Past Perfect: In Pursuit of Minoan Crete

Long overshadowed by her colleague Sir Arthur Evans (1851–1941), the discoverer of ancient Minoan civilization, Harriet Boyd Hawes was the first woman to direct a major dig in the Aegean. Born in Boston in 1871, she was educated at Smith College, where she became fascinated with the ancient world after hearing a lecture by the British novelist and Egyptologist Amelia Edwards. Boyd continued her studies at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, but she became frustrated by the school’s refusal to let her do fieldwork. In 1897 she joined the Red Cross to work as a volunteer […]