Charles Higham (archaeologist)

Charles Higham ONZM (born 1939) is a British archaeologist most noted for his work in Southeast Asia. Among his noted contributions to archaeology are his work (including several documentaries) about the Angkor civilization in Cambodia, and his current work in Northeast Thailand. He is a Research Professor at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand and lives at Company Bay.

Early years and education

Charles Higham was educated at Raynes Park County Grammar School in South London. It was here that he developed an interest in archaeology after volunteering to excavate at the Bronze Age site of Snail Down and Arcy sur Cure in France. In 1957, he was offered a place at St Catharine's College, Cambridge to read Archaeology and Anthropology. However, being too young for National Service, he spent two years at the Institute of Archaeology, London University, specialising in the archaeology of the Western Roman Provinces under Sheppard Frere. His teachers included Sir Max Mallowan, the husband of Agatha Christie, and Dame Kathleen Kenyon. During his time at the Institute, he excavated at the Roman city of Verulamium, and the Iron Age site of Camp du Charlat in France. In 1959, he went up to Cambridge, and studied the Neolithic Bronze and Iron Ages of Europe. His contemporaries included Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, Sir Barry Cunliffe, Sir Paul Mellars and the Crown Princess of Denmark. He took a double first, was elected a Scholar of his college in 1960, and played for Cambridge University against Oxford in the University Rugby matches of 1961-2.

He was provided with a State Scholarship in 1962, and embarked on his doctoral research on the prehistoric economic history of Switzerland and Denmark. In 1966 he was awarded his doctorate. During the course of his research he played rugby for Bedford, Eastern Counties and became an England triallist in 1963-4. In the latter year, he married Polly Askew. They have two sons, two daughters and twelve grandchildren.

Career

Following the completion of his doctorate, Higham accepted a lectureship in Archaeology at the University of Otago, and in December 1966 he moved to New Zealand with his family. In 1968, he was appointed the Foundation Professor of Anthropology at the University of Otago. Following a visit to the University of Hawaii, he was invited by Professor W.G. Solheim II to undertake research in Thailand, and in 1969, he began his fieldwork with excavations in Roi Et and Khon Kaen Provinces. He joined Chester Gorman from 1972-5 for excavations at Ban Chiang, Pang Mapha District's Banyan Valley Cave, and has subsequently excavated the sites of Ban Na Di (1981-2), Khok Phanom Di (1984-5), Nong Nor (1989–92), Ban Lum Khao (1995-6), Noen U-Loke (1999-2000), Ban Non Wat (2002-7) and Non Ban Jak (2011-7).

His research at the Bronze Age sites of Ban Non Wat have shown that the initial Bronze Age in this part of Southeast Asia began in the 11th century BC. With his son Thomas, Professor of Archaeological Science at Oxford University, he has re-dated the site of Ban Chiang, showing that there too, contrary to claims from the University of Pennsylvania, bronze casting also began in the 11th century BC. His current research involves excavations at the Iron Age site of Non Ban Jak. There, he has identified for the first time in Thailand, an extensive area comprising the residential quarter of an Iron Age town, complete with houses, a lane, an iron working area and several ceramic kilns.

Charles Higham is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St. Catharine's College Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. In 2012, he was awarded the Grahame Clark medal of distinguished research in archaeology by the British Academy. He was awarded the Mason Durie medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2014, the citation noting that he is New Zealand's premier social scientist. He was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2016 New Year Honours List by Queen Elizabeth II.

Refereed Journal Articles

n.d. Higham, C.F.W. Patterns of prehistoric economic exploitation on the alpine foreland, from the Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age. Viertel. d. Natur. Gesel. in Zurich.

1967. Higham, C.F.W. Stock rearing as a cultural factor in prehistoric Europe. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 33:83-106.

1968. Higham, C.F.W. Veileby and the economy of Iron Age Denmark. Acta Archaeologica 58: 222-241.

1968. Higham, C.F.W. A consideration of the earliest Neolithic culture in Switzerland. Viertel, d. Natur. Gesel. in Zurich, Jahrgang, 112, Heft 3, 123-136.

1968. Higham, C.F.W. Trends in prehistoric European caprovine husbandry. Man: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3(1): 64-75.

1968. Higham, C.F.W. Size trends in prehistoric European fauna, and the problem of local Domestication. Acta Zoologica Fennica 120.

1968. Higham, C.F.W. Faunal sampling and economic prehistory. Zeitschrift fur Saugertierkunde 33(5): 297-305.

1968. Higham, C.F.W. and Saxon, A. Identification and interpretation of growth rings in the secondary dental cementum of Ovis aries L. Nature 219(5154):634-635.

1968. Higham, C.F.W. and Saxon, A. A new research technique for economic prehistorians. Museum Applied Science Centre for Archaeology Newsletter 4(2): 5-6.

1969. Higham, C.F.W. The metrical attributes of two samples of modern bovine limb bones. Journal of the Zoological Society 157: 63-74.

1969. Higham, C.F.W. Towards an economic prehistory of Europe. Current Anthropology 10(3): 139-150.

1969. Higham, C.F.W. Die Cortaillod-Kultur: ein Beitrag zur urgeschichtlichen Wirtschaftskunde. Zeitschrift fur Schweizerisches Archaeologie und Kunstgeschichte, Bd. 26, Heft 1, 1-7.

1969. Higham, C.F.W. The economic basis of the Danish TRB culture. Acta Archaeologica 59: 225-32.

1971. Higham, C.F.W. and Coutts, P.F. The seasonal factor in prehistoric New Zealand. World Archaeology 2(3): 266-277.

1975. Higham, C.F.W. Aspects of ritual and economy in prehistoric N.E. Thailand. Journal of Archaeological Science 2(4): 245-288.

1979. Higham, C.F.W. The economic basis of prehistoric Thailand. American Scientist 67(6): 670-679.

1979. Higham, C.F.W. and Kijngam, A. Ban Chiang and Northeast Thailand; the palaeoenvironment and economy. Journal of Archaeological Science 6: 211-233.

1980. Higham, C.F.W., Kijngam, A. and Manly, B. An analysis of prehistoric canid remains from Thailand. Journal of Archaeological Science 7(2): 149-166.

1981. Higham, C.F.W., Manly, B., Kijngam, A. and Moore, S.J.E. The 3rd bovine phalanx and prehistoric ploughing. Journal of Archaeological Science 8(4): 353-365.

1982. Higham, C.F.W. and Kijngam, A. Irregular earthworks in N.E. Thailand: new insight. Antiquity LV1:102-110.

1982. Higham, C.F.W., Kijngam, A. and Manly, B. Site location and site hierarchy in prehistoric Thailand. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 48: 1-27.

1983. Higham, C.F.W. and A. Kijngam. Prehistoric man and his environment: evidence from the Ban Chiang faunal remains. Expedition 24(4): 17-24.

1984. Higham, C.F.W. Prehistoric rice cultivation in Southeast Asia. Scientific American.

1984. Higham, C.F.W. The Ban Chiang culture in wider perspective. Proceedings of the British Academy LXIX 229-261.

1986. Higham, C.F.W. and Maloney, B. Of rice and men. The Geographical Magazine 328-9.

1989. Higham, C.F.W. The later prehistory of mainland Southeast Asia. Journal of World Prehistory 3(3): 235-82.

1989. Maloney, B.K., Higham, C.F.W. and Bannanurag, R. Early rice cultivation in Southeast Asia: archaeological and palynological evidence from the Bang Pakong Valley, Thailand. Antiquity 63.

1989. Higham, C.F.W. Social organisation at Khok Phanom Di, Central Thailand, 2000-1500 B.C. Arts Asiatiques XLIV: 25-43.

1989. Higham, C.F.W. La civilizacion del arroz en el Sudeste Asiatico. Mundo Cientifico 90: 374-382.

1990. Higham, C.F.W. and Bannanurag, R. The Princess and the pots. New Scientist 1718: 50-55.

1991. Higham, C.F.W. Archaeology in 1990: a review. Antiquity 65: 143-147.

1992. Higham, C.F.W. and Bannanurag, R. Prehistoric traders. Research and Exploration 8(2): 180-195.

1994. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. Thailand’s Good Mound. Natural History 103(12): 60-7.

1995. Higham, C.F.W., Bannanurag, R., Mason, G. and Tayles, N.G., Human biology, environment and ritual at Khok Phanom Di. World Archaeology 24(1) 35-54.

1996. Higham, C.F.W. A review of the archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia. Journal of Archaeological Research 4(1) 3-50.

1996. Boyd, W.E., Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. The Holocene palaeogeography of the southeast margin of the Bangkok Plain, Thailand and its archaeological implications. Asian Perspectives 35(2): 193-209.

1998. Higham, C.F.W. The transition from prehistory to the historic period in the Upper Mun Valley. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 2(3): 235-61.

1998. Higham C.F.W. and Tracey L.-D. Lu. The origins and dispersal of rice cultivation. Antiquity 72: 867-77.

1999. Boyd, W.E., McGrath, R. and Higham, C.F.W. The geoarchaeology of the prehistoric ditched sites of the upper Mun Valley N.E.Thailand, II: stratigraphy and morphological sections the encircling earthworks. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 18: 169-79.

1999. Boyd, W.E., Higham, C.F.W. and McGrath, R. The geoarchaeology of Iron Age “moated” sites of the Upper Mae Nam Mun Valley, N.E. Thailand. I. Palaeodrainage, site-landscape relationships and the origins of the “moats”. Geoarchaeology 14(7): 675-716.

2000. Higham, C.F.W. The origins of the civilization of Angkor. Antiquity 74:27-8.

2000. Higham, C.F.W. The symbolism of the Angkorian city. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 19(2): 348-51.

2001. Higham, C.F.W. Cambodia after the nightmare. Scientific American, Discovering Archaeology 3(1) 30-35.

2002. Higham C.F.W. Archaeology in Myanmar, past, present and future. Asian Perspectives 40(1): 127-38.

2003. Higham, C.F.W. The origins of the civilization of Angkor. Proceedings of the British Academy. 121: 41-90.

2004. Higham C.F.W. The opposed human figure at Khok Phanom Di. Journal of the Siam Society 92: 15-36.

2006. Higham, C.F.W. Ancient bronze drums of Southeast Asia. National Palace Museum Bulletin 38:23-40.

2007. Bentley, Alex, N. Tayles, C.F.W. Higham, C. Macpherson and T.C. Atkinson. Shifting gender relations at Khok Phanom Di, Thailand: Isotopic evidence from the skeletons. Current Anthropology 48(2): 301-314.

2008. Higham, C.F.W. Recasting Thailand. New discoveries at Ban Non Wat. Current World Archaeology 31: 38-41.

2009. Higham C.F.W. and T.F.G. Higham. A new chronological framework for prehistoric Southeast Asia, based on a Bayesian model from Ban Non Wat. Antiquity 82: 1-20.

2009. Bentley, R.A., Cox, K., Tayles N.G., Higham C.F.W., MacPherson, C. Cooper, M. and Hayes, T.E.F. Community diversity at Ban Lum Khao, Thailand: isotopic evidence from the skeletons. Asian Perspectives 48(1): 79-97.

2010. Higham C.F.W., Y.V.. Kuzmin and G.S. Burr. The AMS 14C dating of Iron Age rice chaff ceramic temper from Ban Non Wat, Thailand: First results and its interpretation. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268: 1022-25.

2011. Higham, C.F.W. The prehistory of Southeast Asia: a retrospective of 40 years research. Antiquity 85: 639-53.

2011. Higham C.F.W. The Iron Age of the Mun Valley, Thailand. The Antiquaries Journal 91:1-44.

2011. Higham C.F.W. The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia: new insight on social change from Ban Non Wat. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21(3): 365-89

2011. Higham C.F.W., R. Ciarla, T.F.G. Higham, A. Kijngam and F. Rispoli. The establishment of the Bronze Age in Southeast Asia. Journal of World Prehistory 24(4): 227-274.

2011. Higham C.F.W. and Guangmao, X. The prehistory of a friction zone. First farmers and hunter gatherers in Southeast Asia. Antiquity 85: 529-43.

2011. Higham C.F.W., T.F.G. Higham and A. Kijngam Cutting a Gordian Knot: The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, timing, origins and impact. Antiquity 85: 583-98.

2012. Storey, A.A., Athens, J.S., Bryant, D., Carson, M., Emery, K., deFrance, S., Higham, C., Huynen, L., Intoh, M., Jones, S., Kirch, P.V., Ladefoged, T., McCoy, P., Morales-Muniz, A., Quiroz, D., Reitz, E., Robins, J., Walter, R. and Matisoo-Smith, E. Investigating the global dispersal of chickens in prehistory using ancient mitochondrial DNA signatures. Plos One 7: 1-11.

2012. Halcrow, S., Tayles, N., Inglis, R. and Higham, C.F.W. Newborn twins from prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia: birth, death and personhood. Antiquity 86: 838-52.

2012. Higham C.F.W. The Long and Winding Road that Leads to Angkor. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 22:265289.

2013. Higham, C. Hunter-gatherers in Southeast Asia: From prehistory to the present. Human Biology 85(1-3): 21-43.

2014. King, C.I., Bentley, R.A., Higham, C.F.W., Tayles, N.G., Vidarsdottir, U.S., Layton, R., MacPherson, C.G. and Nowell, G. Economic change after the agricultural revolution in Southeast Asia? Antiquity 88: 112-25.

2014. Higham C.F.W. From the Iron Age to Angkor: new light on the origins of a state. Antiquity 88: 822-35.

2014. Higham, C.F.W. and Rispoli, F. The Mun Valley and Central Thailand in prehistory: integrating two cultural sequences. Open Archaeology 1:2-28.

2014. Pryce TO, Baron S, Bellina BHM, Bellwood PS, Chang N, Chattopadhyay P, Dizon E, Glover IC, Hamilton E, Higham CFW, Kyawi AA, Laychour V, Natapintu S, Nguyen V, J Pautreau J-P, Pernickam E, Pigott VC, Pollard M, Pottier C, Reinecke A, Sayavongkhamdy T, Souksavatdy V and White J. More questions than answers: the Southeast Asian lead isotope project 2009-2012. Journal of Archaeological Science 42: 273-294.

2014. Higham C.F.W., Cameron , J., Chang, N., Castillo, C.C., O’Reilly, D., Halcrow, S.E., Petchey, F. and Shewan, L. The excavation of Non Ban Jak, Northeast Thailand - a report on the first three seasons. Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology 34: 1-41.

2014. Higham C.F.W., Higham T.F.G. and Douka, K. The chronology and status of Non Nok Tha, Northeast Thailand. Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology 34: 61-75.

2015. Castillo, C.C., Tanaka, K., Sato, Y.-I., Ishikawa, R., Bellina, B., Higham, C.F.W., Chang, N., Mohanty, R., Kajale, M. and Fuller, D.Q. Archaeogenetic study of prehistoric rice remains from Thailand and India: evidence of early japonica in South and Southeast Asia. Archaeological and Anthropological Science, DOI: 10.1007/s12520-015-0236-5

2015. King, C.L, Tayles, N., Higham, C.F.W., Strand-Vidarsdottir, U., Bentley, R.A., Macpherson, C.G. and Nowell, G. Using Isotopic Evidence to Assess the Impact of Migration and the Two-Layer Hypothesis in Prehistoric Northeast Thailand. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22772

2015. Higham, C.F.W. From site formation to social structure in prehistoric Thailand. Journal of Field Archaeology 40: 383-396.

2015. Higham, C.F.W., Douka, K. and Higham, T.F.G. A New Chronology for the Bronze Age of Northeastern Thailand and Its Implications for Southeast Asian Prehistory. Plos One http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0137542

2015. Smith, B.A., Davies, T.M. and Higham, C.F.W. Spatial and social variables in the Bronze Age Phase 4 cemetery of Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 4: 362–370.

2015. Higham, C.F.W. The comparative archaeology of ancient civilizations. Bulletin of the Shanghai Archaeological Forum, 1: 251-303.

2016. Wohlfarth, B., Higham, C.F.W., Yamoah, K.A., Chabangborn, A, Chawchai, S. and Smittenberg, R.H. Human adaptation to mid- to late-Holocene climate change in Northeast Thailand. The Holocene 26(4): 614-26.

2016. Conrad, C., Higham, C.F.W., Eda, M. and Marwick, B. Palaeoecology and Forager Subsistence Strategies during the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition: A Reinvestigation of the Zooarchaeological Assemblage from Spirit Cave, Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand. Asian Perspectives 55(1): 2-27.

Books and Monographs

n.d. Higham, C.F.W. La Vida en el Paleolitico. Ediciones Akal: Madrid.

n.d. Higham, C.F.W. Los Primeros Agricultoresy las Primeras Ciudades. Ediciones Akal: Madrid.

n.d. Higham, C.F.W. Los Maories. Ediciones Akal: Madrid.

1970. Higham, C.F.W. Life in the Old Stone Age (school textbook). Cambridge University Press: London.

1973. Higham, C.F.W. The First Farmers and Cities (school textbook). Cambridge University Press: London.

1975. Higham, C.F.W. Non Nok Tha: The Faunal Remains. University of Otago Monographs in Prehistoric Anthropology, Volume 7.

1976. Higham, C.F.W. Clutha Valley Archaeological Survey. University of Otago Monographs in Prehistoric Anthropology, Volume 8.

1978. Higham, C.F.W. Life in the Old Stone Age (school textbook). Cambridge University Press: London (second edition).

1980. Higham, C.F.W. Gabriel's Gully: An Archaeological Survey. University of Otago Monographs in Prehistoric Anthropology, Volume 14.

1983. Higham, C.F.W. The Maoris (simple introductory text). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

1984. Higham, C.F.W. and Kijngam, A. Prehistoric Excavations in Northeast Thailand: Excavations at Ban Na Di, Ban Chiang Hian, Ban Muang Phruk, Ban Sangui, Non Noi and Ban Kho Noi. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 231(i-iii), Oxford.

1989. Higham, C.F.W. The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

1990. Higham, C.F.W. and Bannanurag, R. The Excavation of Khok Phanom Di: Volume I, The Excavation, Chronology and Human Burials. The Society of Antiquaries of London and Thames and Hudson: London.

1991. Higham, C.F.W. and Bannanurag, R (eds). The Excavation of Khok Phanom Di: Volume II: The Biological Remains Part 1. The Society of Antiquaries of London and Thames and Hudson: London.

1993. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosorat, R. (eds). Khok Phanom Di: Volume III: The Material Culture Part 1. The Society of Antiquaries of London: London.

1994. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosorat, R. Khok Phanom Di: Prehistoric Adaptation to the World's Richest Habitat. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: Fort Worth.

1996. Higham, C.F.W. The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

1996. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. (eds.). The Excavation of Khok Phanom Di: Volume IV: The Biological Remains, Part II, by G.B. Thompson. The Society of Antiquaries of London: London.

1999. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. (eds). The Excavation of Khok Phanom Di: Volume V: The People, by N.G. Tayles. The Society of Antiquaries of London: London.

1998. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. (eds.) The Excavation of Nong Nor, a Prehistoric Site in Central Thailand. Oxbow Books, Oxford and University of Otago Studies in Prehistoric Anthropology No. 18.

1998. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. Prehistoric Thailand. From First Settlement to Sukhothai. River Books: Bangkok and Thames and Hudson: London.

1999. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. Siam Derk Damboran. Yuk Korn Boran. River Books: Bangkok.

2001. Higham, C.F.W. The Civilization of Angkor. Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London.

2002. Higham, C.F.W. Early Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia. River Books: Bangkok.

2003. Higham, C.F.W. Cambodge. Grandeur de l’Empire Khmer. Selection du Readers Digest, Bagneux, Zurich, Quebec and Bruxelles.

2004. Higham C.F.W. Encyclopaedia of Early Asian Civilizations. Facts on File: New York.

2004. Higham C.F.W. Vesunkenes Reich Kambodscha. Readers Digest, Stuttgart, Zurich, Wien.

2004. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. The Excavation of Khok Phanom Di: Volume VII. Summary and Conclusions. London: The Society of Antiquaries of London: London.

2005. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. (eds.). The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume 1. The Excavation of Ban Lum Khao. The Fine Arts Department of Thailand: Bangkok.

2005. Higham, C.F.W. Az Angkori Civilizacio. Gold Books: Budapest.

2007. Higham, C.F.W., Kijngam, A. and Talbot, S. (eds.) The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume II. The Excavation Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao. The Fine Arts Department of Thailand: Bangkok.

2009. Higham, C.F.W. and Kijngam, A. (eds.). The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume III. The Excavation Ban Non Wat, Introduction. The Fine Arts Department of Thailand: Bangkok.

2010. Higham, C.F.W. and Kijngam, A. (eds.). The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume IV. The Excavation Ban Non Wat: the Neolithic Occupation. The Fine Arts Department of Thailand: Bangkok.

2012. Higham, C.F.W. and Kijngam, A. (eds.). The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume V. The Excavation Ban Non Wat: the Bronze Age. The Fine Arts Department of Thailand: Bangkok.

2012. Higham, C.F.W. and Kijngam, A. (eds.). The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume VI. The Excavation Ban Non Wat: The Iron Age, Summary and Conclusions. The Fine Arts Department of Thailand: Bangkok.

2012. Higham, C.F.W. and Thosarat, R. Early Thailand, from Prehistory to Sukhothai. River Books: Bangkok.

2013. Higham, C.F.W. The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Bloomsbury: London.

2014. Higham, C.F.W. Early Southeast Asia: From the First Humans to the Civilization of Angkor. River Books: Bangkok.

Sources

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