The Classics and Archaeology Collection at the University of Melbourne includes an important collection of Bronze and Iron Age pottery from the excavations of Dame Kathleen Kenyon (1906–1978) at Jericho and Jerusalem. Kenyon was arguably the most influential woman archaeologist of the twentieth century, who made particularly significant contributions in the field of excavation techniques and ceramic methodology.
Best known for her excavations at Jericho and Jerusalem, Kenyon helped to train a generation of archaeologists at these sites. One of her 'trainees' – Australian scholar Basil Hennessey – went on to become a professor of Near Eastern archaeology at the University of Sydney. In the 1950s, the University of Melbourne received a small Middle Bronze Age pottery corpus from Tomb A136 at Jericho and a portion of a large Iron Age (II) deposit from Cave 1 in Jerusalem excavated by Kenyon from 1952 to 1954 and 1961 to 1967 respectively. This exhibition presented over 100 remarkable early ceramics from the famous excavations and teold the story of Kathleen Kenyon's contribution to archaeology.
Curated by Andrew Jamieson.