Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod became the first woman to hold a professorial chair at the University of Cambridge when she was appointed Disney Professor of Archaeology in 1939. Her pioneering excavations in the Middle East and southern Europe reshaped understanding of early human life, establishing her as one of the most influential archaeologists of the twentieth century.
Early Life and Cambridge Education
Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod was born on 5 May 1892. She entered Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1913 to study ancient and classical history. In 1926, she published her first academic work, The Upper Paleolithic of Britain, which earned her a B.Sc. degree from the University of Oxford.
Excavations in Gibraltar and Mount Carmel
Between 1925 and 1927, Garrod investigated Devil's Tower Cave in Gibraltar, where she discovered a second Neanderthal skull, known as Gibraltar 2, in 1925. From 1929 to 1934, she directed excavations at Wadi el-Mughara at Mount Carmel in Mandatory Palestine, a collaboration between the American School of Prehistoric Research and the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. Her team excavated Tabun, El-Wad, Es-Skhul, Shuqba, and Kebara Cave, revealing a long sequence of Lower, Middle, and Epipalaeolithic occupations. She coined the term for the late Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture. Her excavation team consisted largely of local Arab women; one worker, Yusra, is credited with discovering the Tabun 1 Neanderthal skull. In 1937, Garrod published The Stone Age of Mount Carmel.
The Cambridge Chair and Wartime Service
In 1939, Garrod was appointed Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, becoming the first woman to hold a chair at either Oxford or Cambridge. She held the post until 1952. From 1941 to 1945, she took leave to serve in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a section officer in a photographic interpretation unit.
Later Work and Honours
Upon her retirement in 1952, Garrod moved to France but continued her research. She conducted excavations at Aadloun in Lebanon in 1958 and 1963, and at Ras El Kelb in 1959. She received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Pennsylvania and Boston College in 1937, and a D.Sc. from Oxford the same year. She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1952, awarded the CBE in 1965, and presented with the Society of Antiquaries of London's gold medal in 1968. She also established the Dorothy Garrod Travel Fund to support archaeologists' travel.
Cambridge Legacy
Garrod's connection to Cambridge endures. In 2017, Newnham College announced that a new building would bear her name. In 2019, the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge unveiled a new portrait of Garrod by Sara Levelle. An exhibition titled 'A Pioneer of Prehistory, Dorothy Garrod and the Caves of Mount Carmel' was held at the Pitt Rivers Museum from September 2011 to January 2012.