Portrait of Madeleine Colani (1866-1943) (cropped)

Madeleine Colani (August 13, 1866 – June 2, 1943) was a French

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

from the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient. Colani was "a pioneering fieldworker who combined the roles of geologist, paleobotanist, archeologist, and ethnographer." She is well known for discovering the

Hoabinhian Hoabinhian is a lithic techno-complex of archaeological sites associated with assemblages in Southeast Asia from late Pleistocene to Holocene, dated to c.10,000–2000 BCE. It is attributed to hunter-gatherer societies of the region and their ...

culture from approximately 16,000 BCE, and for her investigations on the

Plain of Jars The Plain of Jars ( Lao: ທົ່ງໄຫຫິນ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...

."The Stone Jars of Laos"
''ViewZone Magazine'' (last visited July 16, 2012).

Biography

In 1899, Colani arrived in Vietnam to teach, and in 1914, returned to France to earn her doctorate. From 1920 to 1927, she worked for the Indo-Chinese geology bureau. She contributed much to Vietnamese archaeology, especially relating to the

Sa Huỳnh Culture The Sa Huỳnh culture was a culture in modern-day central and southern Vietnam that flourished between 1000 BC and 200 AD. Archaeological sites from the culture have been discovered from the Mekong Delta to Quang Binh province in central Vietna ...

. She conducted archaeologic surveys in Nghệ An Province, Quảng Bình Province and

Hạ Long Bay Hạ Long Bay or Halong Bay ( vi, Vịnh Hạ Long, ) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam. The name Hạ Long means "descending dragon". Administratively, the bay belongs to Hạ Lo ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

. She "documented some 20 other sites in the region". Her work found many skeletal remains and artifacts including human bones, stone and glass beads and iron implements. Additional work by other archaeologists has been hampered by unexploded ordnance in the area from the Vietnam War. Colani is the source for today's understanding of the

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

ic stone jars on the

, investigating and arguing "convincingly" that they were

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

s, used in

funerary rites A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

.Elisabeth Eaves
"In Laos, the Lady and the Jars"
''

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 ...

'', July 15, 2012. Her 1930 work on the subject, '' The Megaliths of Upper Laos'', is Colani's "great contribution to archaeological literature". She died in 1943 in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

Publications

* Colani M. (1927). ''L'âge de la pierre dans la province de Hoa Binh''. Mémoires du Service Géologique de l'Indochine 13 * Colani, Madeleine. (1930). '' The Megaliths of Upper Laos''.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colani, Madeleine 1866 births 1943 deaths Archaeologists from Strasbourg French women archaeologists 20th-century archaeologists 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French women writers