Julian Stewart Thomas (born 1959) is a British

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 ...

, publishing on the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

and

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 ...

prehistory 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 ...

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, has been

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

of Archaeology at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

since 2000, and is former secretary of the

World Archaeological Congress The World Archaeological Congress (WAC) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization which promotes world archaeology. It is the only global archaeological organisation with elected representation. Established in 1986, WAC holds an internat ...

. 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.

Education

Born in

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of 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 Saxon landowner. The ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, Thomas studied archaeology at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be creat ...

, where he acquired a

Bachelor of Technology A Bachelor of Technology (Latin ''Baccalaureus Technologiae'', commonly abbreviated as B.Tech. or BTech; with honours as B.Tech. (Hons.)) is an undergraduate academic degree conferred after the completion of a three to five-year program of studi ...

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

and graduated with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) 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. Tho ...

(MA) degree in 1982, and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(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 ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru, Llanbedr Pont Steffan) 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 Wale ...

(1987–1993) and at

Southampton University , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

(1994–2000). Thomas worked with

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an 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 understanding and enjoyment. ...

between 1994 and 2002, excavating prehistoric sites in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

and

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or i ...

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 northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, from

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (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 is often used synonymous ...

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

s to Neolithic farmers – a process known as the "

Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution, or the (First) Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an incre ...

"– through interpretive analysis of "social theory, anthropology and critical hermeneutics". Between 1994 and 1999 Thomas was secretary of the

and became academic series editor (a ''

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

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

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

series ''Themes in Archaeology'' – which moved to

Left Coast Press Left Coast Press was an independent, scholarly publishing house specializing in social sciences and humanities. Based in Walnut Creek, California, and distributed globally, the company published approximately 500 books between 2005 and 2016 before ...

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 Stonehenge Riverside Project – 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 (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

. During excavations of sites surrounding

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument 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, topped by connectin ...

– 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 English club London Irish since 1931 when the team bought its . The team moved one season to the Stoop Memorial Ground thereafter to Madjeski S ...

and

Woodhenge Woodhenge is a Neolithic Class II henge and timber circle monument within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, England. It is north-east of Stonehenge, in Durrington parish, just north of the town of Amesbury. Discovery Woodheng ...

– Thomas found evidence of a large settlement of Neolithic houses, at

Durrington Walls Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshir ...

, nearby and discovered the

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 ...

henge There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. 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 ...

and

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

, 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 dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * felds ...

s at

– originating in the

Preseli Hills The Preseli Hills or, as they are known locally and historically, Preseli Mountains, (Welsh: ''Mynyddoedd y Preseli / Y Preselau'' , ) is a range of hills in western Wales, mostly within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The range stret ...

, away in modern-day

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

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

– stood in a circle, surrounded by a

, at

for around 500 years before being dismantled and moved to their current location around 2500

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

. Thomas has been Vice President of the

since his election in 2007 and is a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

(also since 2007). Thomas is married to Catherine, and has two daughters – Morag and Rowan and two step-daughters Lucie and Anna.

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 Frederick Douglas Stephan "Fred" Baker (26 January 1965 – 24 August 2020) was an Austrian-British filmmaker, media scholar, and archaeologist. He was born in Salzburg and was brought up in London. After graduating from Queen Elizabeth's Gr ...

, 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 (; cy, Llanbedr Pont Steffan (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, ...

, 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 British archaeologists Prehistorians People associated with 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