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ELIZABETH (LISA) BAYARD FRENCH (1931–2021)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2022

Susan Sherratt
Susan Sherratt*
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

Lisa French (1931–2021) was the first woman to be appointed as Director of the British School at Athens, from 1989–1994. Most of her adult life and career were devoted to the site of Mycenae, where she excavated with her father, Professor Alan Wace, in the 1950s and after his death in 1957 with Lord William Taylour. Thereafter, she continued studying and publishing the results of the excavations and studying and publishing on Mycenae and Mycenaean material culture more generally for the rest of her life. In 2013 she donated the Mycenae archive, containing records of all the British excavations at Mycenae, to the Faculty of Classics at Cambridge. She married David French in 1959, by whom she had two daughters. Her marriage led to her combining her work at Mycenae with playing an important part in French's excavations and, after he became Director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, in effect taking responsibility for running the Institute from 1968 until 1976. The organisational experience this gave her proved invaluable when, after their divorce, she took up the wardenship of Ashburne Hall at Manchester University and later still when she became Director of the British School at Athens. Lisa was best known for her work on the Mycenaean terracotta figurines, which were originally the subject of her PhD thesis at University College London, and on the stratigraphically based chronology and typology of Mycenaean ceramic production, particularly that of Late Helladic III. Over the years, she successfully initiated successive generations of students of Mycenaean archaeology into the mysteries of its pottery.

Elizabeth (Lisa) Bayard French (1931–2021)

Η Lisa French (1931–2021) ήταν η πρώτη γυναίκα Διευθύντρια της Βρετανικής Σχολής της Αθήνας, την περίοδο 1989 με 1994. Η σταδιοδρομία της και τα ερευνητικά της ενδιαφέροντα αφορούσαν τις Μυκήνες, τις οποίες ανέσκαψε αρχικά με τον πατέρα της Alan Wace την δεκαετία του 1950, και μετά τον θάνατο του το 1957, με τον Λόρδο William Taylour. Από τότε, συνέχισε να μελετά και να δημοσιεύει τα αποτελέσματα των ανασκαφών των Μυκηνών και τα Μυκηναϊκά ευρήματα για το υπόλοιπο της ζωής της. Το 2013 δώρισε στο τμήμα Κλασικών σπουδών του Καίμπριτζ το αρχείο της που περιείχε τα στοιχεία των ανασκαφών των Μυκηνών. Παντρεύτηκε τον David French το 1959 και απέκτησε δύο κόρες. Ο γάμος της συνετέλεσε στο να συνδυάσει την έρευνά της για τις Μυκήνες με ενεργή συμμετοχή στις ανασκαφές του French, όταν αυτός έγινε Διευθυντής του Βρετανικού Ινστιτούτου Αρχαιολογίας στην Άγκυρα την περίοδο μεταξύ 1968 και 1976, συμβάλλοντας, με αυτόν τον τρόπο, στην ομαλή λειτουργία του ινστιτούτου εκείνη την περίοδο. Η οργανωτική εμπειρία που απέκτησε ήταν πολύτιμη όταν, μετά το διαζύγιό τους, ανέλαβε την κοσμητεία του Ashburne Hall του πανεπιστήμιου του Μάντσεστερ, και, αργότερα, όταν έγινε διευθύντρια της Βρετανικής Σχολής. Η Λίσα ήταν γνωστή για την έρευνά της πάνω στα μυκηναϊκά κεραμεικά ειδώλια, τα οποία αποτελούσαν το θέμα της διδακτορικής της διατριβής στο University College του Λονδίνου, καθώς επίσης για την χρονολόγηση (βασισμένη στην στρατιγραφία) και τυπολογία της μυκηναϊκής κεραμεικής παραγωγής, ειδικά κατά την περίοδο LH III. Συνεισέφερε σε μεγάλο βαθμό στο να εισαγάγει γενεές φοιτητών και μελετητών στην μυκηναϊκή αρχαιολογία και την κεραμεική.

Μετάφραση: Χρ. Κωνσταντακοπούλου

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Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 117 , December 2022 , pp. 457 - 463
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Council, British School at Athens

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References

REFERENCES

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