Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, was born on 25 July 1937 and is a British archaeologist, paleolinguist and Conservative peer noted for his work on radiocarbon dating, the prehistory of languages, archaeogenetics, neuroarchaeology, and the prevention of looting at archaeological sites.
11 Facts About Colin Renfrew
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Colin Renfrew was educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire and from 1956 to 1958 did National Service in the Royal Air Force.
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Colin Renfrew then went up to St John's College, Cambridge, where he read Natural Sciences then Archaeology and Anthropology, graduating in 1962.
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Colin Renfrew was elected president of Cambridge Union in 1961.
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In 1965, Colin Renfrew was appointed to the post of lecturer in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Sheffield.
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In 1972, Colin Renfrew became Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton, succeeding Barry Cunliffe.
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In 1973, Colin Renfrew published Before Civilisation: The Radiocarbon Revolution and Prehistoric Europe in which he challenged the assumption that prehistoric cultural innovation originated in the Near East and then spread to Europe.
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In 1980, Colin Renfrew was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
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In 1990 Colin Renfrew was appointed as the founding Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
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Colin Renfrew developed the Anatolian hypothesis, which argues that Proto-Indo-European, the reconstructed ancestor of the Indo-European languages, originated approximately 9,000 years ago in Anatolia and moved with the spread of farming throughout the Mediterranean and into central and northern Europe.
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Colin Renfrew served as Master of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1986 until 1997.