Diana Victoria Warcup Kirkbride-Helbæk, (22 October 1915 – 13 August 1997) was a British

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 ...

who specialised in the

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

of south-west Asia.Wright, Katherine I., The Independent, Obituary : Diana Kirkbride-Halbaek, Friday 5 September 1997
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Biography

She attended

Wycombe Abbey School , motto_translation = Go in faith , established = 1896 , type = Independent boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Headmistress , head = J. Duncan , chair_label = Chair ...

in High Wycombe and served in the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She completed a postgraduate diploma at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

in 1950 studying

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

n and

Palestinian archaeology Levantine archaeology is the archaeological study of the Levant. It is also known as Syro-Palestinian archaeology or Palestinian archaeologyDavis, 2004, p. 146.Dever, 2001, p. 61. (particularly when the area of inquiry centers on ancient Palest ...

under Sir

Max Mallowan Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan (6 May 1904 – 19 August 1978) was a prominent British archaeologist, specialising in ancient Middle Eastern history. He was the second husband of Dame Agatha Christie. Life and work Born Edgar Mallowan in Wands ...

and Dame Kathleen Kenyon. Kirkbride went to work on the excavations of

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...

from 1952 to 1955. In 1953, she began fieldwork in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, including the restoration of the Jerash Theatre and excavations at

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

in 1956. During her studies of the

paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

and

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

of the area, she excavated a small rock shelter called

Wadi Madamagh Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

and made excavations at

Ard Tlaili Ard Tlaili or Tell Ard Tlaili is a small tell mound archaeological site in a plain at the foot of the Lebanon Mountains northwest of Baalbeck, in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. IIt was first surveyed and studied in 1965–66 by Lorraine Copeland ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. She also discovered a major Neolithic site at Beidha where she led the excavations for the British School of Archaeology in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

from 1958 until 1967. It was during this work that she met Danish paleobotanist

Hans Helbæk Hans Peter Helbæk (8 April 1907, Roskilde – 10 February 1981, Kagerup) was a Danish archaeologist and palaeobotanist. He studied the plant remains from James Mellaart's excavations at Çatalhöyük and the last meal of the Grauballe Man. Helb� ...

whom she married at the end of the 1960s. She continued work in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in the 1970s where she made another discovery of another Neolithic site called Umm Dabaghiyah. After her husband died of a stroke in the late 1970s she returned to Beidha for a season of excavations in 1983. She also finished work compiling the results from Beidha and Umm Dabaghiyah and started planning a new excavation of a Nabataean temple at Wadi Rum which was not completed before her death in August 1997 at

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Positions held

* Director of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. * Oxford University's Gerald Avery Wainwright Fellowship in Near Eastern Archaeology * Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries

Selected bibliography

* Kirkbride, Diana & Garrod, Dorothy Anne Elizabeth. ''Excavation of the Abri Zumoffen, a paleolithic rock-shelter near Adlun, South Lebanon'', s.n., 1961 *Kirkbride, Diana & Kenyon, Kathleen Mary, ''Scarabs'', British School of Archaeology, 1969. * Kirkbride, Diana, ''Early Byblos and the Beqa'a'', Beyrouth, 1969. *Kirkbride, Diana, ''Five seasons at the pre-pottery neolithic village of Beidha in Jordan'', in: ''Palestine Exploration Quarterly''; 1966. * Kirkbride, Diana & Kenyon, Kathleen Mary, ''Excavations at Jericho 1957-58'', Palestine Exploration Fund, 1960.

Biography

Positions held

Selected bibliography

References

Further reading