The roots of the first Cambridge textbooks on European prehistory: An analysis of Miles Burkitt´s formative trips to Spain and France

Abstract

This article examines the roots of the first textbooks produced in Cambridge on European prehistory. The first dedicated lecturer in prehistoric archaeology in Britain, Miles Burkitt, authored these textbooks. Two types of information, archival and printed sources, will be used as the basis for the analysis. A description will be given of the events that made Burkitt´s presence in Spain possible, as a companion of the French archaeologist Henri Breuil, and the program and itinerary they followed in 1913 and 1914 will be detailed. The last section of the article will explore the ways in which Burkitt subsequently translated the knowledge he acquired in his fieldwork into the textbooks that would be used by many generations of Cambridge students.