Scholar
Vincent Robin d'Arba Desborough
1914–1978 · United Kingdom
Oxford historian of the Greek Dark Age whose Protogeometric and Submycenaean pottery schemes are used to date Late Cypriot III and Cypro-Geometric wares.
Biography
V. R. d'A. Desborough preferred 1050 BC for the end of the Submycenaean in The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors (1964), citing extra evidence from Cyprus that itself depended on Levantine dates2,3. He was born at Royal Tunbridge Wells on 19 July 1914 and was at New College, Oxford, from 196812.
His earlier Protogeometric Pottery (1952) was the standard study of the Greek Protogeometric style1. The 1964 book also re-examined Late Cypriot III stirrup vases4. Lemos and Hatcher revised some of his attributions and discussed early Greek contacts with Cyprus7. Mountjoy credits him with defining Submycenaean6, and Charalambidou cites his classification of the Kamini bird askos11. Fantalkin and colleagues reviewed his Protogeometric dating proposals against radiocarbon results in 201510.
Desborough died in the Dordogne on 24 July 197812.
Life and work
- 19 July 1914Born at Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Royal Tunbridge WellsWikidata/GND authority record: Vincent…
- 1952Published Protogeometric Pottery (Oxford: Clarendon Press), the standard study of the Greek Protogeometric style, used as the Aegean reference for Cypriot and Levantine synchronisms.
- 1964Published The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors: An Archaeological Survey c. 1200-c. 1000 BC (Oxford: Clarendon Press); he preferred a date of 1050 BC for the end of Submycenaean on additional evidence from Cyprus, itself dependent on Levantine dates, and re-surveyed Late Cypriot III stirrup vases (pp. 22-28, 196-205).
Desborough 1964Troy VIIB2 Revisited: The…, p. 21Review (JSTOR 10.2307/501606) of…, p. 3
- 1968At New College, Oxford (GND: 'seit 1968').
- 24 July 1978Died in the Dordogne.
Discussed in documents
- Snodgrass (1971). The Dark Age of Greece: An archaeological survey of the eleventh to the eighth centuries BCPottery and burial customs discussed
- Waldbaum (1978). From Bronze to Iron: The Transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Eastern MediterraneanDiscussed bronze supply and iron adoption
- Lemos and Hatcher (1991). Early Greek vases in CyprusRevised attributions and proposed early contacts
- Mountjoy (1993). Mycenaean Pottery: An IntroductionProposed a definition of Submycenaean
- Charalambidou (2017). Ceramics, cultural interconnections and influences on NaxosClassifies the Kamini bird askos
Sources
- 1.V. R. d'A. Desborough (1952). Protogeometric Pottery. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
- 2.V. R. d'A. Desborough (1964). The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors: An Archaeological Survey c. 1200-c. 1000 BC. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
- 3.“Troy VIIB2 Revisited: The date of the transition...”.
- 4.“Review (JSTOR 10.2307/501606) of a Kition/Karageorghis publication on Late Cypriot III”.
- 5.A. M. Snodgrass (1971). The Dark Age of Greece.
- 6.P. A. Mountjoy (1993). Mycenaean Pottery: An Introduction.
- 7.I. S. Lemos; H. Hatcher (1991). “Early Greek vases in Cyprus: Euboean and Attic”.
- 8.J. C. Waldbaum (1978). From Bronze to Iron.
- 9.G. W. Van Beek (1955). “The Date of Tell Abu Huwam, Stratum III”. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 138, 34-38.
- 10.A. Fantalkin, I. Finkelstein, E. Piasetzky (2015). “Late Helladic to Middle Geometric Aegean and Contemporary Cypriot Chronologies: A Radiocarbon View from the Levant”. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 373, 25-48.
- 11.X. Charalambidou (2017). “Ceramics, cultural interconnections and influences on Naxos”.
- 12.Wikidata/GND authority record: Vincent Desborough. Online