Francesca Ridgway

Francesca Romana Serra Ridgway (born March 9, 1936 in Rome ; died March 7, 2008 in Colchester ) was an Italian archaeologist of the Italian Iron Age and Etruscologist .

Life

Francesca R. Serra Ridgway was the daughter of Sardinian parents and granddaughter of the Italian scholar Giovanni Sanna, who in 1933 published the first Italian translation of the epoch-making work The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire by Michael Rostovtzeff . She studied Etruscology at La Sapienza University in Rome . With one of Massimo Pallottino supervised and the young Giovanni Colonna accompanied work on stamped Caeretaner Impastoware she was in Rome in 1964 laureiert . At the Scuola nazionale di Archeologi in Rome, she continued her postgraduate studies with the classical archaeologist Giovanni Becatti and the early historian Renato Peroni (1930-2010). As one of Peroni's collaborators, she was involved in the still fundamental study of the chronology of the Este and Golasecca cultures . For the Fondazione Carlo M. Lerici she took over the archaeological supervision of the prospecting supported by the Fondation .

During the search for the ancient Sybaris in the Gulf of Taranto carried out by the University of Pennsylvania , she met the postgraduate, British student of Etruscology David Ridgway (1938–2012). When he got a job as a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 1968 , she followed him and became an Honorary Fellow at the University's Department of Archeology. In 1970 they got married. Until the death of Francesca Ridgway, the two formed a complementary research couple, to whom a commemorative publication was dedicated in 2006 . The most important result of this collaboration was Italy before the Romans, published in 1979 . The Iron Age, Orientalizing, and Etruscan periods , often cited as "Ridgway and Ridgway". They devoted further joint investigations to the processing of the large number of graves excavated by Giorgio Buchner from the necropolis of Pithekoussai on Ischia and the metal goods of the Nuragic culture in Sardinia , the home of Serra Ridgway's parents, to which the Ridgway couple kept going.

Francesca R. Serra Ridgway's own interests early on enabled her to take part in the exploration of Pyrgi , the most important port in the Etruscan city of Caere. In addition to various articles, she contributed to a comprehensive presentation on this topic for the congress volume Greek Colonists and Native Populations edited by Jean-Paul Descoeudres - the result of the first Australian congress for classical archeology, which was organized in 1985 in honor of Arthur D. Trendall . With Lucia Cavagnaro Vanoni and Richard Linington she examined the necropolis of Tarquinia on behalf of the Fondazione Lerici . In a two-volume study in 1996, she presented her research results on the grave goods of the Hellenistic necropolis of Tarquinias by Fondo Scataglini and thus moved Tarquinia, famous for its Etruscan tomb paintings from the archaic period, into the focus of classical archeology.

In addition, in 1986 Francesca Ridgway provided the Italian translation of the anthology Etruskische Wandmalerei, edited by Stephan Steingräber in 1985, and in 1995 wrote an extensive bibliographical appendix on the research literature from 1978-1994 for the second edition of Otto Brendel's Etruscan Art from 1978.

In 2003 the Ridgways retired, but continued their scientific work. As an associate fellow of the Institute of Classical Studies , their excellent library was available for this purpose. For Guiliana Riccioni, with whom she was on friendly terms, Francesca Ridgway completed her work on the Vulci vases unearthed at the beginning of the 20th century . Above all, she found time to turn to the publication of the Pithoi stampigliati ceratani, which can be traced back to her tesi di laurea . This last project was only completed in 2010 after her death by Lisa Pieraccini .

Publications (selection)

• with David Ridgway: Italy before the Romans. The Iron Age, Orientalizing, and Etruscan Periods. Academic Press, London 1979.
• I corredi del fondo Scataglini a Tarquinia: scavi della fondazione Ing. Carlo M. Lerici del Politecnico di Milano per la Soprintendenza archeologica dell'Etruria meridionale. Two volumes. Comune del Milano, Milan 1996.
• with Giuliana Riccioni: Vasi greci da Vulci. Necropoli dell'Osteria; Scavi Ferraguti-Mengarelli 1929–1931 . Comune di Milano, Milan 2003.
• David Ridgway, Francesca R. Serra Ridgway, Edward Herring, among others: Across Frontiers: Etruscans, Greeks, Phoenicians & Cypriots. Studies in Honor of David Ridgway and Francesca Romana Serra Ridgway. Accordia Research Institute, University of London, London 2006.
• with Lisa Pieraccini: Pithoi stampigliati ceretani. Una class originale di ceramica etrusca. "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 2010.

literature

• David Ridgway: In memomoriam Francesca R. Serra Ridgway, 1936-2008. In: Etruscan News. Volume 10, 2008, p. 1. 12 ( PDF ).

Web links

• Tom Rasmussen: Francesca Romana Serra Ridgway . On: Antiquity. A Review if World Archeology (antiquity.ac.uk; accessed September 30, 2019).