RAC/TRAC Session 9: Women of Roman Archaeology

Conference Sessions and Abstracts - Thursday 11 April 2024

9. Women of Roman archaeology: In search for equity in the Roman archaeology scholarship

Tatiana Ivleva – Newcastle University
Rebecca Jones – University of Edinburgh
Anna Walas – University of Nottingham

Female scholars have played a key role in the fields of Roman archaeology and heritage, but their contributions have often not been given due recognition. Inspired by EAA 2023 session on (In)visible women in history of archaeology and 2021 TRAJ paper by Zena Kamash, this session wishes to look at the roles of women in shaping the archaeological and heritage discourses of the Roman world through discussing the following questions:

• Why are some early and 20th century female archaeologists recognised today, while others forgotten? What roles did they play in the early days of Roman archaeology as well as more recently?
• What methods, sources and archives can be used to illuminate the works of female scholars and what can Digital Humanities do to help to intensify the visibility of female archaeologists’ research and interpretations of the past without falling in the loophole of ‘tokenism’?
• Why is it relevant to study the history of female archaeologists in the 21st century? 

The papers will discuss individual biographies and overviews and comparisons of women and their work in Roman archaeology. Methods and approaches to research the history of women in Roman archaeology and heritage, and best-practice examples of communicating women’s work to the public will also be discussed. 

Session schedule 

Abstracts 

Jocelyn Toynbee: a Cambridge pioneer
Rebecca Jones 

A photograph from the 1949 Pilgrimage of Hadrian’s Wall, which acted as a precursor to the first International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies depicts 38 people of whom nine are women. Despite the Congress being male dominated (especially in its early years), the women identified are all significant in their own right and deserve to be better known. One of these women, Jocelyn Toynbee, became Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology in 1951 – the first (and only) female to hold this prestigious post. A student at Newnham College, Cambridge, she finished her degree at a time when women couldn’t graduate, but when the status of female scholars was politicised. Her research, in Roman art, was pioneering, helping to bring it out of the shadow of the more popular art of Greece; she was awarded her DPhil at Oxford in 1930 (only a decade after they allowed women to graduate). As a classical art historian and archaeologist of that era she encountered plenty of prejudice against Romanists, but found some support in the British School at Rome and the influence of Eugenie Sellers Strong. Toynbee’s research stretched from Roman Britain to Tripolitania and included the art from the Temple of Mithras in London and the catalogue for a major exhibition on Roman Art in Britain to mark the Roman Society’s 50th anniversary. Toynbee is a member of a pioneering group of early to mid-20th century Cambridge researchers and archaeological scholars who were married to academic research. This paper will explore some of her influences and impacts. 

Pioneering women archaeologists in twentieth-century Italy 
Myriam Pilutti Namer – Università Ca’ Foscari      
Sofia Piacentin – Università di Verona

The role of women archaeologists in twentieth century-Italy is a rather neglected topic. Despite a few works dedicated to their works based on archive materials, the history of Italian women archaeologists has not received attention until recently. The paper explores the role of two pioneering women archaeologists in Italy: Tina Campanile (1884-1928), the first woman to be admitted at the Italian Archaeological School in Athens, and Alda Levi (1890-1950), the first woman to be appointed to the Royal Soprintendenza. Through the analysis of these two case studies, the paper aims to shed light on their lives and works achievements, questioning (i) the reasons behind the lack of their work recognition, (ii) what were the challenges they both faced in their jobs, and (iii) to what extent the historical and cultural context of Italy influenced their careers. The final aim of this paper would be to encourage the discussion on the best ways to approach a full-scale survey of female archaeologists in twentieth-century Italy, a work that still needs to be done, which may reveal further stories of scholars’ achievements that, until now, have been forgotten.

 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin: Archaeologist, Artist, Nobel Prize-winning Chemist
Lisa R. Brody – Yale University

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin is best known today for her pioneering research in X-ray crystallography. Her work on understanding the structure of penicillin led to the development of antibiotics, and her modeling of the more complicated molecules that make up vitamin B-12 led to her becoming the third woman in history to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. She also, however, played an important role in the archaeological excavation of ancient Gerasa (Jordan). In 1928, prior to enrolling at Oxford’s Somerville College, eighteen-year-old Dorothy spent three months working at Gerasa, where her father, John Crowfoot, was serving as field director. Dorothy’s mother, Grace Mary Crowfoot, was also part of the excavation team. Dorothy’s primary task was to document the extraordinary floor mosaics being uncovered, creating watercolor drawings that show her keen analytical observation, meticulous attention to detail, and artistic skill. She completed the two most important drawings at Oxford during her first two years at college; she also conducted analysis on glass tesserae from the excavation. Dorothy’s drawings, now at the Yale University Art Gallery, are instrumental in understanding the Gerasa mosaics. They also demonstrate the fascination with color and pattern that marked her subsequent trailblazing scientific career.

 Tracing female Roman archaeologists – (In)visible women in the history of the Römisch-Germanische Kommission (RGK)
Gabriele Rasbach – Deutsches Archäologisches Institut    
Kerstin P. Hofmann – Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

The archives of the RGK contain numerous traces of female archaeologists and women involved in Roman archaeology. They appear as former employees, travel fellows, correspondence partners, leaders or collaborators of research projects but also as illustrators and organizers supporting the institute’s research. They appear in letters, manuscripts, administration forms and photographs of events and excavations. The diverse range of documents makes the RGK archives a valuable resource for tracing both the visible women in archaeological research and committees as well as those that remained invisible. The biographical information system Propylaeum-VITAE (https://sempub.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum_vitae/de) provides a tool to make these women, their associated archival records and other sources like publications more visible. It makes it possible to display scattered holdings and reconstruct the various networks and impact of these women on research of Roman archaeology. On the basis of exemplary selected female researchers for whom files are available in our archives, we will highlight and explain the different ways in which women are (in)visible in Roman archaeological research.

 “You don’t have to change the world, nevertheless, with a bit of luck it is not impossible”– Female archaeologists in Aquincum
Orsolya Láng – Aquincumi Múzeum

The settlement complex of Aquincum has been the subject of archaeological research for more than 130 years. Several female archaeologists participated in this huge work – some even carried out pioneering work in studying the Roman provincial capital. The first complex topographical studies, those dedicated to the settlement structure of the civilian town, as well as that of the military town, and the very detailed cemetery analyses or the complex research of Roman jewellery of Aquincum were all carried out by our former female colleagues such as Klára Póczy, Melinda Kaba, Annamária Facsády and Paula Zsidi. Apart from the scientific work, some of the most important directors of the museum and the archaeological part of Aquincum were women, whose work contributed enormously to the development of the site: conservation of the remains of the civil town, iconic exhibitions on Aquincum and modern, visitor-friendly and exemplary developments of the part were all invented and conducted by female directors of the museum. The paper will take closer look at the life and work of these brave and determined women who dedicated their entire life to Aquincum.

 Being Ana Premk, woman archaeologist in Serbia
Jasmina Davidović 

One of the most remarkable figures in Serbian archaeology was Ana Premk (1937-2022), a pottery expert but also an expert on other small finds, a researcher of many important archaeological sites in Serbia (Sirmium, Mediana, Viminacium, Timacum Minus), and a technical editor and secretary to many very important archaeological journals such as ‘Starinar’ and ‘Sirmium’. She made a new system of typology for the Roman pottery of Sirmium with all necessary documentation which was later used in almost all Roman archaeological sites in Serbia. All her working time she spent in the Archaeological Institute Belgrade and after retiring she continued working, especially in Sirmium on the pottery material educating new generations of pottery experts. Her master's degree, obtained in 1978 with the topic on closed contexts of the 4th century was never published but used in a typed version by all Serbian archaeologists in dealing with Roman pottery. At the same time, she was very much loved by everyone because her kind character as the person who helps everyone was noticed and highly appreciated. Mainly working on numerous excavations across Serbia, having a special role as a drawing expert for archaeological material, she did not manage to publish many articles, but few published ones left a lasting impression on people dealing with Roman pottery and sculpture.   

 Women in Romanian archaeology at the turning point of 1945
Rada Varga – Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai        
Annamária-Izabella Pázsint – Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai

After World War II, in 1945, the communist regime was installed in Romania and significant changes were in toll for the intellectual elite of the country. One of the main requirements for any professional, and especially for anyone working within academia, was to have ‘healthy’, working-class roots. As it was, Romanian academia and especially the archaeological field were highly masculine and one can easily imagine that the few women who activated in the field were part of the inter-war intellectual elite, coming from aristocratic or at least upper-class families. Thus, the regime shift came as one more challenge for women who wanted to work as ancient historians and archaeologists. Our paper will focus on the women who were working in archaeology during the dramatic regime transition and to what degree they managed to adapt and remain active in the field. All of them faced a difficult path, which eventually led to reintegration in many steps, exile or approaching the profession from a different angle. The presented case studies will not only underline the realities faced by the generations we focus on, but also how the presence of women in the field of archaeology was affected for the coming years.

 Rosanina, Maria and I – female perspectives on female identities
Sarah Scoppie

Roman archaeology has been a story of invisible women – their traces left at Roman military sites overlooked, their pathways fought in academia ignored. Feminist archaeology has helped to shift the spotlight onto women and their role in shaping the Roman Empire. However, do we – (feminist) archaeologists of the 21st century – see those female colleagues, who have collated the data and provided the background for our research into female identities? My research has focussed on shared identities during the period of “Romanisation” in northwest Italy. In addition to “invisible men”, I encountered high status women and have raised questions of female networks – from spindle whorls to funerary beds. Based entirely on published excavation reports (mainly from the 1970s to 1990s) and papers, the names of researchers and authors became constant companies of my studies. Rarely did I find the time to try and read up on them, find out about their pathway in academia and continued work. Almost all of them were women. I shall take RAC 2024 as an incentive to return to my PhD and acknowledge the contribution of female archaeologists to the study of latest Iron Age – early Roman northwest Italy. In doing so, I also aim to pick up on a loose thread from my research and further investigate how female perspectives shape our female perception of female identities – from the power of spinning to the stage set during a funeral. 

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