological Theory Today'' (2001) # 'Taking power seriously', ''The Dynamics of Power'' (2002) # 'Archaeology's humanism and the materiality of the body', ''Thinking Through the Body'' (2002) # 'In the Kinship of Cows: the Social Centrality of Cattle in the Earlier Neolithic of Southern Britain', ''Food, Culture and Identity in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age'' (2003) # 'The ritual universe', ''Scotland in Ancient Europe'' (2004) # 'The later Neolithic architectural repertoire: the case of the Dunragit complex', ''Monuments and Material Culture: Papers on Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain in Honour of Isobel Smith'' (2004) # 'The great dark book: archaeology, experience and interpretation', ''A Companion to Archaeology'' (2004) # 'Notions of the person', ''Archaeology: The Key Concepts'' (2004) # 'Materiality, authenticity, and skilled engagement: a commentary', ''Archaeology and Performance'' (2004) # 'Materiality and traditions of practice in Neolithic south-west Scotland', ''The Neolithic of the Irish Sea: Materiality and Traditions of Practice'' (2004) # 'Identity, power and material culture in Neolithic Britain', ''Cultural Diversity and the Archaeology of the 21st Century'' (2004) # 'Archaeology, modernity and society', ''Cultural Diversity and the Archaeology of the 21st Century'' (2004) # 'Materiality and the social', ''Global Archaeological Theory: Contextual Voices and Contemporary Thoughts'' (2005) # 'Ceremonies of the horsemen? From megalithic tombs to Beaker burials in prehistoric Europe', ''Bell Beakers in the Iberian Peninsula and Their European Context'' (2005) # 'Phenomenology and material culture', ''Handbook of Material Culture'' (2006) # 'The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain', ''Prehistoric Britain'' (2008) # 'Archaeology, landscape and dwelling', ''Handbook of Landscape Archaeology'' (2008) # 'Sigmund Freud's Archaeological Metaphor and Archaeology's Self-understanding', ''Contemporary Archaeologies: Excavating Now'' (2009)

Journal articles

# "Silent running: the ills of environmental archaeology", ''Scottish Archaeological Review'' (1990) # "The socio-semiotics of material culture", ''Journal of Material Culture'' (1998) # "Death, identity and the body in Neolithic Britain", ''Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute'' (2000) # "Thoughts on the 'repacked? Neolithic revolution' ", ''Antiquity'' (2003) # "Recent debates on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain and Ireland", ''Documenta Praehistorica'' (2004) # "Archaeology's place in modernity", ''Modernism/Modernity'' (2004) # "Between 'material qualities' and 'materiality' " ''Archaeometry'' (2005) # "Ambiguous symbols: why there were no figurines in Neolithic Britain", ''Documenta Prehistorica'' (2005) # "On the origins and development of cursus monuments in Britain", ''Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society'' (2006) # "Gene-flows and social processes: the potential of genetics and archaeology", ''Documenta Prehistorica'' (2006) # "From dwelling to building", ''Journal of Iberian Archaeology'' (2006) # "A reply to Christopher Witmore, Håkon Glørstad, Søren Kjørup and Ola W. Jensen", ''Norwegian Archaeological Review'' (2006) # "The trouble with material culture", ''Journal of Iberian Archaeology'' (2007) # "Mesolithic-Neolithic transitions in Britain: from essence to inhabitation", ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' (2007) # "Comments on ‘Past Practices: Rethinking Individuals and Agents in Archaeology’ by A. B. Knapp and P. van Dommelen", ''Cambridge Archaeological Journal'' (2008)

Other

# ''Proposals for a tunnel at Stonehenge: an assessment of the alternatives'' (1999), report to the World Archaeological Congress Executive by Robert Layton and Julian Thomas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Julian 21st-century British archaeologists British archaeologists Prehistorians English prehistorians Archaeologists of Stonehenge Academics of the University of Southampton Academics of the University of Wales, Lampeter Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Academics of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Bradford Alumni of the University of Sheffield Living people 1959 births