13 Facts About Peter Ucko

Peter John Ucko FRAI FSA was an influential English archaeologist.

Peter Ucko served as Director of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, and was a Fellow of both the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Society of Antiquaries.

Peter Ucko was born in Buckinghamshire on 27 July 1938 to German Jewish parents.

Peter Ucko's father was a professor of endocrinology who took a great interest in music, conducting orchestras and organising operas, while his mother was a child psychologist.

Peter Ucko formed an 'unwavering obsession' with Egyptology at the age of eleven.

Peter Ucko was sent to boarding school at Bryanston in Dorset, which he despised and left after displeasing the school authorities by refusing to play in a tennis doubles match with a local girls' school.

Peter Ucko worked in the UCL Department of Anthropology for the next decade, founding the School of Material Culture Studies.

Peter Ucko left in 1980, largely because of his dislike of fundraising, which was a major part of his role, insisting that his position be taken up by an Indigenous individual.

Peter Ucko was succeeded in the position by Eric Willmot, an eminent indigenous academic and engineer hailing from Cribb Island, Queensland.

Peter Ucko emphasised the importance of the artefact collections owned by UCL and IoA, believing that they had great potential as teaching aids and for public outreach.

Peter Ucko retired from the position of director in 2005, at which time the UCL-IoA had become the world's largest archaeology department, with over 70 academic staff and 600 students from 40 countries.

Peter Ucko had chronic diabetes, a condition that contributed to his death on 14 June 2007.

Shennan opined that Peter Ucko was a charismatic and dedicated figure who led by example, remarking that his actions inspired many archaeologists, including those who had fallen out with him.