Person

Golson, Jack (1926 - 2023)

AO

Born
1926
Rochdale, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Died
2 September 2023
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Occupation
Archaeologist

Summary

Jack Golson is an archaeologist who has played a significant and pioneering role in the development of archaeological studies in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. He was one of the first to recognise the relevance of ethnobotany and ecological studies to archaeology and to integrate them into his analysis of archaeological data from Australia and New Guinea. Much of his fieldwork was conducted in Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia. As inaugural Professor of Prehistory at the Australian National University (ANU) Golson established one of Australia's most innovative and successful departments. He was a strong advocate for the establishment of a radiocarbon dating laboratory at ANU. Golson played a central role in the foundation and operations of professional organisations at both a national and local level. Golson has been a staunch supporter of the World Archaeological Congress since its inception in 1984, being President for 1990 to 1994; he and his wife Clare received the Congress's Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

Details

Chronology

1950
Education - BA (hons), University of Cambridge
1952
Education - MA, University of Cambridge
1954
Career position - Founding Member, New Zealand Archaeological Association
1954 - 1961
Career position - Lecturer (later Senior Lecturer) in Prehistory, Department of Anthropology, Auckland University College (later University of Auckland)
1961 - 1969
Career position - Research Fellow in Prehistory, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University
1968 - 1987
Career position - Member, Working Party on Archaeology, Pacific Science Association
1969 - 1991
Career position - Foundation Professor of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University
1975 - 2023
Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities
1980 - 1985
Career position - President, Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
1987 - 2002
Career position - Fellow, Society of Antiquaries, London
1990 - 1994
Career position - President, World Archaeological Congress
1991
Life event - Retired
1992
Award - Honorary Doctorate, University of Papua New Guinea
1993 -
Career position - Emeritus Professor, Australian National University
1997
Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to education, particularly in the fields of prehistory and archaeological research in Asia and the Pacific region
2001
Award - Centenary Medal for service to Australian society and the humanities in the study of prehistory and archaeology
2002 - 2023
Award - Life Member, Australian Archaeological Association
2009
Award - World Archaeological Congress Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award with Clare Golson

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Book Sections

  • Golson, Jack, 'The personality of New England: Isabel McBryde and the dimensions of her regional archaeology' in Many exchanges: archaeology, history, community and the work of Isabel McBryde, Macfarlane, Ingereth with Mountain, Mary-Jane and Paton, Robert, eds (Canberra: Aboriginal History Inc., 2005), pp. 13-34. Details
  • Golson, Jack, 'Geddes, William Robert (1916 - 1989), anthropologist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Langmore, Di, ed., vol. 17 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2007), pp. 425-6. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/geddes-william-robert-bill-12529. Details
  • Groube, L. M., '"Dig up those Moa bones": Golson in New Zealand, 1854 - 1961' in A community of culture: the people and prehistory of the Pacific, Spriggs, Matthew, Yen, Douglas E., Ambrose, Wal , Jones, Rhys, Thorne, Alan and Andrews, Ann, eds (Canberra: Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1993), pp. 6-17. Details
  • Spriggs, Matthew and Jones, Rhys, 'Professor' in A community of culture: the people and prehistory of the Pacific, Spriggs, Matthew, Yen, Douglas E., Ambrose, Wal , Jones, Rhys, Thorne, Alan and Andrews, Ann, eds (Canberra: Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1993), pp. 27-31. Details
  • Ucko, Peter J., 'Jack Golson: a personal appreciation of his institutional role' in A community of culture: the people and prehistory of the Pacific, Spriggs, Matthew, Yen, Douglas E., Ambrose, Wal , Jones, Rhys, Thorne, Alan and Andrews, Ann, eds (Canberra: Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1993), pp. 32-4. Details

Edited Books

  • Howes, Hilary; Jones, Tristen; and Spriggs, Matthew eds, Uncovering Pacific pasts: histories of archaeology in Oceania (Canberra: ANU Press, 2022), 577 pp. http://doi.org/10.22459/UPP.2021. Details
  • Mulvaney, D. J.; and Golson, J. eds, Aboriginal Man and Environment in Australia (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1971), 389 pp. Details
  • Spriggs, Matthew; Yen, Douglas E.; Ambrose, Wal; Jones, Rhys; Thorne, Alan; and Andrews, Ann eds, A community of culture: the people and prehistory of the Pacific (Canberra: Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1993), 289 pp. Details

Journal Articles

See also

  • Who's who in Australia 2012 (Melbourne: Crown Content Pty Ltd, 2012), 2430 pp. Details
  • Allen, Harry, 'The first university positions in prehistoric archaeology in New Zealand and Australia', Bulletin of the history of archaeology, 29 (1:2) (2019), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5334/bha-606. Details
  • Howes, Hilary, 'Aspects of the historiography of Australian archaeology', Historical Records of Australian Science, 32 (2) (2021), 125-40. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR20017. Details

Helen Cohn

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260