Professor Steven Mithen

Professor Steven Mithen is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International and External Engagement) at the University of Reading. Having originally studied Fine Art at the Slade School, he took a BA in Prehistory & Archaeology at Sheffield University, an MSc in Biological Computation from York University and a PhD in Archaeology at Cambridge University, where he taught prior to moving to a Lectureship at the University of Reading in 1992. Prior to his appointment as Pro-Vice Chancellor, Steven served as Head of the School of Human & Environmental Sciences (2003-2008) and Dean of the Faculty of Science (2008-2010). Steven's research interests concern early prehistoric communities and the evolution of human intelligence, language and music, with long-term field projects in Western Scotland (Mesolithic) and Southern Jordan (early Neolithic). His recent books include After the Ice (2003), The Singing Neanderthals (2005), The Early Prehistory of Wadi Faynan (2007), To The Islands… (2010), and Water, Life & Civilisation (forthcoming 2011). He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2003.