Magdalena Midgley

Magdalena Stefania Midgley (born November 4, 1952 in Bydgoszcz , Poland as Magdalena Stefania Appelt ; † July 21, 2014 in Biggar , Scotland ) was a Polish-British prehistorian .

Life

Midgley was born as the daughter of industrial designer Bruno Appelt and his wife Bronisława in Bydgoszcz, Poland (German: Bromberg ). After finishing school in 1971, she accepted an invitation from her cousin, who emigrated to Scotland after World War II , in 1972 , and took an English course at Stevenson College in Edinburgh . She also worked as an au pair . In October 1972 she met the language teacher Stephen Midgley, whom she married in May 1973.

In 1974 Midgley began studying archeology at the University of Edinburgh . She quickly specialized in prehistoric archeology and developed a particular interest in the northern and central European Neolithic . In 1978 she finished her studies with a master’s degree. In 1985 she did her PhD on The Origin and Function of the Earthen Long Barrows of Northern Europe .

In the following years she took part in numerous excavations. In 1989 she was a lecturer ( lecturer ) of Prehistoric Archeology at the University of Edinburgh. In 1997 she became a senior lector. In August 2013 she was appointed to a chair in the European Neolithic at the School of History, Classics and Archeology at the University of Edinburgh. Due to cancer , she had to quit teaching in June 2014. Midgley died on July 21, 2014 at Kello Hospital in Biggar and was buried in Edinburgh on July 30.

In the course of her research, Midgley took part in excavations in Scotland, Bourgogne and the Czech Republic . She also undertook numerous research trips from the Pyrenees to Scandinavia . Her research focuses on the northern European funnel beaker culture and megalithic tombs. With the monograph TRB Culture. In 1992 she presented the First Farmers of the North European Plain with a standard work on funnel cup culture.

Fonts

Author

• The Origin and Function of the Earthen Long Barrows of Northern Europe (1985)
• TRB Culture. The First Farmers of the North European Plain (1992)
• The Monumental Cemeteries of Prehistoric Europe (2005)
• The Megaliths of Northern Europe (2008)

Editor

• Antiquarians at the Megaliths (2009)
• With Jeff Sanders: Lake Dwellings after Robert Munro. Proceedings from the Munro International Seminar. The Lake Dwellings of Europe 22nd and 23rd October 2010, University of Edinburgh (2012)

Web links

• Alison Shaw: Obituary: Prof. Magdalena Midgley, professor of archeology at the University of Edinburgh. In: The Scotsman . July 29, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
• Ian Ralston: Professor Magdalena Stefania Midgley. 4 November 1952 Bydgoszcz, Poland - 21 July 2014 Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland. In: http://antiquity.ac.uk . Retrieved March 7, 2019.
• Professor Magda Midgley. In: The University of Edinburgh. School of History, Classics and Archeology. July 23, 2014. Accessed March 7, 2019.