Dame_Kathleen_Kenyon

Dame Kathleen Kenyon Kathleen Kenyon was born on the 5th of January in 1906, she was the oldest daughter of renowned biblical researcher Sir Frederick Kenyon. During her studies at Somerville College, Oxford she became the first woman to become president of the Oxford Archaeological Society. Kathleen first realised her love for archaeology after joining Gertrude Caton-Thompson on the famous all-woman excavation of Great Zimbabwe as a photographer in 1929. She worked with Mortimer Wheeler after she returned from Zimbabwe together they created and refined the method of stratigraphy which is now called the Wheeler-Kenyon Method. Kathleen dedicated most of her attention to the archaeological remains of ancient Britain during 1930 and 1951,working at a number of sites and publishing many findings. During World War Two she became a lecturer in Palestinian Archaeology at the University of London. In 1937Kathleen played a main role in the founding of one of Europe's most renowned archaeological institutes to this day, The Institute of Archaeology of University College London. The institute had the goal to provide and instruct people in how to properly excavate. She was a lecturer and secretary of the institute in the beginning. In 1951, Kathleen became the honorary director of the British School of archaeology in Jerusalem. Then from 1952-1958 she excavated Jericho. In 1961 Kathleen left to excavate in Jerusalem until the 1967 Six-Day War put an end to the project. This was Kathleen Kenyon’s last excavation. From 1962 to 1973 she was principal at St. Hugh’s College in Oxford. In 1973 she was named a Dame by the Queen before she died in 1978 from a stroke. She is said to be the most influential woman archaeologist of the 20th century. Excavation of Jericho Kathleen Kenyon excavated in Jericho from 1952-1958 this excavation was her most famous work as an archaeologist. During the excavation of Jericho Kathleen Kenyon and her team found numerous plastered skulls beneath the floors of houses. They all had the lower jaw removed and the face modeled in lime plaster. Shells were placed in eye sockets and on some skulls red and black paint was used to represent facial features like hair. Kathleen’s team also found huge quantities of food that was undisturbed in one of the layers that had thick walls but had been burned by fire food was very valuable in the ancient world. What led her to excavate Jericho' The reasons Kathleen Kenyon was led to excavate Jericho were, Jericho had always been an area of interest for biblical scholars who wanted to prove that the Book of Joshua was true, it also could of helped to settle some of the questions still in dispute about the Book of Joshua; after John Garstang’s excavation and before Kathleen Kenyon’s excavation work on other archaeological excavations since had formed more of an understanding of dating pottery, and also archaeological technique was continuously evolving,. Also, Jericho had always been an area of interest for biblical scholars who wanted to prove the historicity of the Book of Joshua. Her main objective was to date the beginning and the end of ancient Jericho and to answer whether the end of the Bronze Age could be connected to the period of Joshua. Methods of excavation: She used improved methods of stratigraphy developed in the late 1940's and early 1950's. The Wheeler-Kenyon Method, as it is now called, was perfected during her Jericho excavation. Problems encountered: Kathleen Kenyon ignored the common types of pottery that were found in Jericho and didn’t find any pottery that was included in John Garstang's report, extensive painted pottery and other items which could be connected to the Late Bronze Age in his excavations of Jericho. There are two explanations as to why Kathleen didn’t find any of these extensive painted pottery one being that the area she excavated was not large enough, it being only one thirteenth of the area that Garstang excavated. And the other being that the area she excavated may have been a poorer area she only found local pottery that could be linked to the poorer society of the area and time. Significance of discovery: Whilst excavating at Jericho Kathleen Kenyon discovered that Jericho’s was the oldest known continuously occupied human settlement. She said that some of the artifacts could be dated back to 8000 BC. Bibliography http://faculty.vassar.edu/jolott/old_courses/class%20of%2051/jericho/kenyon.html > Date viewed: 14th March 2010 This site had a good overview of her life and achievements including why she was led to excavate at Jericho. http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/kenyon/ > Date viewed: 14th March 2010 This website had a good biography of Kathleen Kenyon including a good outline of her career. http://www.conservapedia.com/Jericho_chronology_dispute > Date viewed: 16th March 2010 This website helped me discover the problems that Kathleen Kenyon encountered during her excavation at Jericho. http://www.lycos.com/info/kathleen-kenyon.html > Date viewed: 16th March 2010 and 20th March 2010 This website had many small pieces of information that helped me in many parts of this assignment. http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/kenyon/ > Date Viewed: 14th March 2010, 16th of March 2010 and 24th March 2010 This site had a very good biography which had very useful information about her career before Jericho. http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx'id=543 > Date viewed: 14th March 2010, 16th of March 2010 and 20th March 2010 This website was a very helpful biography of her life and career. I also got the picture on the first page from this site.