Thurstan Shaw

Chief Charles Thurstan Shaw CBE FBA FSA (27 June 1914 – 8 March 2013) was an English archaeologist, the first trained specialist to work in what was then British West Africa. He specialized in the ancient cultures of present-day Ghana and Nigeria. He helped establish academic institutions, including the Ghana National Museum and the archaeology department at the University of Ghana. He began working with the University of Ibadan in 1960, where he later founded and developed its archaeology department. He led this for more than 10 years before his retirement in 1974.

Shaw's excavations at Igbo-Ukwu, Nigeria, revealed a 9th-century indigenous culture that created sophisticated work in bronze metalworking, independent of any Arab or European influence and centuries before other sites that were better known at the time of discovery. He was awarded the C.B.E. in 1972 for his contributions. Shaw's excavation revealed bronze pieces that were evidence of a sophisticated Igbo civilization from the ninth century. They marked the most-developed metalworking culture of the time. The Igbo were working at this site centuries before the development of other bronze-working sites in what is now Nigeria.

Shaw returned to the town in 1964 and conducted two more excavations. These revealed extensive bronzes, as well as thousands of trade beads, evidence of a commercial network extending to Egypt. He also found evidence of ritual practices related to burials and sacred sites.

Over fifty years later, and inspired by his wife Pamela Jane Smith, Shaw's work in Igbo-Ukwu is being revisited and expanded by a team of archaeologists from the University of Nigeria and the University of Cambridge, led by Kingsley Daraojimba.

Later years In 1960 Shaw joined the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where in 1963 he became Research Professor of Archaeology. He established the department of archeology, training talented archeologists, and leading the department until his retirement in 1974. Based on an assessment of his published work, Cambridge awarded Shaw a PhD in 1968.

He returned to England from Africa in 1976 when appointed Director of Studies in Archaeology and Anthropology at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He served in that position until retirement in 1979.

Death Shaw died on 8 March 2013.

Legacy and honours In 1972, Shaw was awarded the C.B.E. for his contributions.