Olga Tufnell’s 'Perfect Journey'

Front matter

Letters and photographs of an archaeologist in the Levant and Mediterranean

Edited and introduced by

John D.M. Green and Ros Henry

Epilogue

Index of places

199 234

270 347 400

405 414

CONTENTS

Frontispiece Olga Tufnell, travelling to Palestine in November 1931 (detail). The original image includes her travelling companions, with the note ‘Noreen Norman, OT, Mary Luce, on the Aberdeen & Commonwealth Line, November 1931’. See letter of 14-16 November 1931. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

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Men of the Tufnell family at Langleys, undated. Courtesy of Sarah Micklem.

Olga Tufnell’s grandparents’ golden wedding anniversary at Langleys, 1911. Six-year-old Olga is in the car on far left. Courtesy of Sarah Micklem.

Little Waltham Lodge, Essex, 2011. Photograph by Ros Henry. Olga Tufnell’s passport photograph and signature,

1921. Courtesy of Cathy Warwick.

Olga Tufnell in evening dress, undated. Courtesy of

Cathy Warwick.

Olga Tufnell (second from left) with Flinders Petrie and Hilda Petrie (centre), G.L. Harding (far left), J.L. Starkey and D.L. Risdon (right), undated. Starkey family collection. Courtesy of Wendy Slaninka.

Olga Tufnell and workers at Tell Fara, February 1929. From a print made by Camerascopes Ltd, labelled ‘Tracing Defense of Shepherd Kings’. Original photograph

by Richard St Barbe Baker. © Estate of Richard St Barbe Baker, reproduced courtesy of Hugh Locke. Digitised from original print, courtesy of Rachael Sparks.

Olga Tufnell administering eye drops outside the dispensary at Tell ed-Duweir. Photo by Ralph Richmond Brown. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum.

© UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

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Olga Tufnell during her visit to Tell ed-Duweir in 1983, seated in the guardroom of the Level II gate where the ‘Lachish Letters’ were found. Photo by Avraham Hay. Courtesy of David Ussishkin.

View of the Coptic monastery Deir al-Mualagq, overlooking the village of El-Maabda on the Nile’s east bank, Middle Egypt. Photograph by J.L. Starkey, with caption: ‘Maarbdah - the Deir in the cliffs from the site for the House, November 1924’. Starkey family collection. Courtesy of Wendy Slaninka.

Uahka’s tomb at Qau. Photograph published by Olga Tufnell in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly (1982). Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Photograph of one of the expedition residences at Qau (cleared-out tomb). Starkey in hat to left, adjacent to his

‘office’. Note the small ‘windbreak’ wall on right of picture.

1922-3 season. From archives of Henri Frankfort. Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Ink sketch by Olga Tufnell of tombs cut into the cliff above Hamamieh cemetery. From letter of 5 December 1927. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

‘Leaving camp’. Sketch by Olga Tufnell from letter of

13 December 1927. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Entrance to the small temple at Medinet Habu. See letter of 18 December 1927. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Tell Fara with dig-house in foreground. Photograph by H.D. Colt published in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly (James 1979, Pl. VII, top left). Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Members of the Tell Fara expedition in front of the dig-house at the foot of the Tell, probably 1927-8 season. Left to right: Mohammed Osman el-Kreti (cook), Mr and Mrs Starkey, Mrs Risdon, D.L. Risdon, G.L. Harding, Sadeek in front. See letter of 26 December 1927. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

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Four Qufti workmen at Tell Fara in front of the dig-house at the foot of the mound. Left to right: Umbarak, Sultan Bakhyt, Hophni (Hofni in Olga’s letters), Ahmad Aly.

See letter of 18 December 1927. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Photo by H.D. Colt. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Olga and the early Iron Age tomb she excavated at Tell Fara. Probably Tomb 201, 200 cemetery. See letter of

30 November 1928. Starkey family collection. Courtesy of Wendy Slaninka.

W.M.F. Petrie with finds from Tell el-‘Ajjul and Tell Fara exhibited in London, probably summer 1931. © UCL Institute of Archaeology.

Ink sketch by Olga Tufnell of Fara dig-house (above) and Tell (below), from letter of 26 December 1927. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Ink sketch by Olga Tufnell of ‘amazing Arabian ladies’, from letter of 26-9 April 1928. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Sketch by Olga Tufnell of an Italian nun in a straw hat, from letter of 18 November 1928. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Bedouin women and child. Photograph taken during Tell Fara expedition seasons, 1927-9. See letter of 13 December 1928. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Ink sketch by Olga Tufnell: ‘This is a picture of L. [Lankester Harding] at his 1st conference, I expect

there will be many more to come and in the end he

will look like the gentleman on the left.’ From letter

of 8 February 1929. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Pencil sketch by Olga Tufnell: ‘Bedawy lady’ wearing coat (kibber), dress, headdress (wazariat), veil (gonah) and belt. From letter of 19 March 1929. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Ink sketch by Olga Tufnell. Greek professor encountered in Athens, from letter of 23 December 1929. Courtesy

of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

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Ink sketch by Olga Tufnell. Wooden caliper for pottery illustration. From letter of 23 December 1929. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Unidentified street, Cyprus. Written on back: ‘Baskets and brooms for sale. In the foreground an itinerant pastry-cook.’ Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Olga on horseback, Cyprus. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Kolossi Castle, Limassol (medieval/Crusader period). Written on back: ‘Kolossi, near Limassol, where Richard Coeur de Lion spent his honeymoon.’ Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Girl with loom, Lefkoniko, Cyprus. Written on back: ‘Lefkoniko. My hostess at her loom. She sits on the floor and has a hole dug for her feet and the loom weights.’ See letter of 1 April 1930. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Potter at Kornos making a vessel by hand. Kiln in background. See letter of 15 April 1930. Prior publication: du Plat Taylor and Tufnell 1930, fig. 4. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

‘Tell Ajjul SE Corner’, undated. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Canal cut to help relieve Wadi Ghazzeh from malaria. Hilda Petrie/Ajjul archive, Album 2-12. © UCL Institute of Archaeology.

Excavated tomb containing equid and human burials (ascribed to ‘Hyksos’), Tell el ‘Ajjul, 1931. See letter of 13 March, probably 1932. © UCL Institute of Archaeology. John Starkey (son of J.L. and M.R. Starkey) with nannies ‘Arlia’ and Jermum’ at Tell el-‘Ajjul, November 1930.

See letter of 27 October 1930. Starkey family collection. Courtesy of Wendy Slaninka.

Bronze Age street at Tell el-‘Ajjul. See article draft with letter of 30 November, probably 1930. Hilda Petrie/Ajjul archive, Ajjul Album 2-1. © UCL Institute of Archaeology.

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Petrie at Tell el-‘Ajjul, 1933. Petrie Museum Archives, PMAN 1746. Courtesy of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL.

‘Harvesting at Tell Ajjul, March-April, Abd el Marti on right’. See letter of 7 April 1932. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

East side of Tell ed-Duweir with the expedition camp on left side (opposite southwest corner of the mound).

The Wadi Ghafr passes in front of the mound. Wellcome- Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum. Olga standing in the Wadi Ghafr, 4 February 1935. Camp buildings and the imposing Tell ed-Duweir in background. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the

Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum. Young woman in traditional dress. Photograph labelled ‘Dubkah’. Olga Tufnell archive. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Expedition camp. Photo taken from the southwest corner of Tell ed-Duweir, 1938. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum.

© UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome

Trust and the British Museum.

Annotated image of Figure 6.4a, based in part on personal recollections of John Starkey (pers. comm., 30 September

2010), who lived on site as a child.

Hubdeh and Ayesha in the camp laundry, Tell ed-Duweir. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

Group photograph of workers at Tell ed-Duweir, undated.

Photo album labelled with the following names: standing, left to right, ‘Hamid M./Ibrihim M./Abd el-Karim Salameh/

Salman Aly/Tewfiq Saleh/Mustafa M.’; front row, left to right: ‘Mahamed el-Bata/Ahmed Mdalay [?]’. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

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6.7 Olga’s room at Tell ed-Duweir. The photograph on the fireplace on the right is of Olga’s mother. The one on the left could be her brother Louis or cousin Lionel, but has not been identified. By the bedside are books including Ophthalmic Science and Practice, the Holy Bible and Hutchinson’s Holiday Omnibus. See letter of 26 December 1932. Wellcome- Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

6.8 G.L. Harding and Olga Tufnell in pottery shed at Tell ed-Duweir. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

6.9 Partially exposed section of the western double wall of Str. IV-III. Published in Tufnell 1953, pl. 12.1; Starkey 1933: pl. VII: ‘Looking north along western revetment ... four uppermost courses exposed, showing panelling. Upper city wall against skyline (top right).’ See letter of 15 January 1933. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

6.10 ‘Ramadan Festival’. Procession of men and boys in the village of Qubeibeh. Undated. Olga Tufnell archive. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

6.11 ‘Aid 1933’ (28 January—3 February 1933), presumably at Tell ed-Duweir. See letter of 25 January 1933. Olga Tufnell archive. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

6.12 Boy on a horse. Starkey family collection. Perhaps the boy mentioned in letter of 31 March 1928, or Salman Ali mentioned in letter of 25 January 1933. Starkey family collection. Courtesy of Wendy Slaninka.

7.1 Print of McWilliams’s drawing of the ‘Diabolical Strength’. See letter of 12 April 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

7.2 Courtyard of the Azem Palace, Damascus, Syria. See letter of 10 May 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

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Ruins of the Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek (Heliopolis), Lebanon. See letter of 11 May 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Beehive houses, probably at Al-Rastan, Syria. See letter

of 12 May 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Carpenters repairing waterwheel at Hama, Syria. See letter of 13 May 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

On the Roman Road near Antioch. Written on back: ‘Summit of Baylan Pass over Anti Taurus, about 680 m over sea level. Looking S. Preserved stretch of Roman road with new road on left. Good surface, well graded all the way to Alexandretta.’ See letter of 16 May 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy

of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Entry to Kayseri (Kaiseriah), Turkey, looking southwest. Mountains of Arjius Dag beyond. Referred to as ‘Ardjian Dagh’ in letter of 19 May 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

The Diabolical pulled from the mud by oxen. See letter

of either 25 May 1933 or 2 June 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Stuck in the mud between Sivrihisar and Eskisehir, Turkey. Left to right: Teresa Colt, Ralph Richmond Brown, Olga Tufnell. See letter of 25 May 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Loading the Diabolical onto a ferry, probably Istanbul. Letter of 27 May 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Women and children in wagon, Bulgaria. Written on back: ‘Cart of holiday makers at yearly feast of Tataro, June 3

in Bulgaria near Stare Zagore’. See letter of 3 June 1933. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Dancing men at festival, Bulgaria. Written on back: ‘Dancing the dubka near Stare Zagore, Bulgaria’.

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See letter of 3 June 1933. Olga Tufnell archive,

Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Picnic scene, probably in Eastern or Central Europe.

In foreground, Ba and Olga. In background, Terry and Mac. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Tufnell with Starkey and the ‘Lachish ewer’. Starkey family collection. Courtesy of Wendy Slaninka.

Inge with workmen in Cemetery 500, in area of camp buildings. See letter of 29 November, probably 1934. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

Findspot of the Lachish Letters. Court or guardroom (F.18C) in eastern tower adjoining outer gate. Late Judaean period. Discovered after removal of later Persian ruin. Hasan ‘Awad clearing burnt deposit in which the Lachish Letters were found. City wall against skyline. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

Lachish Letter III (reverse side), featuring pre-exilic Hebrew script connected with Jeremiah 26. See letter

of 29 March 1935. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

Charles Marston and J.L. Starkey at Tell ed-Duweir, from a visit between 1933 and 1935. Reproduced from von Harten & Marston 1979, 138.

Dr Benjamin Maisler (Mazar) (left) and Dr H.L. Ginsberg (right) studying the Lachish Letters at the camp-house, February 1935. Mr S. Yeivin, who accompanied them, is not shown in the photograph. See letter of 14 February 1935. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

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Crossing the Nile by ferry. Either January 1935 or February 1936. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome

Trust and the British Museum.

Olga Tufnell outside dispensary or clinic with unnamed helpers. See letter of 5 April 1934. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum. J.L. Starkey dressed as a bishop (or other clergyman) with his wife Marjorie dressed as Salome (or other legendary temptress), Tell Fara, 1928 or 1929. Fancy dress parties were popular with Starkey and others at Tell Fara and Tell ed-Duweir. See letter of 28 December 1934. Starkey family collection. Courtesy of Wendy Slaninka. Dining room, with pictures on the wall of sponsors

Sir Charles Marston (left) and Sir Robert Mond (right). It is not clear if the person in the photograph is Tewfiq Saleh, referred to in letter of 6 January 1935. Photograph taken in 1934. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome

Trust and the British Museum.

The spoil chute at Tell ed-Duweir, northwest corner

of mound. See letter of 29 March 1935. Wellcome- Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the

Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and

the British Museum.

Party in the courtyard, Tell ed-Duweir. See letters of

19 April 1935 and 21 February 1936. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum. © UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum. Ink illustration of Caesarea, from letter of 28 December 1935. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

G.L. Harding as camp barber with J.L. Starkey, probably at Tell Fara. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

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J.L. Starkey’s funeral, 11 January 1938. Protestant cemetery, Mount Zion, Jerusalem. Olga Tufnell, Gerald L. Harding and John H. Iliffe stand in the centre next to the tree. Behind them to the right of the picture is Pére Vincent. See letter of 12 January 1938. Starkey family collection. Courtesy of Wendy Slaninka.

Synagogue at Capernaum. No date given. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Ink sketch by Olga Tufnell of wall and rampart at Byblos, from letter of 23 December 1936. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

The Great Shaft at Tell ed-Duweir, with unidentified worker. Wellcome-Marston Expedition Archive, Department of the Middle East, British Museum.

© UCL Institute of Archaeology, courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the British Museum.

Ink sketch by Olga Tufnell of the Great Shaft being excavated. Letter of 21 January 1937. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Ruins of Jerash (Gerasa), Transjordan, looking south. See letter of 25 February 1937. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Rooftops in Dubrovnik. See letter of 16 November 1937. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Olga with Charles Inge during a visit to Megiddo. Undated, possibly 10 March 1938. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Workers leaving Tell ed-Duweir, 1938. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

xvi OLGA TUFNELL’S ‘PERFECT JOURNEY’

List of maps

Map1 Map of Europe and the Mediterranean, including Egypt, with harbours, major destinations and route of the ‘Diabolical Strength’. Prepared by Leslie Schramer after H.H. McWilliams, The Diabolical (1934).

Map 2 Map of Egypt with principal sites mentioned in the letters. Prepared by Leslie Schramer.

Map3 Map of Palestine and Transjordan with principal sites mentioned in the letters. Prepared by Leslie Schramer.

Map4 Map of Cyprus with principal sites mentioned in the letters. Prepared by Leslie Schramer.

Map 5 Photograph of hand-drawn map by Olga Tufnell, showing roads and principal sites in southern Palestine. Olga Tufnell archive, Palestine Exploration Fund. Courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

LIST OF MAPS

XXXV

Preface

When Olga Tufnell wrote the words ‘a perfect journey’ in a letter to her mother she was describing her first excursion to the Middle East. These three words would also be a good description of her life.

Olga Tufnell came from a privileged background and had little formal education. There was little indication during her youth to suggest the direction that life might lead her in. One of her greatest attributes, however, was a love of adventure for its own sake. This, combined with the happy chance of coming under the influence of Flinders Petrie, the great Egyptologist of the day, would lead this young woman to participate in excavations in Palestine and eventually make a major contribution to the archaeology of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. Her published reports on ancient Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir),' where she spent some of the most crucial years of her life, are lasting testaments to her scholarship and dedication, as well as to the memory of the expedition’s director, James Leslie Starkey.

These letters home show the foundation of that process and the beginning of her lifelong commitment to archaeology. The period from 1927 to 1938 saw the start of many friendships and professional relationships with well-known archaeologists and prominent persons. The letters give a contemporary view of life and times in an excavation camp and its setting from the archaeological, social and political perspective of the day, illuminated by Olga’s own youthful enthusiasm and keen sense of humour. They illustrate the preoccupation of the time with biblical archaeology in Palestine, especially the sponsor Sir Charles Marston’s hopes for Tell ed-Duweir; and Olga’s references to biblical sources, including asking her mother to send out her Bible to enable her to check them.

Although surveys and excavations in Palestine had been carried out from the second half of the nineteenth century, archaeology was in a state of relative infancy compared to Egypt. Following the First World War, with Palestine under a British Mandate, interest in the geography,

PREFACE xix

XX culture and heritage of the region greatly expanded. It seemed that many great discoveries were yet to be made. There were fewer restrictions than in Egypt, and local labour was relatively inexpensive. This fashionable cause attracted finance from institutions and private individuals, facilitating large-scale excavations, within which Olga Tufnell was to play a small but significant part.

To some extent, Olga’s letters reflect a typically British attitude towards Palestine in the Mandate period, one that today might be viewed as colonialist or orientalist, affected by the biases and prejudices of the society she was born into. At the same time, they reflect a paternalistic (or perhaps maternalistic) approach in that she took her own practical steps towards assisting and improving the situation for ‘native’ people, especially through the camp hospital, which provided basic medical care to many local Bedouin and anyone else who needed it. Her rapport and good relations with almost all the people she came into contact with illustrate her generosity of spirit and openness. The letters give a sense of life in a period of unrest, although often such references are muted, perhaps as she did not wish to cause alarm to family back home. They give an impression of the manner of travel in more spacious days: trains across Europe, steamships across the Mediterranean and expeditions in the open touring cars of the day (with their unreliable engines). Olga was an avid traveller, noticing all about her and making friends wherever she went. Above all the letters reflect Olga’s personality, awareness of her surroundings and ability to understand and communicate, helping to explain the transition she made from untrained amateur to acknowledged scholar.

Ros Henry was first made aware of these letters by Heather Bell, late librarian of the Institute of Archaeology in London, to whom Olga had left a vast amount of material and which Heather in turn had handed over to the Palestine Exploration Fund.’ Olga herself had begun to transcribe some of these handwritten and fragile letters to preserve them as a record, perhaps with the intention to create a memoir. Years later it was suggested to Ros that she continue transcribing and editing them as they might be suitable for publication under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Ros was pleased to do this, as she remembers Olga with great affection — having met her in 1955 by walking into the old Institute of Archaeology in Regent’s Park, armed with a degree in history and a short typing course. Ros asked Kathleen Kenyon (who had dug with her aunt at Wroxeter) if anyone needed an assistant, and was introduced to Olga. Luckily, Olga was in need and immediately set Ros to work proofreading

Lachish IV, dividing up Fosse Temple material for museum collections around the world (they had had to wait a long time) and sorting sherds from bags unopened since the 1930s with the soil still on them.

Ros was later encouraged to work on Olga’s letters by many people, including Roger Moorey, for whom Vronwy Hankey and Ros had written an obituary of Olga for the journal Levant. Practical difficulties prevented work on the letters until Jonathan Tubb, then Assistant Keeper at the British Museum and Chairman of the Palestine Exploration Fund, very kindly made copies available so that she was able to work on them at home. It was in 2007 that Jack Green, then at the British Museum, offered to assist in further editing the letters and chapter introductions, selecting photographs and providing archaeological input where necessary, and helping to bring this volume to fruition. Jack and Ros both thank the many people and institutions who have helped to make this happen as listed in the acknowledgements.

PREFACE xxi

Acknowledgements

The authors thank many people for their help and encouragement, specialist advice and access to libraries, archives and images. We apologise for any omissions. They include: Rupert Chapman, Felicity Cobbing, John MacDermot, Casey Strine and the staff of the Palestine Exploration Fund; Peggy Drower (Mrs Hackforth Jones), Michael Macdonald, Ginny Mathias and the late Rachel Maxwell-Hyslop; Sarah Micklem (greatgranddaughter of William Nevill Tufnell), Cathy Warwick (great-niece of Olga), Wendy Slaninka (granddaughter of J.L. Starkey) and John Starkey (son of J.L. Starkey); Stephanie Boonstra, Josef Mario Briffa, Ian Carroll, Yosef Garfinkel, Anna Garnett, Lois Hall, Maarten Horn, David Jacobson, Billie Melman, Peter Parr, George Parris, Michael Peleg, Barbara A. Porter, Joan Porter Mclver, Kay Prag, Isobel Thompson, Jonathan Tubb, Rachael Sparks, Amara Thornton, Myriam Upton and Catriona Wilson. Thanks also to the staff of the Wellcome Collection, including Helen Wakely and Andreann Asibey. We also thank Yannis Galanakis, Thomas Kiely, Anthi Papagiannaki, Emily Teeter, Anja Ulbrich and Donald Whitcomb for confirmation of details on site names and maps, and David Ussishkin, Yosef Garfinkel and Abigail Zammit for information and sources related to Lachish. Thanks to Matthew Adams and Sarah Fairman for access to the library of the W.F. Albright Institute, Jerusalem, and to Carol Palmer and Firas Bqa‘in for access to the library of the British Institute in Amman of the Council for British Research in the Levant. Thanks also to the staff of the American Center of Research, Amman and its Library.

Thanks to Matthew Amyx for proofreading and making edits to the transcribed letters. Thanks to Leslie Schramer of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, who created the maps. J.D.M. Green is grateful for research funds from the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, which supported a research visit to the Palestine Exploration Fund archives in 2015. For introducing us to UCL Press, we thank Carly L. Crouch, former Chair of the Palestine Exploration Fund Publications Committee, for proposing this volume to Lara Speicher, Head of Publishing

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xxiii xxiv at UCL Press. We thank Lara and colleagues at UCL Press for their patience and support, especially Robert Davies for his excellent editing and proofreading, and Jaimee Biggins and Alison Fox. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful insights, suggestions and corrections, which have been integrated into the volume. Lastly, we are grateful to Olga Tufnell for writing these letters in the first place. We are glad to make them available to a wider readership.

A note on the letters, photographs and illustrations

The letters and many of the photographs presented in this volume come from the Olga Tufnell archive at the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF), London.’ This selection of letters was written mostly to her mother (often on a weekly basis) and occasionally to her father and others. Notes on some letters indicate that they were intended for reading aloud to friends or relatives, occasionally with Hilda Petrie while she was in England. Parts marked ‘private’ or ‘not for publication’ were clearly not intended to be shared. Whereas the letters to her mother are filled with references to people, places and events, the few letters to her father often allude to nature, wildlife and the potential for hunting or shooting. She also wrote newspaper articles for publication in the New York Herald and the Daily Telegraph on the subject of the excavations, drafts of which were sent home and are incorporated here.

The documents presented in this volume continue to be of value for researchers in a range of fields, and it is hoped that this resource can continue to be mined for future studies in archaeology and cultural heritage, social history, gender studies, tourism and heritage studies, traveller biographies and Middle Eastern studies. Those interested in the history of archaeology, historical geography, the history of the British Mandate in Palestine or studies related to the British Empire may also find this volume of interest. A key strength of the letters is that they provide personal viewpoints and responses to people and places, as well as a background to ‘dig life’ and perceptions of archaeology.

Wherever possible, we have attempted to identify the people and places mentioned in the text and in photographs, and to provide contextual information wherever relevant to guide the reader if they wish to further their research. The photographs are useful as a dated record of sites, landscapes, people and ways of life. Although many have been published before, a significant number are presented here for the

A NOTE ON THE LETTERS, PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

XXV xxvi first time. Some images provide unique viewpoints and information about the preservation and/or restoration of sites.

Some opening and closing remarks and passages have been omitted (shown by an ellipsis), and corrections to obvious spelling errors and minor changes to punctuation have been made to improve the overall readability and consistency of the text. The specific year of some of the letters was not given but it has been possible to put them into good chronological order, and dates in letter headings are standardised for ease of reference. Insertions in square brackets fill in additional information relating to names abbreviated to initials, or modern spellings of place names. Notes elaborate on specific terms, foreign words or explanations. Olga’s own spellings, which can be inconsistent or abbreviated, are followed here for the sake of accuracy. There are frequent variations and inconsistencies in her spellings of Tel or Tell (artificial mound), or Wady/ Wadi (river valley), as well as specific place names.