Map of harriet boyd hawess expeditions tuscaloosa river

Harriet Ann Boyd Hawes October 11, — March 31, was a pioneering American archaeologist , nurse, relief worker, and professor. She is best known as the discoverer and first director of Gournia , one of the first archaeological excavations to uncover a Minoan settlement and palace on the Aegean island of Crete. She was also the second person to have the honor of the Agnes Hoppin Memorial Fellowship bestowed upon her, and the very first female archeologist to speak at the Archaeological Institute of America.

Harriet Ann Boyd was born in Boston , Massachusetts.

Map of harriet boyd hawess expeditions tuscaloosa river: team Charles Hawes and Harriet Boyd

Her mother died when she was a child, and so Harriet was raised by her father alongside her four older brothers. After working as a teacher for four years at academic institution in the states of North Carolina and Delaware, she followed her passion for Greece and its ancient culture , pursuing further studies in Classics at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece.

She had originally intended on pursuing studies in England but she decided to go Greece based both on the brother of the archaeologist, Louis Dyer , and having heard Amelia Edwards speak while a student at Smith. During her stay in Greece she also served as a volunteer nurse in Thessaly during the Greco-Turkish War. She asked her professors to be allowed to participate in the school's archaeological fieldwork, but instead was encouraged to become an academic librarian.

Hawes was the second person to be awarded the Agnes Hoppin Memorial Fellowship , in Frustrated by lack of support for her desire to be an active archaeological excavator, she took the remainder of her fellowship and went on her own in search of archaeological remains on the island of Crete , in particular around Gournia on the northeastern coast of the island.