Breaking Ground: Pioneering Women Archaeologists

Conclusion

554 Conclusion over the years, the women we call “pioneers” have been recognized, individually, for their outstanding contributions to the ‹eld of archaeology. They have enjoyed respect for their ‹eldwork, innovative technological methods, and published research. Some have been recognized with honorary degrees from distinguished institutions, while others received recognition from learned societies or from the governments where they lived or worked.1 Although these women led modest, hardworking lives, they each had an identity that was vivid and compelling and were lifted out of the ordinary by their extraordinary gifts for research, learning, and teaching. Now their stories have been told. Early in their careers these women were fortunate to meet and be taught by the foremost scholars and teachers of their day. They also had the good fortune to have the support of a mentor-advocate, who welcomed and respected them as if they were already members of the archaeological establishment . Mentoring, in fact, is a way of professional life in archaeology today, and so it was in previous generations. As each of these women established herself in her profession, she, in turn, mentored the next generation. In some cases, there was a strong bond with a single individual, and in others , the in›uence extended to legions of students. Not surprisingly, therefore, we ‹nd many links between the pioneer women. Margaret Murray taught Gertrude Caton-Thompson. In turn, Gertrude Caton-Thompson took Kathleen Kenyon to excavate in Zimbabwe . Edith Hall Dohan worked at Gournia under Harriet Boyd Hawes; Esther Van Deman was helpful to Gertrude Bell; and, while at Cambridge, Theresa Goell was probably in›uenced by both Gertrude Caton-Thompson and Winifred Lamb and, later in her career, was advised by Hetty Goldman . In the early twentieth century archaeologists—women among them— were offered teaching positions at universities. Dorothy Garrod held a chair at Cambridge; Margaret Murray taught for years at University College London (but she had to wait until she was sixty-four to be promoted to assistant professor!); Harriet Boyd Hawes taught at Wellesley College; Edith Hall Dohan taught at Mount Holyoke and at Bryn Mawr; and Hetty Goldman taught at Johns Hopkins and was then the ‹rst female appointed to a permanent position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Women ‹lled curatorship positions as well. Winifred Lamb held the position of Honorary Keeper of Greek Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge; and Edith Hall Dohan was the curator of the Classical Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The majority of these pioneers were productive scholars, although two of them failed to complete the ‹nal publication of their respective excavations .2 Think of the publications by Dieulafoy of Susa and the Hassan Mosque; of Esther Van Deman’s publications of Roman construction techniques and aqueducts—still important and still used today; of Margaret Murray’s Egyptological tomes; of Gertrude Bell’s The Thousand and One Churches or The Desert and the Sown; of Harriet Boyd Hawes’s Gournia; of Edith Hall Dohan’s studies of Italic tomb groups; of Hetty Goldman’s Tarsus, Gertrude Caton-Thompson’s Hammamiya; of Dorothy Garrod’s volumes devoted to her Natu‹an discoveries at Shukbah, Wadi elMughara , or El Wad; of Winifred Lamb’s pivotal and speedy publication of her excavations at Thermi and Kusura as well as her many catalogs. Beyond the excavation site, the classroom and the library these women committed themselves to caring for the well-being of those who worked for them. For years Theresa Goell served her Turkish and Kurdish workmen by giving them and their families medicines, food, and clothing. Kathleen Kenyon personally underwrote ‹nancial aid for her students, and Gertrude Caton-Thompson left a generous legacy to University College London to enable students and staff to continue their research in Egyptology. Their volunteerism saw them engaged in pressing issues of the day, and, to be sure, they made a difference. They took active roles when war broke out around them. Jane Dieulafoy worked at a clinic and saw ambulance service as a soldier; Margaret Murray devoted herself to the Serbian cause; Gertrude Bell served the Red Cross; Harriet Boyd Hawes worked as a nurse in three wars and organized a feeding camp in Corfu; Gertrude Catonconclusion 555 Thompson raised money for refugee organizations, and Winifred Lamb worked in the British Naval Intelligence Service Department. In addition, both Hetty Goldman and Theresa Goell took active measures to help the war effort in World War II. Goldman sponsored academic...