Gale Sieveking

Gale de Giberne Sieveking (26 August 1925 – 2 June 2007 He "played... an important part in the development of archaeology as a discipline" and particularly in the understanding of the prehistoric period.

After leaving school, Sieveking "joined the Fleet Air Arm" training and positioned in places such as Canada, Colombo and Malta. ), but "left this [his PhD] unfinished" when in 1952, he married Ann Paull (1931-2012), the elder daughter of Vivian Hearle Paull and Rachel Alice (his first wife, nee Merz), and "was in need of an income." "the latter with jadeite bracelets, polished stone axes and pottery bowls containing a supply of small animals, presumably for sustenance in the next world."

Sieveking also "dug further early sites, in the Thames valley at Ebbsfleet and Northfleet and at Creffield Road, Acton, and then, with a change in date, he reopened the Neolithic flint mines at Grimes Graves, in Norfolk."

Between 1972 and 1976, Sieveking and Ian Longworth joined forces "to re-examine the important Neolithic flint mines at Grimes Graves, Norfolk," located north of the town at Brandon, Suffolk. Longworth focused "on the rich Bronze Age deposits," while Sieveking looked at "the so-called "primitive" pits of the west fields, the flaking floor workshops in between them and the deep mines," using the British Museum Laboratory to help with "challenging projects" and unanswered questions. He sought the help of (among others) Professor Rory Mortimore (an engineering geologist), as well as the Dutch "Felder brothers" who had "expertise as traditional pick-and-shovel s" and "experience in opening the Rijckholt St Geertruid Neolithic Flint Mines near Maastricht in Limburg."

Selected bibliography

The caves of France and northern Spain: a guide (with Ann Sieveking, his wife) (1962) Flint implements: an account of Stone Age techniques and cultures (3rd ed. 1968) Problems in economic and social archaeology (editor, with I. H. Longworth and K. E. Wilson (ed.s)) (1976) The scientific study of flint and chert: proceedings of the Fourth International Flint Symposium (editor with M.B. Hart (ed.)) (1986)