William (Bill) Culican
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

William "Bill" Culican (21 August 1928 – 24 March 1984) was an Australian archaeologist and
lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
in biblical archaeology and pre-classical antiquity at the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
.


Life

Born at New Barn Farm, Great Harwood, Lancashire, he read classics and archaeology at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
after a period in the Army, then won a scholarship to Queen’s College, Oxford. His studies centered on Egyptian, Mediterranean and middle eastern subjects, and he learned
Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
,
Sumerian Sumerian or Sumerians may refer to: *Sumer, an ancient civilization **Sumerian language **Sumerian art **Sumerian architecture **Sumerian literature **Cuneiform script, used in Sumerian writing *Sumerian Records, an American record label based in ...
and
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
. He came to Australia and obtained a position as lecturer in Semitic studies at the University of Melbourne in 1960, senior lecturer in 1964, transferred to the department of history in 1966, and became reader in 1972. He was a foundation member of the Humanities Research Council (1966) and the Australian Academy of the Humanities (1969). In 1965 he founded the Archaeological Society of Victoria which evolved into the
Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria The Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria or AASV is an incorporated association formed in 1976 in Melbourne, Australia through the amalgamation of two earlier societies, the Anthropological Society of Victoria formed in 1934, an ...
(president 1982-83). In 1967 and '68, Culican and John Taylor along with students, family and friends undertook excavations on the Fossil Beach Cement Works site near Mornington,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
. Perhaps unusual for
archaeologists 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 ...
, the resulting monograph was published within a couple of years. This may be the first historical archaeological excavation in Australia (or possible a close tie with Jim Allen's,
Port Essington Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remote ...
PhD). Culican's "modest" report (which won several prizes) was undertaken in the spirit that not to do so would be a "dereliction of archaeological duty", despite one visiting
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
remarking of the site that "It is no
Ur of the Chaldees Ur Kasdim ( he, ''ʾūr Kaśdīm''), commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldeans, is a city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the birthplace of the Israelite and Ishmaelite patriarch Abraham. In 1862, Henry Rawlinson identified Ur Kaśdim with ...
." During the 1970s he worked in Iran, the Levant, Sicily, Africa and Europe, Marsala, Sicily (1972), was director of the Melbourne excavations at el Quitar, Syria (1982), and the excavation of an Aboriginal ochre mine at Mount Gog, Tasmania (1983). Iran and Phoenicia were Culican’s two central fields of research. He published on the Phoenicians, The Medes and Persians (1965) and The First Merchant Venturers (1966). His definitive chapter on Phoenician colonisation appeared posthumously in the Cambridge Ancient History (1992). He also planned books on Persian cities and Iranian metal work. Culican died of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
and
diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
on 24 March 1984. His student,
Antonio Sagona Antonio (Tony) Giuseppe Sagona (1956 – 2017), was an archaeologist and classics professor who taught at the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Tony Sagona was born in Tripoli, Libya, on April 30, 1956. Accompanying his parents, ...
, who had just completed his PhD and was tutoring in the department, took over Cullican's teaching duties, and continued his legacy, developing the Archaeology course that Culican had pioneered. The William Culican Memorial Award is awarded to the student with the best thesis in the areas of archaeology or ancient history by the University of Melbourne annually in his honour.Clarke, Graeme W. 1982, 'William Culican (1928-1984) Obituary' Proceedings, Australian Academy of the Humanities, vol. 12, no. 1982-1983, pp. 118-122
/ref> The 2007 Combined Australian Archaeological Societies Conference, in Sydney, named one of their meeting rooms 'Culican' in honor of his contributions to historical archaeology.


References


Bibliography

*The first merchant venturers : the ancient Levant in history and commerce by Culican, William, 1928–1984, London Thames & Hudson, 1966. *The Medes and Persians (Ancient peoples and places series, ;vol.42) by Culican, William, London Thames and Hudson, 1965. *Fossil Beach cement works, Mornington, Victoria: an essay in industrial archaeology by William Culican and John Taylor, Deception Bay, Queensland, Refulgence Publishers, 1972 {{DEFAULTSORT:Culican, William Australian archaeologists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People associated with the University of Edinburgh School of History, Classics and Archaeology 1984 deaths 1928 births 20th-century archaeologists British emigrants to Australia