John Franklin Daniel III (born Ann Arbor, Michigan 1911; died

Gordion Gordion ( Phrygian: ; el, Γόρδιον, translit=Górdion; tr, Gordion or ; la, Gordium) was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıhüyük, about southwest of Ankara (capital of Turkey), in the ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

December 17, 1948) was an American archaeologist, known for his work on deciphering the

Cypro-Minoan script The Cypro-Minoan syllabary (CM) is an undeciphered syllabary used on the island of Cyprus during the late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1050 BC). The term "Cypro-Minoan" was coined by Arthur Evans in 1909 based on its visual similarity to Linear A on ...

Career

Daniel was involved in the archaeological excavations at

Kourion Kourion ( grc, Koύριov; la, Curium) was an important ancient Greek city-state on the southwestern coast of Cyprus. In the twelfth century BCE, after the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces, Greek settlers from Argos arrived on this site. I ...

from 1934 to 1939, and also took part in the excavations at Tarsus led by

Hetty Goldman Hetty Goldman (December 19, 1881 – May 4, 1972) was an American Archaeology, archaeologist. She was the first woman faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study and one of the first female archaeologists to undertake excavations in Greece ...

. His studies led him to travel extensively in Germany, France, Greece and Turkey. Daniel began working 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 universit ...

in 1940 and obtained his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

in Greek at the university in 1941. During these years he engaged in excavations for the university on the island of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

Espionage during WWII

Daniel left the university in 1942 to join the Greek desk of the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all bran ...

, an intelligence agency that was a predecessor to the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. The agency used archaeology as a cover to conduct espionage and assist the war effort. Daniel's background in linguistics made him a natural

cryptographer Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adv ...

, and he was already familiar with the strategically important island of

. Daniel helped to establish the Greek Desk with its founder, Rodney Young, and James H. Oliver. He eventually ran the OSS base in

, an important hub for the flow of intelligence in the

Mediterranean Theater of Operations The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (MTOUSA), originally called the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), was a military formation of the United States Army that supervised all U.S. Army for ...

Post-war archaeological career

The young Daniel rapidly ascended as a prominent authority in Mediterranean archaeology. He was appointed as curator of the Mediterranean section of the

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 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 ...

in 1946, and became chief editor of the

American Journal of Archaeology The ''American Journal of Archaeology'' (AJA), the peer-reviewed journal of the Archaeological Institute of America, has been published since 1897 (continuing the ''American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts'' founded by ...

in 1947. The following year, he was appointed as Professor of Classical Archaeology at University of Pennsylvania. Daniel met

Alice Kober Alice Elizabeth Kober (December 23, 1906 – May 16, 1950) was an American classicist best known for her work on the decipherment of Linear B. Educated at Hunter College and Columbia University, Kober taught classics at Brooklyn College fro ...

in 1941 at 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 ...

, while delivering a presentation on the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. The two became lifelong friends, and collaborated on deciphering the

Cypro-Minoan syllabary The Cypro-Minoan syllabary (CM) is an undeciphered syllabary used on the island of Cyprus during the late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1050 BC). The term "Cypro-Minoan" was coined by Arthur Evans in 1909 based on its visual similarity to Linear A on ...

. Daniel's work in this area helped to establish new methodologies for decryption of ancient languages.

Death and legacy

On December 17, 1948 Daniel set out with Rodney Young to scout a new archaeological site in Turkey, now known as

. While scouting the site in a jeep with Young, Daniel became suddenly ill, and was pronounced dead at a hospital in

Antalya Antalya () is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast outside the Ae ...

. His death has been suggested as a possible heart attack or aneurysm. Daniel's assistant, the archaeologist Ellen Kohler believed that foul play was involved in his death.

Sara Anderson Immerwahr Sara Anderson Immerwahr (August 28, 1914 in Royersford, Pennsylvania – June 25, 2008 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina) was an American Classical archaeologist. Life Immerwahr earned her bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1935. One ...

, a colleague and friend of Daniel, later stated that she believed he had been poisoned as a consequence of his espionage activities. His death came as a surprise to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and he was memorialized in an obituary in the ''American Journal of Archaeology''. Rodney Young subsequently took up Daniel's work at Gordion and Cyprus. After his death, Daniel's work became obscure again until the 1980s, when it was reassessed and praised by contemporary archaeologists.

Selected publications

* ''Prolegomena to the Cypro-Minoan Script''

References