Jacquetta Hawkes

Jacquetta Hawkes, née Hopkins, (August 5 1910 – March 18 1996) was a British archaeologist.

Related Topics:
August 5 - 1910 - March 18 - 1996 - British - Archaeologist

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From 1953, she was married to J.B. Priestley, her second husband. She is perhaps best known generally for her book A Land (1951). She was a prolific writer on subjects quite removed from her principal field. She was above all interested in discovering the lives of the peoples revealed by scientific excavations. Her work was criticised by subsequent archaeologists for its apparent lack of objectivity.

Related Topics:
1953 - J.B. Priestley - Objectivity

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In her general work on the Minoans (Dawn of the Gods, 1968), Hawkes was one of the first to suggest that the ancient Minoans might have been ruled by women. She rightly noted that very little if any evidence of a Minoan male ruler exists, whereas abundant evidence of such rulers existed among the Egyptians, Hittites, Sumerians and other Minoan contemporaries. Furthermore, images of strong and powerful women abound in Minoan art. Hawkes said, "The absence of these manifestations of the all-powerful male ruler that are so widespread at this time and in this stage of cultural development as to be almost universal, is one of the reasons for supposing that the occupants of Minoan thrones may have been queens" (Dawn of the Gods, page 76). Some might suggest that one reason Hawkes' work was "criticized ... for its apparent lack of objectivity" (see above) was because she dared speak the "unthinkable" among her mostly male colleagues -- that one of the world's most admirable societies was governed by women instead of men.

Related Topics:
Minoans - Egypt - Hittites - Sumer

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