Of Joseph Anderson, Childe
wrote, at the opening of his Prehistory of Scotland, that by 1886 he
'had sketched the essential outlines of Scottish prehistory in a
comprehensive and scientific survey such as then existed in no other
country' (1935, xi). The Council of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland, likewise, in a minute recording his retirement from the
National Museum of Antiquities in 1913, alluded to his 'learning,
judgment and scientific attainments, and the prestige which he has won
for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland through his European
reputation as an Archaeologist' (Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 47 (1912-13),
340). A panegyric pronounced at a general meeting of the Society on the
same occasion (Guthrie 1913) is too long for quotation but deserves to
be read in full. Andersen's standing being such as to call for
recognition of this kind, it is strange that no closer assessment seems
to have been made of his archaeological achievement in all its aspects,
and the purpose of the present paper is to do something to supply this
want, while also providing, in an Appendix, a complete list of
Anderson's published works. In attempting this task the writer is
further influenced by an antiquarian pietas, as he survives from an era
when Anderson's opinions might still carry great weight, and in fact
once met him in person.
For more read
The archaeology of Joseph Anderson by
Angus Graham
Scotland in Pagan Times By Joseph Anderson, LL.D. in the Bronze and Stone Ages and the Iron Age in two volumes Iron Age | Bronze and Stone age |