Harriet Boyd Hawes | |
---|---|
Born | October 11, 1871 Boston, Massachusetts |
Died | March 31, 1945 Washington D.C. |
(aged 73)
Nationality | American |
Fields | archaeology |
Known for | excavations on the Aegean island of Crete |
Harriet Boyd Hawes (October 11, 1871 – March 31, 1945) was a pioneering American archaeologist, nurse, and relief worker. She is best known as the discoverer and first director of Gournia, one of the first archaeological excavations to uncover a Minoan settlement and palace on the Aegean island of Crete.
Harriet Ann Boyd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother died when she was a child, and so Harriet was raised by her father alongside her four older brothers. She was first introduced to the study of Classics by her brother, Alex. After attending the Prospect Hill School in Greenfield, she went on to graduate from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1892 with a degree in Classics (specializing in Greek).
After working as a teacher for four years, she followed her passion for Greece and its ancient culture, pursuing further studies in Classics at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece. During her stay in Greece she also served as a volunteer nurse in Thessaly during the Greco-Turkish War. She asked her professors to be allowed to participate in the school's archaeological fieldwork, but instead was encouraged to become an academic librarian. Frustrated by lack of support, she took the remainder of her fellowship and went on her own in search of archaeological remains on the island of Crete. This was a courageous decision, as Crete was only just emerging from the war and was far from safe. Hawes soon became well known for her expertise in the field of archaeology. For four months in the spring of 1900, she led an excavation at Kavousi, during which she discovered settlements and cemeteries of Late Minoan IIIC, Early Iron Age, and Early Archaic date (1200-600 BC) at the sites of Vronda and Kastro. During that same campaign she dug a test trench at the site of Azoria, the most important Ancient Greek (i.e. post-Minoan) site in the region, evidently an early city (c. 700-500 BC). Azoria is now under renewed excavation as part of a major five-year project.