Charles Thurstan Shaw
Chief Charles Thurstan Shaw CBE FBA FSA (27 June 1914 – 8 March 2013) was an English archaeologist, the first trained specialist to work in what was then British West Africa. He specialized in the ancient cultures of present-day Ghana and Nigeria. He helped establish academic institutions, including the Ghana National Museum and the archaeology department at the University of Ghana. He began working with the University of Ibadan in 1960, where he later founded and developed its archaeology department. He led this for more than 10 years before his retirement in 1974.
Charles Thurstan Shaw | |
|---|---|
Thurstan Shaw, Senegal, 1967 | |
| Born | 27 June 1914 Plymouth, England |
| Died | 8 March 2013 (aged 98) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Archaeologist |
| Known for | Archaeology of Igbo-Ukwu |
| Notable work | Igbo-Ukwu Volume I & II |
Shaw's excavations at Igbo-Ukwu, Nigeria, revealed a 9th-century indigenous culture that created sophisticated work in bronze metalworking, independent of any Arab or European influence and centuries before other sites that were better known at the time of discovery. He was awarded the C.B.E. in 1972 for his contributions. In 1989, he was made a tribal chief in Nigeria.
In addition, Shaw worked on expanding communications about African archaeology; in 1964, he founded the West African Archaeological Newsletter, which he edited until 1970; from 1971 to 1975, he edited the West African Journal of Archaeology.