Grahame Clark and Central European Archaeology. A Comparative History of Reception

Abstract

It seems as if »Grahame Clark, whom many would concur in naming as the foremost prehistorian of our time« (Willey 1991) did not attract much attention in German-speaking archaeology. But the ties of the Cambridge prehistorian to German archaeology were closer as hitherto known. Clark’s writings are centres of reference of a wider European debate taking place immediate after World War II. German-speaking reviewers well recognised an anglo-saxon rationalistic economic tradition – and rejected it. In the following years Clark oriented his work increasingly to a scientific, international, comparative archaeology. A short excursus to Leonhard Franz should help to show the differences between the development of the field in the United Kingdom and Central Europe.