SCA Interview with Ian Hodder

Ian Hodder, former Professor of Archaeology at Cambridge University, was interviewed by the SCA, in 1999, as Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director of the Archaeology Center at Stanford University. Dr. Hodder’s childhood consisted of travel and academia. His major influences in life are his father and Gordon Childe. He never met Childe but absorbed his approach and ideas. While earning his PhD, David Clarke influenced him to think with an open mind in archaeology. His hobbies include playing the piano, jazz and classical music, along with listening to opera and orchestral music. Dr. Hodder also enjoys sailing and jogging.

If Dr. Hodder hadn’t been an archaeologist, he says he would have ended up in development and international relations for less developed countries. This idea was reinforced during early travels in Africa and his publication Symbols in Action. He learned he wanted an archaeologist at the age of fifteen due to traveling. Dr. Hodder says it is difficult to get to knoe a place as a tourist. He liked the outdoors and not working at a desk – he didn’t know about all the deskwork archaeology would bring.

Dr. Hodder’s most memorable projects include discovering a Roman tower, digging in Kenya, Knossos, Mount Carmel caves, and the Andes. The most exciting was a Neolithic burial mound in the Fens in eastern England and standing for the first time on Çatalhöyük. The study of Çatalhöyük showed complex settlements existed outside of the Fertile Crescent and that very large social communities could be created in the form of villages.

For Dr. Hodder, the importance of archaeology is promoting diversity in a globalized world. Archaeology is a “global, national, ethnic conflict.” An archaeologist has to communicate with the public and work in collaboration with different groups while pursuing the past. Archaeology is a state responsibility, and the states’ should play a better role “regulating the relationship between developers and archaeologists.”

About the Author

I'm Melanie, the founder of BermudaQuest and an archaeology undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. I love writing about ancient and modern cultures. My goal is to make information about our origins available to everyone [in simple English!]