Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (78 page)

British archaeologist and historian specializing in the ancient Near East. Born in Alderney in the Channel Islands, she was educated at school in Bristol and later at Bristol University where she read English. During WW2 she worked at the Ministry of Supply, after the war studying at the Institute of Archaeology in London. After excavating in Greece, she joined Kathleen Kenyon at Jericho and Jerusalem. She became Assistant Director of the British School in Jerusalem, and Director from (1969 to 1980). Her specialism became the archaeology of Jordan, and in 1980 she was appointed Director of the newly created Institute of Archaeology in Amman, retiring in 1984.
[Obit.:
The Times
, 20 August 1987]

 
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Bennett , Wendell Clark
(1905–53)
[Bi].

American archaeologist mainly working in Peru and Bolivia. He excavated a number of important sites including Tiahuanaco (Bolivia) in 1932, the Virú Valley survey (Peru) in 1946–7, and Huari (Peru) in 1950. He also made major studies of Peruvian ceramics.
[Obit.:
American Anthropologist
, 56 (1954), 269–73]

 
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Benton , Sylvia
(1887–1985)
[Bi].

British archaeologist who specialized in Greek archae-ology. Born in India, she was educated in England, read classics at Girton College, Oxford, and then trained as a teacher. After teaching for nearly twenty years, she turned to archaeology and studied for a B. Litt. at Oxford, which was awarded in 1928. Admitted as a student to the British School in Athens in 1927, she took part in various excavations, especially at Ithaca, both before and after WW2. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London in 1937 and published reports on her excavations in Greece and also work at Covesea, Scotland.
[Obit.:
Antiquaries Journal
, 66 (1986), 501]

 
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King of the West Saxons who was married to a daughter of Offa the Great and is believed to have been poisoned by his wife. Died ad 802.

 
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Anglo-Saxon epic poem of the early 8th century
ad
or earlier, set among the Geats of Sweden. It is one of the longest and most complete examples of Anglo-Saxon verse, shedding much light on the nature and organization of society at the time.

 
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Land linking Alaska with Siberia in what is now the Bering Straits and Chukchi Sea but available for occupation during periods of low sea level. The land bridge was extensively available in the period 75000 to 45000 years ago; as a narrow periodically flooded isthmus 40000 to 25000 years ago; and again as a substantial landmass between 25000 and 14000 years ago. The land link between Asia and the Americas was finally broken about 12000 bc, after which any contact between these regions must have been by boat. The Bering land bridge is regarded as the corridor which allowed the Americas to be colonized by people from eastern Asia, although the dating of such movements is a matter of continuing debate.

 
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