Sir Paul Anthony Mellars (29 October 1939 – 7 May 2022) was a British
archaeologist and professor of
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 ...
and
human evolution
Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of '' Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development o ...
at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
.
Early life and academic career
Paul Mellars was born in 1939 in the village of
Swallownest
Swallownest is a village in the civil parish of Aston cum Aughton and the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The village is south of Rotherham and from Sheffield.
Swallownest borders the Sheffield suburb of Woodhous ...
near
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
. His father, Herbert Mellars, was a miner and a member of the
Plymouth Brethren. From the village school, he progressed to Woodhouse, a County Council Grammar School founded in 1909 in the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, which his mother Elaine (née Batty) had also attended. (Woodhouse has subsequently been incorporated into the newly built
Aston Academy in Swallownest.) Mellars obtained his
MA,
PhD and
ScD degrees at the University of Cambridge, where he was a student at
Fitzwilliam College
Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...
.
He married his wife Anny in 1969, having first met in an archaeological field trip in the
Dordogne
Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is name ...
in 1964.
After his PhD, Mellars taught for ten years in the Archaeology Department at
Sheffield University
, 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 ...
before returning to Cambridge in 1980, where he became a fellow of
Corpus Christi College. He briefly served as acting
master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
of the college in 2007, following the resignation of
Sir Alan Wilson, but six months later lost the election to become the formal successor to Wilson to
Oliver Rackham. He has held visiting positions at the
Binghamton University and the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...
.
He served as president of the
Prehistoric Society
The Prehistoric Society is an international learned society devoted to the study of the human past from the earliest times until the emergence of written history.
Now based at University College London in the United Kingdom, it was founded by V. ...
. He was also a trustee of the
ACE Foundation.
Research
Mellars' recent research concentrated on the behaviour and archaeology of Neanderthal populations in Europe, and their replacement by ''
Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
'' 40,000 years ago. Mellars contributed to the three-part
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 exam. ...
...
mini-series "Dawn of Man – The Story of Human Evolution" (2000).
He also studied the way in which
. He carried out excavations on early Mesolithic sites at
.
in 1999. In 2004, he was appointed an ''Officier'' of the ''
'' by the French Government.
for services to scholarship.