Vera Evison
British archaeologist (1918–2018)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vera Ivy Evison FSA (23 January 1918 – 18 March 2018) was a British archaeologist and academic, who specialed in Post-Roman Britain and early-Medieval England. She was Professor of Archaeology at Birkbeck College, University of London.[2][3][4]
Vera Evison | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 January 1918 Lewisham, London, UK |
| Died | 18 March 2018 (aged 100) |
| Occupation | Archaeologist |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Archaeology |
Notable students | Sonia Chadwick Hawkes[1] |
Career
Evison attended Lewisham Prendergast school until 1937, following this with a series of evening classes, in subject including archaeology, before studying BA English language and literature. Her studies were supported by working as a secretary for Kathleen Kenyon at the London University Institute of Archaeology. In 1947 she went to study archaeology in Stockholm under Nils Åberg. She also worked as a volunteer assistant at the British Museum, helping to unpack Anglo-Saxon objects (including grave goods from Sutton Hoo), once they were returned to the galleries after the Second World War.[2]
She joined Birkbeck as a part-time lecturer in 1947, rising to professor in 1979 and retiring in 1983.[2]
Evison also worked for the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate (for the Ministry of Works) excavating sites prior to their destruction. Through this she brought six Anglo-Saxon cemeteries to publication: Buckland (Dover); Great Chesterford (Essex); Holborough Hill (Kent); two at Beckford (Herefordshire); and Alton (Hampshire).[4]
She was elected as Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in May 1955.[4]
Select publications
- 1957. "A group of late Saxon brooches", The Antiquaries Journal 37 (3–4). 220–222.
- 1963. "Sugar-loaf shield bosses", The Antiquaries Journal 43(1). 38–69.
- 1966. "A Bronze Mount from the Roman Villa at Lullingstone, Kent", The Antiquaries Journal 46(1). 85–87.
- 1979. A corpus of wheel-thrown pottery in Anglo-Saxon graves
- 1996. (with Hill, P.). Two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Beckford, Hereford and Worcester CBA Research Reports 103. ISBN 978-1-872414-69-0.
- 2008. Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Glass in the British Museum. ISBN 978-0-86159-167-1.
