David L. Clarke

David Leonard Clarke (3 November 1937 – 27 June 1976) was an English archaeologist and academic. He is known for his work on processual archaeology.

Early life and education Clarke was born in Kent, England. He studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, from which he obtained his PhD in 1964 under the supervision of Grahame Clark.

Academic career He became a Fellow of Peterhouse in 1966. His teaching and writing, particularly in analytical archaeology in 1967, transformed European archaeology in the 1970s. It demonstrated the importance of systems theory, quantification, and scientific reasoning in archaeology, and drew ecology, geography, and comparative anthropology firmly within the ambit of the subject. Never really accepted by the Cambridge hierarchy, he was nevertheless loved by his students for his down-to-earth, inclusive attitudes toward them. In 1970, he published his PhD thesis about British and Irish Bell Beaker pottery.

In 1975 and 1976 Clarke led an excavation of the Great Wilbraham causewayed enclosure, near Cambridge.

Clarke died in 1976 as a result of thrombosis arising from a gangrenous twisted gut.

Selected works