Andrée Jeanne Rosenfeld FAHA (1934–2008) was an archaeologist specialising in rock art.

Early life and education

Rosenfeld was born in 1934 in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, Belgium, the daughter of the physicists Yvonne and

Léon Rosenfeld Léon Rosenfeld (; 14 August 1904 in Charleroi – 23 March 1974) was a Belgian physicist and a communist activist. Rosenfeld was born into a secular Jewish family. He was a polyglot who knew eight or nine languages and was fluent in at lea ...

s. After the Second World War the family moved to Manchester. She studied for a BSc in physics at

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

in 1956, where she took up caving. Rosenfeld studied for a Master of Science and then obtained a PhD in 1960 from the Institute of Archaeology, with a thesis on the sedimentology of caves from sites in Devon supervised by Frederick Zeuner. During her postgraduate research she excavated the palaeolithic cave sites in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, Torbryan and Three Holes Cave.

Career

After completing her PhD research she worked at the Institute of Archaeology as Zeuner's research assistant. Her first book, ''The Inorganic Raw Materials of Antiquity'', built upon the technical skills learnt in this period. Rosenfeld was appointed as a curator of Palaeolithic collections at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

in 1964, where she was based until 1972, and guest-lectured at the Department of Anthropology, UCL. During the 1960s she worked at Arcy-sur-Curé alongside Leroi-Gourhan. She was considered as a European expert in archaeological science and provided advice on microscopic study of use-wear. She undertook research on the Magdalenian artefacts within the British Museum's collections. In 1972 she moved to Australia, with her partner

Peter Ucko Peter John Ucko FRAI Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA (27 July 1938 – 14 June 2007) was an influential English archaeology, archaeologist. He served as Director of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology at University C ...

, where she taught at the recently established Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

(ANU) from 1973. During her time at ANU, Rosenfeld commenced several crucial projects for the development of Australian archaeology, where she applied her previous scientific training and research experiences. Her excavations at the Early Man Site in Cape York Peninsula, Queensland provided the first evidence that rock art in Australia was

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

in date, and made the methodological development of linking excavated evidence with rock art, described as a "milestone in the establishment of rock art research in Australia". Her 1985 book, commissioned by the

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

, was the founding study of rock art conservation in Australia. Rosenfeld's scholarship focused on both methodological and theoretical interpretations of rock art, and research in the late 1990s focused on the social context of rock art. Her teaching career at ANU included establishing courses in the archaeology of art and material culture, and she is noted for incorporating ethnography into the study of art. During her career she held visiting fellowships at the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

in Los Angeles in 1988, and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1989. She retired from her position as Reader at ANU in 1997, and moved to Rathdowney in Queensland where she enjoyed an active retirement. She died from pancreatic cancer in 2008.

Legacy

Her major contribution in archaeology was in the field of rock art research, and the application of scientific techniques to the study of art. Rosenfeld was described as a "rigorous and generous scholar, and a lovely, gentle person" and "an enthusiastic and accomplished teacher". She taught a number of students who became leading archaeologists, such as Jo McDonald, Paul Tacon, Howard Morphy, Robert Layton, and Claire Smith. Through her supervision of postgraduate students, a flourishing of rock art research took place in Australia in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Honours and awards

The Andrée Rosenfeld Chair of Rock Art was established at ANU in recognition of her service to the university. A portrait of Andrée by Robin Wallace-Crabbe and Diane Fogwell is in the collection of the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

. Rosenfeld was elected as a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australi ...

''.''

References

External links

Complete publication list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenfeld, Andrée 1934 births 2008 deaths Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of University College London Australian archaeologists Australian women archaeologists British women archaeologists Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Writers from Liège 20th-century British archaeologists Academic staff of the Australian National University