This article re-examines the ‘neolithic revolution’—Gordon Childe’s great contribution to prehistoric archaeology. Childe first articulated his model of three revolutions in history—neolithic, urban and industrial—in 1936. Many authors have sought to understand it in the light of subsequent archaeological theory; here I proceed differently. A broader appreciation of the context in which Childe operated, in Britain and the rest of Europe, is necessary if we are to grasp fully the content of his model and the theoretical strands that influenced it. This article aims to elucidate the Neolithic as a historical construct and Childe’s archaeology as a continuation of his politics. The facts are viewed from four perspectives: (a) personal, with biographical information about the young Gordon Childe; (b) institutional, through a description of the 1920s research landscape in London; (c) ideological, through an attempt to retrace the European Weltanschauung; and (d) conceptual, with a discussion of the ‘neolithic revolution’. Childe’s love-hate relationship with Germany and Austria heavily influenced his model, which is essentially a grand synthesis between the Kulturkreislehre (of Gräbner) and the Dreistufenlehre (probably of Karl Bücher, through its critique by the Functionalists in London). The model’s revolutionary structure comes from dialectical materialism. All three main building blocks of the ‘neolithic revolution’—diffusionist, evolutionist and Marxist—ultimately derive from the great nineteenth century German historical tradition. An anti-fascist his entire life, Childe tried to rescue German ideas in face of the impending catastrophe—Hitler’s arrival to power, and the destruction of Central European intellectual traditions.

本文重新审视了“新石器时代的革命”-戈登·柴尔德对史前考古学的巨大贡献。柴尔德（Childe）于1936年首先阐述了他的三场历史革命的模型：新石器时代，城市革命和工业革命。在这里，我以不同的方式进行。如果我们要完全掌握其模型的内容和影响模型的理论框架，就必须对Childe在英国和欧洲其他地区的经营环境有一个更广泛的了解。本文旨在阐明新石器时代的历史建构，并阐明Childe的考古学作为其政治的延续。从四个角度审视事实：（a）个人，并提供有关年轻戈登·柴尔德（Gordon Childe）的传记信息；（b）机构，通过对1920年代伦敦研究领域的描述；（c）意识形态，通过试图追溯欧洲Weltanschauung ; （d）概念性的，并讨论了“新革命”。柴尔德与德国和奥地利又爱又恨严重影响他的模型，它本质上是一个与盛大合成Kulturkreislehre（GRABNER的）和Dreistufenlehre（可能是卡尔·布歇（KarlBücher），通过伦敦功能主义者的评论）。该模型的革命性结构来自辩证唯物主义。“新革命”的所有三个主要构成要素-扩散论者，进化论者和马克思主义-最终都源于19世纪伟大的德国历史传统。柴尔德一生都是反法西斯主义者，面对希特勒上台之势以及中欧知识分子传统的灭顶之灾，他试图挽救德国的思想。