Theresa Goell

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theresa Bathsheba Goell (born July 17, 1901 in Manhattan , † December 18, 1985 ) was an American archaeologist and building researcher . She was a pioneer of archeology in the Kommagene region in southeast Asia Minor and is particularly known for her research on Nemrut Dağı and her advancement of geophysical methods in archaeological research.

Life

Family and education

Theresa Goell was the daughter of Mary Samowitz Goell and Jacob Goell. Shortly after she was born, her family moved to Brooklyn , where she grew up and went to school. She attended Erasmus High School , then Syracuse University from 1919 to 1921 and Radcliffe College from 1921 to 1923 , where she completed her bachelor's degree as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society .

During her time at Radcliffe College, she married Cyrus Levinthal. They had a son, Jay, and moved to England together in 1926 to study at the University of Cambridge . Theresa Goell studied art history , archeology and architecture at Newnham College . She graduated with a degree in architecture, but also developed a keen interest in archeology of the Middle East .

In 1932 Theresa Goell and Cyrus Levinthal got divorced. Jay then lived with an aunt for two years while Theresa Goell moved to Jerusalem to work for the American Schools of Oriental Research . She then returned to the United States and lived with her son in New York . She began postgraduate studies in Classical Archeology at New York University . Her professors advised her against an academic career, on the one hand because this was not common for women at this time, and on the other hand because Theresa Goell suffered from severe hearing loss . So she decided against a doctorate. Since the political unrest in the Middle East made archaeological field research in this region impossible, she worked temporarily as a display designer and during the Second World War as a technical draftsman for the United States Navy .

Archaeological work

In 1946, the archaeologist Hetty Goldman , who was known for promoting younger colleagues, invited Theresa Goell to take part in the excavations at Tarsus in Cilicia . Goell became a permanent member of the local excavation team in the following years. From Tarsus she visited Nemrut Dağı for the first time , a mountain in the then largely unexplored Taurus Mountains , which houses the tomb of King Antiochus I of Kommagene . When she tried to apply for a permit to explore the grave, it turned out that the German ancient historian Friedrich Karl Dörner was also planning to start excavations there. They finally agreed to tackle the project together. Goell became head of the excavations, while Dörner took part as an epigraphist . In return, Dörner took over the management of the excavation project in the nearby ancient residence town of Arsameia am Nymphaios , on which Goell was involved as an architect. After an initial survey and a few test excavations, the first excavation season on Nemrut Dağı began in 1954. At the same time, she continued to work in Tarsus and replaced Hetty Goldman as excavation manager.

It soon turned out that exploring the interior of Nemrut Mountain was hardly possible without seriously damaging the archaeological site. Goell, who was concerned about the preservation of the sanctuary as a cultural monument, heard about new methods of geophysics , which had been used for the first time in archeology when researching Etruscan tombs. Goell decided to introduce these procedures into her project. It won the National Geographic Society as a sponsor, making the Nemrut Project the first archaeological dig in Turkey to use geophysical measurements.

In 1964 Theresa Goell started new research in Samosata , an ancient city on the west bank of the Euphrates , where she also worked with geophysical methods.

In the 1970s, Goell's health deteriorated and she had to cut back on work on her projects. Nevertheless, she tried to advance the work in Samosata in particular, as it was already clear that the city was to be flooded for the Ataturk Dam . This delayed the publication of the Nemrut excavation all the more, which in any case was made more difficult by the fact that Dörner, who was also in poor health, was unable to complete his part of the documentation. When Theresa Goell died in 1985, the publications of both projects were unfinished. In 1996, Donald H. Sanders, an employee of the Nemrut excavation, published the collected research results from Nemrut Dağı with the work of Theresa Goell, Friedrich-Karl Dörner and others.

Her estate, particularly her excavation notes and drawings, is held by Harvard University and Radcliffe College in the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America .

Honors

In 1962 Theresa Goell was elected a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute . In 1973, at the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic, the Turkish government honored her for her contribution to the study of Turkish history and culture.

Fonts (selection)

  • with Friedrich Karl Dörner and Hans-Gert Bachmann: Arsameia am Nymphaios. The excavations in the Hierothesion of Mithradates Kallinikos from 1953 to 1956 (= Istanbul Research, Volume 23). Berlin 1963.
  • The Nemrud Dagh (Turkey) Geophysical Surveys of 1964. In: National Geographic Society Research Reports, 1964 Projects. 1969, pp. 61-81.
  • Samosata Archaeological Excavations, Turkey, 1967. In: National Geographic Society Research Reports, 1967 Projects. 1974, pp. 83-109.
  • Nemrud Dağı. The "Hierothesion" of Antiochus I of Commagene. Results of the American excavations , directed by Theresa B. Goell; Edited by Donald H. Sanders, Winona Lake (Ind.), Eisenbrauns 1996. ISBN 1-57506-015-9

literature

  • Eva S. Moseley: Goell, Theresa Bathsheba. In: American National Biography . Volume 9, New York, Oxford University Press 1999.
  • Donald H. Sanders, David WJ Gill: Theresa B. Goell, 1901–1985. In: Getzel M. Cohen, Martha Sharp Joukowsky (Ed.): Breaking Ground. Pioneering Women Archaeologists. University of Michigan Press, Michigan 2004, ISBN 0-472-11372-0 , pp. 482-524.

Movie

The documentary Queen of the Mountain was released in 2005 about Theresa Goell's life . Theresa Goell's niece Martha Goell Lubell directed the film .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Donald H. Sanders (ed.): Nemrud Daği. The hierothesion of Antiochus I of Commagene. Results of the American excavations dir. by Theresa B. Goell . Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Ind. 1996, ISBN 1-57506-015-9 .
  2. ^ Anita Gates: Examining the Life of Tess Goell, a Pioneering Archaeologist. In: New York Times . March 25, 2006, accessed February 4, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Goell, Theresa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goell, Theresa Bathsheba (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American archaeologist and building researcher
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Manhattan
DATE OF DEATH 18th December 1985