Ufuk Esin (11 October 1933 – 19 January 2008) was a Turkish archaeologist known for pioneering archaeological science in Turkey and for her excavations at

Aşıklı Höyük Aşıklı Höyük is a settlement mound located nearly south of Kızılkaya village on the bank of the Melendiz brook, and southeast of Aksaray, Turkey. Aşıklı Höyük is located in an area covered by the volcanic tuff of central Cappadoci ...

. She was a professor at Istanbul University from 1966 until her retirement in 2000 and was instrumental in founding the Turkish Academy of Sciences.

Education and career

Esin was born in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

on 11 October 1933, but spent most of her life in Istanbul. She attended the Boğaziçi Lisesinde and St. George's Austrian High School. She enrolled at Istanbul University in 1952, initially taking the examinations to study literature, but was inspired to transfer to the newly-founded Department of Prehistory after hearing lectures by Kurt Bittel. One of only two students to enrol that year, she became the university's first graduate in prehistory in 1956. She then joined the department as Bittel's assistant whilst beginning her doctoral studies. Bittel sent Esin to the University of Stuttgart to study

archaeometallurgy Archaeometallurgy is the study of the past use and production of metals by humans. It is a sub-discipline of archaeology and archaeological science. Uses Archaeometallurgical study has many uses in both the chemical and anthropological fields. Ana ...

with S. Junghans. There she developed an expertise in the spectral analysis of ancient metals, as well as a general passion for archaeological science that would continue throughout her career. She went on to complete a thesis on prehistoric

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

and bronze mining in Anatolia and was awarded a doctorate in 1960. She was appointed an associate professor () at Istanbul in 1966, and later rose to become a

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

(1976); head of the department of prehistory (1984–2000); and head of the department of archaeology and art history (1998–2000).

Awards and honours

* Fulbright Scholarship, 1961 * Alexander von Humboldt Scholarship, 1973

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esin, Ufuk 1933 births 2008 deaths Archaeologists from Istanbul Turkish women archaeologists Prehistorians Archaeometallurgists St. George's Austrian High School alumni Istanbul University alumni Academic staff of Istanbul University Members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences 20th-century archaeologists