Elizabeth K. Ralph (1921–1993) was a pioneer in the development and application of radiocarbon dating techniques to archeology, as well as a long-time member of the U.S. women's field hockey team. In the Radiocarbon Laboratory at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, and later in the Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology (MASCA) in the
Penn Museum
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology—commonly known as the Penn Museum—is an archaeology and anthropology museum at the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penn's campus in the University City neighb ...
, Ralph developed methods for
dendrochronology
Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...
, or tree-ring dating, and
thermoluminescence
Thermoluminescence is a form of luminescence that is exhibited by certain crystalline materials, such as some minerals, when previously absorbed energy from electromagnetic radiation or other ionizing radiation is re-emitted as light upon he ...
for dating ceramics. She also improved instruments for the measurement of magnetic intensity, including
cesium
Caesium (IUPAC spelling) (or cesium in American English) is a chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-golden alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only five elemental metals that ar ...
magnetometers, which located landscape anomalies that could signal the presence of archaeological sites. In the 1960s, she used these instruments to help locate the Archaic Greek site of
Sybaris
Sybaris ( grc, Σύβαρις; it, Sibari) was an important city of Magna Graecia. It was situated in modern Calabria, in southern Italy, between two rivers, the Crathis (Crati) and the Sybaris (Coscile).
The city was founded in 720 BC ...
in southern Italy. She went on to analyze and date materials from dozens of archaeological sites in several countries. She published her research in journals including ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'' and ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'', and with her colleague H.N. Michael, published a textbook entitled ''Dating Techniques for the Archaeologist'', which appeared from
MIT Press
The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962.
History
The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...
in 1971. From 1962 to 1982 she served as associate director of MASCA lab, which she helped to establish with support from the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
.
Education and career
Elizabeth Katherine Ralph was born and raised in New Jersey. She earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry from
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
in 1942. She became a junior electronic engineer at Foote, Pierson, & Co in New Jersey where she became an assistant to the chief radio engineer and later a project engineer. She later moved to a similar job at
Kearfott
Kearfott is a defense equipment manufacturer founded in 1918 in New Jersey, United States. It is based in Woodland Park. Today the electronics division is part of BAE Systems, while the remaining Kearfott Guidance & Navigation division is a subsid ...
Manufacturing Company in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.
In 1949, Ralph enrolled in a master's degree program in physics at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
. In 1951, she interned in the laboratory of Nobel laureate
Willard Libby
Willard Frank Libby (December 17, 1908 – September 8, 1980) was an American physical chemist noted for his role in the 1949 development of radiocarbon dating, a process which revolutionized archaeology and palaeontology. For his contributions ...
at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, where she learned radiocarbon techniques. In 1951, as well, the Penn Museum hired her to perform analyses in a
Carbon-14
Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...
laboratory that she helped to establish.
In Penn's Radiocarbon Lab, Ralph conducted her first analysis of museum materials on a set of human bones from the Hotu Cave in Iran, which
Carleton S. Coon
Carleton Stevens Coon (June 23, 1904 – June 3, 1981) was an American anthropologist. A professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, lecturer and professor at Harvard University, he was president of the American Association of ...
excavated between 1949 and 1951. In an account of this research which she published in the journal ''Science'' in 1955, Ralph listed herself as an affiliate of both the museum and the department of physics of the University of Pennsylvania, and expressed thanks to
Gaylord Harnwell
Gaylord Probasco Harnwell CBE (September 29, 1903 – April 18, 1982) was an American educator and physicist, who was president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1953 to 1970. He also held a great number of positions in a wide variety of natio ...
(Penn's president, and a nuclear physicist), and Froehlich Rainey (the Penn Museum's director, and an anthropologist), for their support in establishing the lab.
Ralph's work expanded in 1962 when she became associate director of the Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology (MASCA), which was established in the Penn Museum with funding from the National Science Foundation. According to a museum spokesperson who commented on her accomplishments after her death, her work in the MASCA lab kept her so busy that she did not finish her PhD in geology from Penn until 1973.
Ralph was an avid field hockey player and competed for many years on the
United States Women's National Field Hockey Team
The United States women's national field hockey team, represents the United States in international field hockey. The team is currently coached by Anthony Farry. It made its first international appearance in 1920 when a touring team visited Englan ...
. Robert H. Dyson, director of the Penn Museum known for his excavations at the Neolithic site of
Hasanlu
Teppe Hasanlu or Hasanlu Tepe ( fa, تپه حسنلو) is an archeological site of an ancient city''The Cambridge History of Iran'' (ed. by W.B. Fischer, Ilya Gershevitch, Ehsan Yarshster). Cambridge University Press, 1993. . Pages 57–58, 138. ...
in Iran, later recalled that she competed in field hockey tournaments throughout most of her career. Henry N. Michael, with whom she co-authored the book ''Dating Techniques for the Archaeologist'' (1911), described her work excavating in southern Italy, in the 1960s, as "legendary" because she had to walk hundreds of miles across archaeological sites with the improved cesium magnetometers that she devised. She showed a degree of stamina that Michael attributed to her membership in the U.S. women's field hockey team, which often competed internationally.
Research and distinctions
With her colleague Henry N. Michael, a professor at
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...
and a fellow Penn PhD who worked closely with her in the MASCA lab, Ralph developed research on dendrochronology. As a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' obituary of Michael observed, they use pine trees as "living calendars", analyzing tree rings with radiocarbon testing in order to date materials in ways that benefitted archaeologists and other scientists.
Ralph analyzed items from more than fifty sites in eight countries. For example, she worked on Early Jomon materials from
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
, Japan and
Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
materials from
Tikal
Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Co ...
in Guatemala. She analyzed samples from the Arctic and from Afghanistan. Her contributions to radiocarbon dating included breakthroughs in calibration and the "radiocarbon calendar". She also traveled to archaeological sites in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Yugoslavia, Turkey and Egypt to supervise the use of MASCA's carbon-dating instruments in situ.
Elizabeth Ralph retired from MASCA and Penn in 1982. In 1986, she received the Pomerance Award of the
Archaeological Institute of America
The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...
in recognition of her outstanding contributions to archaeology through science. The Archaeological Institute of America cited Ralph for many publications and achievements, including her leading roles in developing the half-life mode of radiocarbon dating; recognizing the need for a correction factor in this process; and testing instruments for sub-surface excavation as first demonstrated in her work at Sybaris.
Death and legacies
Elizabeth Ralph died in
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Froelich Rainey
Froelich Gladstone Rainey (June 18, 1907 – October 11, 1992) was an American anthropologist and Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology from 1947 to 1977. Under his leadership, the Penn Museum announced ...