Archaeologist whose pioneering work on the prehistory of West Africa laid firm foundations for the subject
Thurstan Shaw was probably the only man to have occupied both an African university chair in archaeology and the ceremonial throne of a Nigerian tribal chief. He was the first trained archaeologist to work in what was then British West Africa, and he devoted his long career and equally long retirement to teaching and research of the region’s prehistory. West African archaeology is, to a large extent, Thurstan Shaw’s creation, and it is certainly his legacy.
Born in Devon in 1914 and educated at Blundell’s School, Tiverton, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Charles Thurstan Shaw read classics before taking a