Hetty Goldman

Born: 1881

Died: 1972

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

Bryn Mawr college BA English & Greek 1903; Columbia University MA Classical Languages & Archaeology 1910; Radcliffe College PhD Archaeology 1916

"“I cannot remember the exact process by which . . . I was transformed into a passionate excavator who was either turning up the soil of Greece, or planning to return to it; but complete conversion took place on top of a hill in Boeotia.” (ias.edu); “Nobody can study the prehistory of Greece without becoming aware almost immediately that the fecund breezes which blow out of the east were largely responsible for its early growth and development. So it is perhaps natural that a prehistorian sooner or later turns his eyes to Asia Minor for the solution to the problem of cultural origins in Greece and also for the study of the repercussions of prehistoric Greek culture upon the country from which it derived.” (ias.edu); “The excavation is my first love and fundamentally I fear I am a wandering spirit.” (ias.edu); “The field archaeologist must have the courage both to collect and to interpret wisely and boldly,” she advised Bryn Mawr students in 1955. “Better a theory if the data at all allow, which may eventually be proven inadequate or false, for it will stimulate the imagination and awaken speculation in others who may well reach more acceptable results.” (ias.edu/goldman-legacy); “His [a field archaeologist] chief function is to be the intelligence in which the results of the excavation are synthesized and in which what has been destroyed continues to exist. For the process of excavation is of course in part a process of destruction especially where a number of superimposed towns and cultures are to be studied. Although no excavation can be successful without a very careful scientific method of field work and of recording, this cannot make its success which, although there are many contributing factors, lies in the powers of interpretation, deduction, and synthesis of its head.” (ias.edu/goldman-legacy); “I first went to Greece in the golden age before the [Great] War, when visas were unknown, and travelers were not yet corrupted to an unholy joy in depreciated currencies. I had a Harvard fellowship which assured me two years of study at the American School in Athens, and in my heart a great desire for that experience which up ‘till then had been denied women: some share in the field work of the School” (nataliavogeikoff.com); "

— Hetty Goldman

Field of Study: Archaeology

Institution/Corporation: Institute for Advanced Studies; Goldman, Sachs; Bryn Mawr College; Radcliffe College; Archaelogical Institute of America

Degrees & Memberships: Member: American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1950); Phi Beta Kappa; German Archaeology Institute; American Numismatic Society; American Association of University Women;

Awards: 1966 Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement, Archaeological Institute of America; 1953 distinguished Achievement Medal, Radcliffe Alumnae Society

Achievements: most significant contributions to archaeology came from her skills as a strategist and analyst; the excavation of more than 280 graves near Halai allowed her to establish a clear chronology for the style of terracotta figures in the area; her brief excavation in Colophon revealed some of the earliest known Greek houses, a drainage system of terracotta pipes below the ancient streets, and a tomb with pottery of a late-Minoan design; her Tarsus excavation uncovered a miniature crystal statue of a fine and unusual Hittite design, as well as bilingual treaties and seals that demonstrated the history of the city’s rulers and written language; 1936 first woman to be appointed to the Institute for Advanced Study as a professor;