Excavating under Gunfire

I will be contributing "Excavating under Gunfire: Archaeologists in the Aegean during the First World War" to the day workshop "Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection in Wartime: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives" in Swansea. It develops Chapter 13 of Sifting the Soil of Greece, "Students at War".

One of the topics will be the work of British and French archaeologists to record the archaeological remains and to preserve the finds during the campaign in Macedonia. French archaeologists formed part of the Service Archéologique de l'Armée d'Orient. They had gained expertise working on the site of Elaious at Gallipoli, a site that attracted gunfire from the Turkish forces.

The British work in Macedonia was initially led by Lt-Commander Ernest Gardner RNVR, a former director of the BSA and also Yates Professor Archaeology in the University of London. Gardner was one of several former BSA students operating with Naval Intelligence in Salonica (EMSIB).

For further details about Sifting the Soil of Greece see here.

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Parental Background of BSA Students (1886-1914)

I was struck by the background of the fathers of students admitted to l'École française d'Athènes (EfA) in its first half century (1846-96). Here is a selection:

• teachers in secondary education: 22%
• doctors / pharmacists: 11%
• legal profession: 9%
• academics: 9%
• financial sector: 2%

Contrast this with the 133 students from the BSA for the period 1886-1914:

• clergy: 17%
• legal profession: 11%
• landed / farmers: 9%
• financial sector: 6%
• merchants: 6%
• craftsmen: 6%
  
• school teachers: 5%
• academics: 4%
• medical: 4%

Several of the school teachers were also ordained (usually in the Church of England). The fathers of three of the women were university academics, three were ordained ministers, and three were merchants. It has not been possible to identify the parental backgrounds for all the BSA students.

References
Valenti, C. 1996. "Les membres de l'École française d'Athènes: étude d'une élite universitaire (1846-1992)." Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 120: 157-72. [Cefael]

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Student numbers at the BSA (1886-1914)

Over 130 students were admitted to the BSA from its opening first year in 1886 until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Only 50 students were admitted to l'École française d'Athènes (EfA) for the same period. There was a single session, 1908/09, in which there were more students admitted to the EfA than the BSA.

References
Gill, D. W. J. 2008. Students at the British School at Athens (1886-1914). Swansea: Ostraka Press. [Details]
Valenti, C. 1996. "Les membres de l'École française d'Athènes: étude d'une élite universitaire (1846-1992)." Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 120: 157-72. [Cefael]

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