Hawes, Harriet Boyd (1871–1945)

American archaeologist. Name variations: Harriet Boyd. Born Harriet Ann Boyd in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 11, 1871; died in Washington D.C., on March 31, 1945; graduated from Prospect Hill School in Greenfield, Massachusetts, 1888, and Smith College, 1892; studied at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece, 1896; awarded M.A. from Smith, 1901; married Charles H. Hawes (a British anthropologist), in March 1906.

While instructing in Greek archaeology, epigraphy, and modern Greek at Smith College, Harriet Boyd Hawes used her many leaves of absence to investigate Greece and Crete. In 1896, still in her 20s, she had been awarded a scholarship to study at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece. Though she was encouraged, because of her gender, to use her knowledge as an academic librarian, Hawes begged to be allowed to assist in field work. When her request was denied, the spirited Hawes took what was left of her stipend and set off on her own expedition to the island of Crete. "Riding on muleback in Victorian attire," wrote a biographer for the Archaeological Institute of America, "accompanied by the faithful Aristides, a native of northern Greece with his mother as chaperon, she was apparently perfectly unconscious of doing anything unusual or courageous." While in Kavousi, Hawes discovered some Iron Age tombs (1900). At Gournia, she was the first to discover and excavate a Minoan town from the Early Bronze Age (1901, 1903, 1904), and the first woman to direct a major field project, bringing her worldwide attention. From 1920 to 1936, Hawes lectured on pre-Christian art at Wellesley College.