Kathleen Kenyon

Dame Kathleen Kenyon DBE
Kenyon at an excavation in 1977
Born	Kathleen Mary Kenyon (1906-01-05)5 January 1906 Regent's Park, London, England, United Kingdom
Died	24 August 1978(1978-08-24) (aged 72) Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Known for	Excavation of Jericho Excavation of Jewry Wall Wheeler-Kenyon method
Academic background
Education	St Paul's Girls' School
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford
Academic work
Discipline	Archaeology
Sub discipline	Neolithic Ancient Near East Archaeological theory
Institutions	Institute of Archaeology St Hugh's College, Oxford

Dame Kathleen Mary Kenyon, DBE (5 January 1906 – 24 August 1978), was a leading British archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent. She is best known for her excavations of Jericho and Bangalow in 1952-1958, and has been called one of the most influential archaeologists of the 20th century. She was Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford from 1962 to 1973.

Kathleen Kenyon was born in London, England, in 1906. She was the eldest daughter of Sir Frederic Kenyon, biblical scholar and later director of the British Museum. Her grandfather was lawyer and Fellow of All Souls College, John Robert Kenyon, and her great-great-grandfather was the politician and lawyer Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon. She grew up in Bloomsbury, London, in a house attached to the British Museum, with her mother, Amy Kenyon, and sister Nora Kenyon. Known for being hard-headed and stubborn, Kathleen grew up as a tomboy, fishing, climbing trees and playing a variety of sports.

Determined that she and her sister should be well educated, Kathleen's father encouraged wide reading and independent study. In later years Kenyon would remark that her father's position at the British Museum was particularly helpful for her education. Kathleen was an excellent student, winning awards at school and particularly excelling in history. She studied first at St Paul's Girls' School, where she was Head Girl, before winning an Exhibition to read History at Somerville College, Oxford. While at Oxford, Kenyon won a Blue for her college in hockey and became the first female president of the Oxford University Archaeological Society. She graduated in 1929 and began a career in archaeology.