David R. Harris

David Russell Harris (born 14 December 1930) is a British geographer, anthropologist, archaeologist and academic, well known for his detailed work on the origins of agriculture and the domestication of plants and animals. He is a former director of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, and he retains a position as professor (Emeritus) of the Human Environment at the Institute.

Academic career

David Russell Harris was born 1930 in London, England. As an undergraduate Harris attended Oxford, first obtaining a B.A. in Geography. Continuing with postgraduate studies at Oxford, in 1955 Harris was awarded an M.Litt. in Geography with a thesis entitled "Water resources and land use in Tunisia".

Between 1958 and 1964 Harris lectured in geography at Queen Mary College, University of London. During the 1962–63 academic year he was a visiting lecturer at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, in addition to pursuing a doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1963 was awarded a PhD from the Geography Department at Berkeley, upon defending his dissertation entitled "Plants, animals, and man in the Outer Leeward Islands, West Indies. An ecological study of Antigua, Barbuda, and Anguilla".<ref...
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