Beatrice de Cardi
Beatrice Eileen de Cardi OBE (born June 5, 1914 in London - † July 5, 2016 ) was a British archaeologist from the Near East . Her main research focus was on the countries bordering the Persian Gulf . She was considered an expert on the pre-Islamic cultures of this region.
Life
Beatrice de Cardi was born in 1914 as the second daughter of Edwin de Cardi (1875–1935), a Corsican nobleman, and his wife, the American Christine Berbette Wurfflein (1875–1964), in London. There she grew up in a house on Ealing Common and attended St Paul's Girls School . She later studied history, economic history and economics at University College London . While studying there, she attended a lecture by Mortimer Wheeler , Director of the Museum of London , on the subject of Great Britain in Roman times. Wheeler, with whom she would have a lifelong friendship, encouraged her to devote herself to archeology. De Cardi, who had been interested in archeology since her childhood, took part in Wheeler's excavations at Maiden Castle in Dorset . With his wife Tessa Wheeler she classified ceramics. In 1936 she became Wheeler's secretary at the Museum of London, replacing Thalassa Cruso , who had married and followed her husband, the archaeologist Hugh O'Neill Hencken , to the United States . De Cardi stayed at the museum until 1944.
She has now been given the opportunity by the British Foreign Office to serve as a liaison officer in the Allied Supplies Executive of the War Cabinet in China. There she toured India and China as personal assistant to the British representative. After the Second World War , she found her original position at the Museum of London filled and decided to work in India in order to have the opportunity to do research on Indus culture alongside her work there . After the partition of India , she worked in Pakistan . She was supported by Wheeler. When the security situation in Balochistan deteriorated, she had to stop her research there.
From 1949 she worked for the Council for British Archeology and stayed that way until 1973 when she retired.
Research focus
De Cardi's archaeological fieldwork focused primarily on the regions bordering the Persian Gulf. After doing research in Balochistan in 1947, she worked in Iran and the United Arab Emirates in the 1960s and in Oman and Qatar in the 1970s . When de Cardi could no longer actively participate in excavations for health reasons, she switched her work to cataloging artefacts at the National Museum of the Emirate of Ra's al-Khaimah .
During her excavations in the Gulf region in the 1970s, she found the first evidence of ceramics from the Obed period there .
Honors
In 1950 she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London . She was later appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire and a Fellow of the British Academy and received the al-Qasimi Medal in 1989 for her archaeological services to the emirate of Ra's al-Khaimah. She also received the 1993 Burton Memorial Medal from the Royal Asiatic Society . On the occasion of her 100th birthday, the Council for British Archeology renamed its headquarters to Beatrice de Cardi House , and the Society of Antiquaries awarded it a gold medal.
Publications (selection)
- Archaeological Surveys in Baluchistan, 1948 and 1957 (1983)
Web links
- Beatrice Behlen: Beatrice de Cardi, the woman behind the dress , 2016, website of the Museum of London
- Beatrice de Cardi obituary , July 14, 2016, The Guardian
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Beatrice de Cardi at 100 , June 6, 2014, website of the UCL Institute of Archeology
- ^ Thalassa Cruso, 88, Plant Lover Who Shared Her Passion on TV , June 18, 1997, The New York Times
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | De Cardi, Beatrice |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British Near Eastern archaeologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 5, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | 5th july 2016 |