“First in the Field”: Fashioning the Singular Identity of Harriet Boyd Hawes, Groundbreaking American Archaeologist

Abstract:American archaeologist Harriet Boyd Hawes was at the forefront of the discovery of the ancient Minoan civilization on Crete. Newspapers and periodicals on both sides of the Atlantic were fascinated with her excavation at Gournia, which they found particularly newsworthy because she was a woman. Boyd was not a passive recipient of the media’s portrayal, however, but actively developed her public persona. Press coverage from 1900 to 1910 reveals a preoccupation with framing Boyd through three dominant themes: her gender, the archaeologist as a romantic figure, and Boyd’s American nationality. This article demonstrates how Boyd fashioned her identity within and against popular media stereotypes, illuminating her adept subversion of the heroic (male) archaeologist model. Through her artful counternarratives, Boyd downplayed her role as an exceptional woman and emphasized fieldwork as a collective, scientific endeavor, underscoring the significance of Gournia as a Minoan town (not a palace).