Tributes to
J. Desmond Clark
1916-2002
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Desmond is truly an international scholar; He left his legends in Africa, Europe, America, and China.
I got to know him in the late 1980s when he and his colleagues paid a few visits to IVPP and China. We young Chinese Paleolithic archaeologists leant a great deal from him, from his lectures, publications, and discussions and fieldworks with him. In the early 1990s, the Sino-US Nihewan Archaeological Project was launched in China, directed by Dr. Clark and his Chinese counterpart, the late Prof. Jia Lanpo. That joint program is the first officially-approved archaeological field project involving foreign scholars in China since the founding of the PRC and has become a major event in the history of Paleolithic research in this country for its profound impacts, both theoretically and methodologically. Many young researchers in this discipline in China, including me, were trained in the field of Nihewan Basin under his leadership, and later became friends and students of him and his senior students in the United States. In late 1992 I visited him at UC Berkeley when I was a visiting scholar at UA. He opened his lab and lithic collections to me and invited me to his home to celebrate Christmas Eve with Betty and a few other students and friends. We, Desmond's students, friends, and colleagues in IVPP and China, have been in the mood of deep mourning since being informed of the sad news. I am sure that he will be remembered forever in China for his kindness and help as a dear friend, a great teacher, and a real gentleman.

-GAO Xing, IVPP, China