Tessa Verney Wheeler: Women and Archaeology Before World War Two

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OUP Oxford, Apr 26, 2012 - Social Science - 317 pages
In this book, Carr unravels the biography of the archaeologist Tessa Verney Wheeler, a charming, tiny woman whose untimely death left her archaeological career overshadowed by her distinguished husband, Sir Mortimer Wheeler. Despite a short career of just over twenty years, Verney Wheeler published and excavated extensively while simultaneously developing new archaeological techniques, brought archaeology into the lives of the general public through her connections with the Press and the encouragement of site tours, and was an inspiring teacher to an impressive roster of students. In this biography, her life is recovered through an examination of her written work, archives, sites, and photographs, as well as through the memories of those who knew her. By means of a discussion of the very personal life and work of one woman, Carr explores the role of women in early British archaeology, resulting in a fascinating picture of a woman and a vivid evocation of the interwar period in London and Wales. From her work retraining colliery navvies as archaeological diggers in Roman amphitheatres on the Welsh borders, to cheap omelettes with her students at the Lyons Corner House on Piccadilly in London, Verney Wheeler crossed social and physical borders with a grace and appeal that remains very palpable today.
 

Contents

1 Introduction
1
2 Girlhood 18931910
24
Tessa Verneys Models
43
4 Education and the War 19101918
69
5 Wales 19201927
88
6 London 19281936
124
7 Lydney Park Gloucestershire 19281929
156
8 Verulamium Hertfordshire 19301933
171
Mosaics and Reporters
190
10 Maiden Castle Dorset 19341937
208
11 The Legacies of the Dead
238
Appendix 1 Timeline of Main Events in Tessa Verney Wheelers Life
254
An Ongoing Bibliography
257
Bibliography
258
Index
271
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About the author (2012)

L. C. Carr took her D.Phil at Oxford in 2008, where her dissertation focused on Tessa Verney Wheeler's life and work. This is her first book.

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