Gale de Giberne Sieveking (26 August 1925 – 2 June 2007) was a British

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

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 ...

, best known for his work on

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

and flint mines, particularly at sites such as

Grimes Graves Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex in Norfolk, England. It lies north east from Brandon, Suffolk in the East of England. It was worked between 2600 and 2300 BC, although production may have continued well int ...

.Obituary: Gale Sieveking in ''Salon'' Issue 170, 6 August 2007
Accessed 7 March 2008 He "played... an important part in the development of archaeology as a discipline" and particularly in the understanding of the prehistoric period. He was the son of

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

-pioneer Lancelot "Lance" De Giberne Sieveking, and half-brother to

Fortean Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932) was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold w ...

-writer

Paul Sieveking Paul R.A. De Giberne Sieveking (born 1949) is a British journalist and former magazine editor. Until 2002, Sieveking was co-editor of the magazine ''The Fortean Times'' with its founder Bob Rickard. He joined the UK-based "Journal of the Unexplain ...

Biography

Gale de Giberne Sieveking was born on 26 August 1925 in

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

in the

Alpes Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it ...

, France. Although technically entitled, aged 17, "to choose between French and British nationality" due to his birthplace, in 1942 he had little choice "and, with certain regrets... relinquished his French nationality."From the address made by Ann Sieveking at her late husband's funeral, online a
The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog "In memoriam: Gale Sieveking 1925–2007," September 5th, 2007
Accessed 8 June 2008 After leaving school, Sieveking "joined the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

" training and positioned in places such as Canada, Colombo and Malta. He attended King's College,

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 as an ex-serviceman was financed by the post-

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

for two years out of the three-year course. He read History, but was soon "captivated by archaeology and in his final year he studied prehistory." He was a PhD student under

Grahame Clark Sir John Grahame Douglas Clark (28 July 1907 – 12 September 1995), who often published as J. G. D. Clark, was a British archaeologist who specialised in the study of Mesolithic Europe and palaeoeconomics. He spent most of his career working at ...

(learning "prehistory on Clark's excavations at

Star Carr Star Carr is a Mesolithic archaeological site in North Yorkshire, England. It is around five miles () south of Scarborough. It is generally regarded as the most important and informative Mesolithic site in Great Britain. It is as important to ...

in the early 1950s"), but "left this is PhDunfinished" when in 1952, he married Ann Paull (1931-2012), the elder daughter of Vivian Hearle Paull and Rachel Alice (his first wife, nee Merz), and "was in need of an income." He was "offered a post as Deputy Director of Museums in Malaya" and accepted in 1953.

Excavations and museum posts

Malaya

Taking up his post in 1953, and despite finding that " portunities for travelling and exploring were limited" under the then-"state of emergency" declared five years previously "by the British colonial government... as a response to Communist insurgency" he managed to open three regional "museums in

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

Seremban Seremban (Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Soghomban'', ''Somban''; Jawi: ) is a city in the Seremban District and the capital of the state of Negeri Sembilan in Peninsular Malaysia. The city's administration is run by the Seremban City Council. Sere ...

and Kuala Kangsa." He carried out

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 ...

in Malaysia throughout the 1950s, excavating sites from all periods, including "a seventeenth-century Portuguese fort in Johore Lama", "an early Indian trading post in the mangrove swamps near Taiping" and "an exceptional buried hoard of

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

," also in Johore which included "several bowls of imperial quality." Most notable was the excavations a
Gua Cha
"a habitation site in a rock shelter on the Nengiri river in Kelantanin"/

Kelantan Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode"). Kelantan is located in the ...

. Gua Cha was initially located in 1935 by H. D. Noon, who had died during the war, with Sieveking then undertaking "the first systematic excavation of Gua Cha" (with

Michael Tweedie Michael Willmer Forbes Tweedie (2 September 1907 – 25 March 1993) was a naturalist and archaeologist working in South East Asia, who was Director of the Raffles Museum in Singapore. Biography Tweedie was the son of Maurice Carmichael Tweedie, ...

of the

Raffles Museum ms, Muzium Negara Singapura ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் தேசிய அருங்காட்சியகம் , native_name_lang = , logo = , image = 2016 Singapur, Museum Planning Area, Narodowe Muzeum Singapuru (02) ...

, Singapore). The dig uncovered "a slaughtering station for wild boar," "over 30

uman Uman ( uk, Умань, ; pl, Humań; yi, אומאַן) is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the historical region of the eastern Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River ...

remains... buried in two distinct time frames, the

Hoabinhian Hoabinhian is a lithic techno-complex of archaeological sites associated with assemblages in Southeast Asia from late Pleistocene to Holocene, dated to c.10,000–2000 BCE. It is attributed to hunter-gatherer societies of the region and their ...

r_Mesolithic.html" ;"title="Mesolithic.html" ;"title="r Mesolithic">r Mesolithic">Mesolithic.html" ;"title="r Mesolithic">r Mesolithicand the Neolithic,"The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog "In memoriam: Gale Sieveking 1925–2007," September 5th, 2007
Accessed 8 June 2008 "the latter with jadeite bracelets, polished stone axes and pottery bowls containing a supply of small animals, presumably for sustenance in the next world." The dig was carried out under "military escort" as the local peoples were "suspected of supporting the insurgents with food and intelligence."

British Museum

Having spent three years in Malaya, the Sievekings (and two children) returned to England in 1956, where Gale joined the staff of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, becoming Deputy Keeper in the Department of

Prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

and

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...

Antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Artifacts from earlier periods such as the Meso ...

. Catherine Johns, writing in ''Salon'' says that during "the 1950s, he ieveking

Peter Lasko Peter Erik Lasko (5 March 1924 – 18 May 2003) was a British art historian, Professor of Visual Art at the University of East Anglia, from 1965 to 1974, Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, from 1974–85 and a Fellow of the B ...

and David Wilson were great friends as young Assistant Keepers in the British and

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Department." His "first research project was an analysis of Grand Pressigny

", a "honey-coloured stone" found in France and traded in the Neolithic period, unusual for "being identifiable by its colour." Sieveking helped establish that all flint could be "identified by their trace elements," allowing the mapping of "the distribution of flints from different mines." He "dug at High Lodge, near Mildenhall, in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

," a confusing site which caused geologists and

s some vexation as "the chronological order of the flint tools discovered in the gravel and brickearth deposits apparently contradicts the geological succession." In 1965–66, Sieveking joined Michael Kerney "for an expedition to Thailand" partly intended "to locate sites in the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

massifs in the country's north and north-eastern provinces with

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

and earlier remains, sealed by

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...

deposits, and thus datable using protactinium-thorium-uranium isotopic methods."Michael Kerney's reminiscences, online a
The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog "In memoriam: Gale Sieveking 1925–2007," September 5th, 2007
Accessed 8 June 2008 Sieveking also "dug further early sites, in the

Thames valley The Thames Valley is an informally-defined sub-region of South East England, centred on the River Thames west of London, with Oxford as a major centre. Its boundaries vary with context. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub, ...

at Ebbsfleet and

Northfleet Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsfl ...

and at Creffield Road,

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

, and then, with a change in date, he reopened the Neolithic flint mines at

, in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

." Between 1972 and 1976, Sieveking and Ian Longworth joined forces "to re-examine the important Neolithic flint mines at Grimes Graves, Norfolk,"Phil Harding's reminiscences, online a
The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog "In memoriam: Gale Sieveking 1925–2007," September 5th, 2007
Accessed 8 June 2008 located north of the town at

Brandon, Suffolk Brandon is a town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. Brandon is located in the Breckland area of Suffolk, close to the adjoining county of Norfolk. It lies between the towns of Bury St Edmunds, Thetford, Mildenhall, Downham ...

. Longworth focused "on the rich

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

deposits," while Sieveking looked at "the so-called "primitive" pits of the west fields, the flaking floor workshops in between them and the deep mines," using the British Museum Laboratory to help with "challenging projects" and unanswered questions. The re-examination of Grimes Graves mines underscored Sieveking's recognition of "the need for archaeological investigations to become more scientific and multidisciplinary."Professor Rory Mortimer's reminiscences, online a
The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog "In memoriam: Gale Sieveking 1925–2007," September 5th, 2007
Accessed 8 June 2008 He sought the help of (among others) Professor Rory Mortimore (an

engineering geologist An engineering geologist is a geologist trained in the discipline of engineering geology. Many organizations and governments have programs for the qualification, testing and certification of engineering geologists as a protection to the public. En ...

), as well as the Dutch "Felder brothers" who had "expertise as traditional pick-and-shovel s" and "experience in opening the Rijckholt St Geertruid Neolithic Flint Mines near

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

." He "had many interests: music, painting,

buildings A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...

ndtravelling abroad – particularly in France." He finally retired from his role as Deputy Keeper at the British Museum in 1985, and died in

aged 81 on 2 June 2007.

Legacy

Selected bibliography

* ''The caves of France and northern Spain: a guide'' (with Ann Sieveking, his wife) (1962) * ''Flint implements: an account of Stone Age techniques and cultures'' (3rd ed. 1968) * ''Problems in economic and social archaeology'' (editor, with I. H. Longworth and K. E. Wilson (ed.s)) (1976) * ''The scientific study of flint and chert: proceedings of the Fourth International Flint Symposium'' (editor with M.B. Hart (ed.)) (1986)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sieveking, Gale 1925 births 2007 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British expatriates in Canada British expatriates in Malta British expatriates in Sri Lanka Employees of the British Museum English archaeologists French emigrants to the United Kingdom