Professor Challenger and his Lost Neolithic World combines the two great passions of the author's life: reconstructing the Neolithic mind and constructively challenging consensus in his professional domain. The book is semi-autobiographical, charting the author's investigation of Alexander Thom's theories, in particular regarding the alignment of prehistoric monuments in the landscape, across a number of key Neolithic sites from Kintraw to Stonehenge and finally Orkney. It maps his own perspective of the changing reception to Thom's ideas by the archaeological profession from initial curiosity and acceptance to increasing scepticism. The text presents historical summaries of the various strands of evidence from key Neolithic sites across the UK and Ireland with the compelling evidence from the Ness of Brodgar added as an appendix in final justification of his approach to the subject.

About the Author
Euan W. MacKie (1936-2020), was a British archaeologist who graduated with a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology from St John's College, Cambridge in 1959. He excavated at the Mayan site of Xunantunich in 1959-60 and was then employed at the British Museum Department of Ethnography before becoming Curator and Keeper of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow where he later obtained his PhD. His principal research areas were the brochs and vitrified forts of the Scottish Iron Age, and archaeoastronomy - the investigation of the astronomical knowledge of prehistoric cultures.

Reviews

'...a richly illustrated account of an important, but much marginalised debate within archaeology and, as such, of great historiographical value.'-Kenneth Brophy (2021): Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.22278

Book Information
ISBN 9781784918330
Author Euan W. MacKie
Format Paperback
Page Count 158
Imprint Archaeopress Access Archaeology
Publisher Archaeopress
Weight(grams) 537g