Winifred Lamb: Aegean Prehistorian and Museum Curator

Cover image: British School at AthensMy biography of Winifred Lamb is due to be published in September 2018. The study covers her time as a student at the British School at Athens (as well as her preliminary visit to the Mycenae excavations before she was admitted), and her excavations at Mycenae, Sparta,...

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Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire

Debbie Challis has published her study of British archaeology in the Ottoman Empire. This covers three main areas:Asia Minor: Lycia and CariaNorth Africa: Carthage and CyreneIonian Greece: Ephesus and Smaller ExcavationsThis book discusses the period before the establishment of the Asia Minor Exploration...

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Asia Minor Exploration Fund: Funding

One of the constant refrains of the BSA Managing Committee in the early years concerned finance. Yet this is hardly surprising given the demands from other archaeological projects in the eastern Mediterranean. George Macmillan was Honorary Treasurer of the Asia Minor Exploration Fund (AMEF) and made constant appeals:1882: £520 raised1883: £300 spent on travels in Anatolia; further appeal for £500.1890:...

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BSA Students and Archaeological Work in the Mediterranean Before the First World War

In the period up to the outbreak of the First World War BSA students were involved in archaeological work ranging from Sicily to Syria, from Tripolitania and Egypt to Macedonia (and beyond). Their focus was well beyond mainland Greece, the Aegean islands, and Crete.Is there a major difference between official BSA archaeological projects and other work supported by students? For example, the excavations...

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Asia Minor Exploration Fund

The Asia Minor Exploration Fund was an initiative of the Hellenic Society. It was established during 1882, and by 1883 the Fund had raised £500.The committee consisted of:James Fergusson (1808-86), architectural historianDavid Binning Monro (1836-1905), Provost of Oriel College. [Later on the Managing Committee of the BSA]Henry Francis Pelham (1846-1907). [Later on the Managing Committee of the...

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Cyzicus and Robert De Rustafjaell

Robert De Rustafjaell --- changed from Robert Fawcus-Smith in October 1894 --- first visited the site of Cyzicus on the south coast of the sea of Marmara in 1900. He quickly obtained a firman for excavating and initiated work in the summer of 1901. However he needed additional archaeological expertise...

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BSA and Anatolia: Colophon

Cecil Harcourt-Smith, in his last year of office as Director, joined the steam yacht Rona belonging to Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, a major donor to the BSA, in the early part of 1897. Clearly one of the objects was to identify a possible major site for excavation after the work at Phylakopi on Melos.The cruise took Harcourt-Smith to Salonica and through the Aegean. He was particularly interested...

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Publishing the results of BSA projects

Articles on BSA projects were initially published in The Journal of Hellenic Studies and then in The Annual of the British School at Athens (from vol. 1 for the session 1894/95). Reports on major projects (Megalopolis, Phylakopi and Sparta) then appeared as Supplementary Papers for the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies:Gardner, E. A., W. Loring, G. C. Richards, W. J. Woodhouse, and R....

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Scotland and the BSA

Apart from Oxford and Cambridge, one of the main groups admitted to the BSA in the period up to 1914 consisted of students from Scotland. A key influence was (Sir) William Ramsay (1851-1939), a graduate of the university of Aberdeen, who continued his studies at St John’s College, Oxford. Ramsay had travelled widely in Asia Minor and was elected a research fellow at Exeter College in 1882. He was...

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Archaeology in Greece (1886-1921)

A report on archaeological work was initiated by Penrose in the first year of the School. This was continued initially by Jane Harrison, and then by Ernest Gardner as director. It was sometimes authored or co-authored by the assistant director or librarian (Richards, Bosanquet, Tod, Hasluck, Droop). When the Annual was started the report appeared in both the Journal of Hellenic Studies and the Annual...

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