Andrew George Sherratt (8 May 1946 – 24 February 2006) was an English
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
, one of the most influential of his generation. He was best known for his theory of the
secondary products revolution
Andrew Sherratt's model of a secondary products revolution involved a widespread and broadly contemporaneous set of innovations in Old World farming. The use of domestic animals for primary carcass products (meat) was broadened from the 4th–3rd m ...
.
Early life and education
Sherratt was born in
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...
, Lancashire on 8 May 1946. From 1965, he studied
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
at
Peterhouse
Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...
,
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, completing his degree in 1968. He received his PhD from Cambridge in 1976, writing his thesis on ''The Beginning of the Bronze Age in south-east Europe''.
Academic career
He moved to Oxford, having been appointed Assistant Keeper of Antiquities at the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
in 1973. He was a
reader
A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to:
Computing and technology
* Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader
* Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application
* A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
from 1997 and Professor from 2002. Oxford remained his academic home until 2005, when he took up a professorship at the
University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
. Sherratt travelled widely and received international recognition for his work. He was invited to give the prestigious Human Context and Society lectures at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
in 1998 and his topic was ''Between Evolution and History: long-term change in human societies''.
Research
Sherratt's most cited publication was ''Plough and pastoralism: aspects of the secondary products revolution, published in 1981 in '' 'Pattern of the Past: Studies in Honour of
David Clarke' '', the first article in which he described his idea of a
secondary products revolution
Andrew Sherratt's model of a secondary products revolution involved a widespread and broadly contemporaneous set of innovations in Old World farming. The use of domestic animals for primary carcass products (meat) was broadened from the 4th–3rd m ...
.
He regularly contributed outside of his main field, for instance through a position on the editorial board of the historical journal ''Past and Present''. His ability to work at a continental, even global, scale of analysis has invited comparisons with
V. Gordon Childe.
Analysis at the continental scale led him into adaptation of
world-systems theory
World-systems theory (also known as world-systems analysis or the world-systems perspective)Immanuel Wallerstein, (2004), "World-systems Analysis." In ''World System History'', ed. George Modelski, in ''Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems'' (E ...
to questions of change on the large scale in archaeology, notably in the first volume of the ''Journal of European Archaeology'' ('' 'What would a Bronze Age world system look like? Relations between temperate Europe and the Mediterranean in later prehistory' '') and in his 1995 David Clarke Memorial Lecture, also published in ''JEA'': '' 'Reviving the grand narrative: Archaeology and long-term change' ''. Such interests in linking across continents meant that Andrew maintained an interest in all the major shifts in humanity from global colonisation, through the spread of agriculture to the development of metallurgy and urbanism, including the Indo-European question and the development of new forms of consumption. A collection of his most significant publications in many of these areas appeared in 1997 as Economy and Society in Prehistoric Europe: changing perspectives.
Sherratt's interest in broad scale patterns in history attracted perhaps his most prestigious accolades, such as when the University of Chicago's historian William McNeill conferred a portion of the prestigious
Erasmus Prize
The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe and the rest of the world. It ...
he won in 1996 upon Sherratt. The Erasmus Prize, awarded annually by the Dutch Praemium Erasmianum Foundation 'for exceptionally important contributions to European culture', requires the winner to pass on his prize-money to chosen nominees.
Sherratt recognised the importance of
psychoactive drugs
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior.
T ...
and medicine to early culture, and he was co-editor of ''Consuming Habits, Drugs in History and Anthropology''. Sherratt was invited to present the four part television series,
Sacred Weeds, which aired to critical acclaim in 1998.
Sherratt was always a stimulating and inspirational teacher. He had a significant hand in designing Oxford's undergraduate course in archaeology and anthropology, playing a key role as an interlocutor in the development of a new generation of archaeologists who drew from social anthropology as well as archaeology. However, presenting his ideas at the appropriate scale has been a constant challenge, as is reflected in an early edited work, the ''Cambridge Encyclopedia of Archaeology'', published in 1980 and subsequently translated into German, French, Italian, Dutch and Swedish.
Shortly before his death of a heart attack in
Witney
Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...
(near
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
), Andrew had initiated a project, ArchAtlas, that uses modern remote sensing technology, combined with image and text, to graphically communicate complex patterns of change and interaction across time and space.
Personal life
Sherratt married
Susan Sherratt
Susan Sherratt (born 26 September 1949) is Reader in Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the archaeology of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages of the Bronze Age Aegean, Aegean, Cyprus and the eastern Medi ...
in 1974; they had three children and also co-authored several academic articles.
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
*
Obituaryin
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
6 March 2006
Obituaryon the
University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
web site
Obituaryin ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
Video
Sacred Weeds: Salvia DivinorumSacred Weeds: HenbaneSacred Weeds: Blue LilySacred Weeds: Amanita Muscaria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherratt, Andrew
1946 births
2006 deaths
English archaeologists
Indo-Europeanists
People associated with the Ashmolean Museum
People from Oldham
Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge
Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford
Academics of the University of Sheffield