Nicolas Coldstream

{{short description|English archaeologist and academic}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = Nicolas Coldstream | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA|FSA|size=100%}} | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | nationality =  | citizenship =  | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = | title = | boards =  | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = | alma_mater = King's College, Cambridge | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline = Archaeology | sub_discipline = {{hlist|Classical archaeology|Ancient Greece|Geometric Period|Ancient Greek pottery}} | workplaces = {{plain list| * Shrewsbury School * British Museum * British School at Athens * Bedford College, University of London * University College London }} | doctoral_students =  | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''John Nicolas Coldstream''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|commas=on|FBA|FSA|size=100%}}, (30 March 1927 – 21 March 2008) was an English archaeologist and academic specialising in the Ancient Greek pottery of the Geometric Period. He lectured at Bedford College, rising to become Professor of Aegean Archaeology, and then lectured at University College London as Yates Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology. His best known excavation sites are Kythera and Knossos.

==Early life== Coldstream was born on 30 March 1927 in Lahore, British Raj.<ref name="obit – The Guardian">{{cite news|last=Johnston|first=Alan|title=Nicolas Coldstream|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/jul/04/highereducation.mainsection|accessdate=19 October 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=4 July 2008}}</ref> Sir John Coldstream, his father, was serving in the British colony as a High Court Judge.<ref name="obit – The Telegraph">{{cite news|title=Professor Nicolas Coldstream|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1583838/Professor-Nicolas-Coldstream.html|accessdate=19 October 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=4 April 2008}}</ref> He was educated at the preparatory school St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne and the all-boys public school Eton College, Eton, Berkshire.<ref name="obit – The Times">{{cite news|title=Professor Nicolas Coldstream|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/professor-nicolas-coldstream-0k9k9f98bnh|access-date=19 October 2013|newspaper=The Times|date=9 April 2008}}</ref><ref name="obit – independent">{{cite news|last=Cadogan|first=Gerald|title=Professor Nicolas Coldstream: Pioneering investigator of Greek culture and history of the ninth and eighth centuries BC|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-nicolas-coldstream-pioneering-investigator-of-greek-culture-and-history-of-the-ninth-and-eighth-centuries-bc-808995.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220620/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-nicolas-coldstream-pioneering-investigator-of-greek-culture-and-history-of-the-ninth-and-eighth-centuries-bc-808995.html |archive-date=20 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|accessdate=19 October 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=15 April 2008}}</ref>

Following school, he undertook national service in the British Army.<ref name="obit – The Times" /> On 26 January 1946, he was commissioned into The Buffs as a second lieutenant. He was given the service number 362272.<ref name="LG 8 March 1946">{{London Gazette |issue=37496 |date=8 March 1946 |page=1328 |supp=y }}</ref> He saw active service in Egypt and Palestine.<ref name="obit – The Guardian" /> He then read classics at King's College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge.<ref name="obit – The Times" /> He graduated with a double first Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1951.<ref name="obit – The Telegraph" /><ref name="obit – independent" />

==Academic career== Coldstream taught classics at Shrewsbury School, a public school in Shrewsbury, Shropshire from 1952 to 1956.<ref name="obit – The Guardian" /><ref name="obit – independent" /> While there, he was also an officer of the Combined Cadet Force. He transferred his commission into the school's contingent on 29 April 1954.<ref name="LG 8 June 1954">{{London Gazette |issue=40200 |date=8 June 1954 |page=3458 |supp=y }}</ref> He resigned his commission on 28 December 1956.<ref name="LG 11 January 1957">{{London Gazette |issue=40975 |date=11 January 1957 |page=356 |supp=y }}</ref> He then worked for one year as a temporary assistant keeper at the department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum.<ref name="obit – The Telegraph" /><ref name="obit – independent" /> From 1957 to 1960, he undertook research at the British School at Athens.<ref name="obit – The Guardian" /> In 1958, he published his first monograph; ''An Etruscan Neck-Amphora''.<ref name="obit – The Telegraph" />

In 1960, he became a lecturer at Bedford College, University of London.<ref name="British Academy – bio">{{cite web|title=COLDSTREAM, Professor Nicolas|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/directory/dec.cfm?member=2032|work=British Academy Fellows|publisher=British Academy|accessdate=20 October 2013}}</ref> ''Greek Geometric Pottery'' was published in 1968,<ref name="obit – The Times" /> and has been described as his magnum opus.<ref name="obit – The Telegraph" /> In 1966, he was promoted to Reader.<ref name="obit – independent" /> He was given a personal chair as Professor of Aegean Archaeology in 1975.<ref name="obit – The Guardian" /> He published ''Geometric Greece'' in 1977.<ref name="British Academy – bio" /> In 1983, he moved to University College London and became Yates Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology.<ref name="obit – independent" /> He retired in 1992, becoming professor emeritus.<ref name="obit – independent" />

In addition to his university work, he was involved in the running of the British School at Athens. He was the editor of ''The Annual of the British School at Athens'' from 1968 to 1973. He was a member and then chairman, from 1987 to 1991, of its managing committee.<ref name="obit – The Telegraph" /> He was, at his death, vice-president of the School.<ref name="BSA – obit">{{cite web|title=Professor John Nicolas Coldstream FBA, FSA (1927-2008) – in memoriam|url=http://www.bsa.ac.uk/pages/news_drill.php?news_id=5&cat_id=30|publisher=British School at Athens|accessdate=22 October 2013|archive-date=23 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023061201/http://www.bsa.ac.uk/pages/news_drill.php?news_id=5&cat_id=30|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Personal life== He was a cousin of William Coldstream, a painter.<ref name="obit – independent" />

He married his wife Nicola, a leading scholar of medieval architecture and art, in 1970.<ref name="guradian obit">{{cite news|title=Obituary, The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/jul/04/highereducation.mainsection|website=The Guardian|date=3 July 2008 |accessdate=23 November 2015 |last1=Johnston |first1=Alan }}</ref>

==Honours== Coldstream was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 1964, and a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1977. He was awarded the British Academy's Kenyon Medal for Classical Studies in 2003.<ref name="Kenyon Medal 2003">{{cite web|title=THE KENYON MEDAL FOR CLASSICAL STUDIES AND ARCHAEOLOGY 2003|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/about/medals/Kenyon_Medal_2003.cfm|publisher=British Academy|accessdate=19 October 2013}}</ref>

In his obituary, ''The Times'' called Coldstream "one of the world's leading Classical archaeologists".<ref name="obit – The Times" />

==Selected works== * ''Greek Geometric Pottery: a Survey of Ten Local Styles and their Chronology'' (1968). London: Methuen. 2nd ed. with supplement: Bristol: Phoenix Press, 2008, {{ISBN|1904675816}} * ''Kythera: Excavations and Studies Conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the British School at Athens'', Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Press (1973) * ''Geometric Greece'' (1977, revised edition 2003), London: E. Benn * ''Knossos Pottery Handbook: Greek and Roman'' (2001). London: British School at Athens.

==Necrology== #''Etruscan News'' v. 10 (spring 2008)<ref>''Etruscan News'' v. 10 (spring 2008) http://ancientstudies.fas.nyu.edu/docs/CP/963/etruscan_news_10_version.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418140830/http://ancientstudies.fas.nyu.edu/docs/CP/963/etruscan_news_10_version.pdf |date=18 April 2015 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coldstream, Nicolas}} Category:1927 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Academics of Bedford College, London Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Category:British classical archaeologists Category:English archaeologists Category:Fellows of the British Academy Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:People educated at Eton College Category:People educated at St Cyprian's School Category:Academics from Lahore Category:British people in British India