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Expanding frontiers: Celebrating the Mothers of Romano-British studies
The early days of Romano-British research are often thought to have been dominated by male excavators, but many female archaeologists also made vital contributions to the discipline, in spite of social and academic barriers that stood in their way. Tatiana Ivleva and Rebecca Jones highlight some of these heroines of heritage.
In the first half of the 20th century, two young women walked the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall. Each travelled alone, recording her endeavours in notebooks and drawing what she saw. The first was Jessie Mothersole (1873-1958) who, in May 1921, made her epic journey from the east to the west while, in her own words, ‘resisting offers of a lift’. Then, 30 years later, Brenda Swinbank (later Heywood; 1929-2022) walked the Wall in the opposite direction in 1949/1950.
Mothers of Romano-British studies. First column (from the top): M V Taylor, Peggy Birley, and Grace Simpson. Second column: Jocelyn Toynbee, Brenda Swinbank, and Anne Robertson. Third column: Elizabeth Hodgson and Tessa
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