Charles Brian Montagu McBurney (18 June 1914 – 14 December 1979) was an American

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 ...

who spent most of his working life in England.

Life and career

McBurney was born in Stockbridge,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, the son of Dorothy Lillian (Rundall) and Henry McBurney, and the grandson of Charles McBurney, the American surgeon (known to subsequent generations of surgeons for defining

McBurney's point McBurney's point is the name given to the point over the right side of the abdomen that is one-third of the distance from the anterior superior iliac spine to the umbilicus (navel). This is near the most common location of the appendix. Locati ...

). His mother was English, the daughter and granddaughter of British Army officers; his father was an American engineer. He spent his childhood in the USA until he was eleven, then his parents took him to London, and then to Switzerland, and France. Young McBurney was home schooled. In 1933, he entered

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, reading French and German, and then

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 ...

. He studied archaeology under Miles Burkett and Dorothy Garrod who greatly influenced his career. Graduate studies were interrupted by war service in the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF ...

(RAFVR). But during World War II he was stationed in North Africa and undertook archaeological surveys in the Western Desert, finding numerous archaeological sites he would later excavate. He completed his PhD in 1948. His PhD dissertation was one of the first comparative studies of the late Middle Palaeolithic of Europe. In 1950, he became a British citizen. In 1952, he started as a lecturer in archaeology at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, and later Reader and finally Professor of Quaternary Prehistory at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

. His work included studies of the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

in Britain, important excavations at

La Cotte de St Brelade La Cotte de St Brelade is a Paleolithic site of early habitation in Saint Brélade, Jersey. ''Cotte'' means "cave" in Jèrriais. The cave is also known as ''Lé Creux ès Fées'' (The Fairies' Cave). Neanderthals lived there at various time ...

in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

, an influential synthesis of the Palaeolithic of North Africa, extensive excavations in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

(at the

Haua Fteah Haua Fteah () is a large karstic cave located in the Cyrenaica in northeastern Libya. This site has been of significance to research on African archaeological history and anatomically modern human prehistory because it was occupied during the Mid ...

cave) and, in later years,

excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

.Edited by G. N. Bailey, and Paul Callow.
Stone Age Prehistory: Studies in Memory of Charles McBurney.
' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. He also published on French prehistory, archaeological work in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

,McBurney, C. B. M. ''Early Man in the Soviet Union: The Implications of Some Recent Discoveries.'' London: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1976. and on

cave art In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 ye ...

. His continuing influence is felt in the work of his many pupils who include King Charles III. He was the father of the composer and writer

Gerard McBurney Gerard McBurney (born 20 June 1954) is a British composer, arranger, broadcaster, teacher and writer. Life Born in Cambridge, England, he is the son of Charles McBurney, an American archaeologist, and Anne Francis Edmondstone (née Charles), ...

and the actor and director

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatrical director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films ''The Manchurian Candidate'', ...

References

1914 births 1979 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Cambridge People from Stockbridge, Massachusetts 20th-century American archaeologists Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II {{US-archaeologist-stub