Science & invention
Robert John Braidwood
1907–2003 · archaeologist, anthropologist
Pioneer of scientific archaeology who searched for the origins of farming in the Near East, born in Detroit and trained at the University of Michigan.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Chicago, Illinois
aged 95- Also known as
- Robert Braidwood
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Braidwood was born in Detroit in 1907, the first child of Walter John Braidwood and Reay Nimmo, and was educated at the University of Michigan, where he earned his master's degree. In the 1930s he joined the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute expedition to the Amuq plain in present-day Turkey and married fellow Michigan graduate Linda Schreiber, who became his partner in the field for the rest of his life. From 1948 he led excavations at Jarmo in Iraqi Kurdistan, bringing geologists, botanists and zoologists into the dig, an approach that helped found modern interdisciplinary archaeology. The work showed how people in the hills of the Fertile Crescent moved from hunting and gathering to village farming. He later co-directed excavations at Çayönü in Turkey. He and Linda died in Chicago on the same day in 2003.
Highlights
- Led excavations at Jarmo, Iraqi Kurdistan, from 1948
- Brought natural scientists into fieldwork, pioneering interdisciplinary archaeology
- Co-directed excavations at Çayönü, Turkey
- University of Michigan graduate; born in Detroit, 1907