Ein gut Theil Eigenheit – Lebenswege früher Archäologinnen

The Württemberg State Museum is presenting the traveling exhibition "A good part of individuality - the lives of early female archaeologists". The exhibition, which can be seen free of charge in the Ständesaal of the Old Palace in Stuttgart, sheds light on the roles of women in the scientific tradition.

Women have been involved in German-language archaeological research from the very beginning. Their contributions were recognized and appreciated. Over the decades, however, they and their research fell into oblivion. In contrast to their male colleagues, whose names many people know, these early female archaeologists are for the most part no longer present in public memory. The exhibition aims to make women archaeologists and their achievements more visible through a number of examples.

Biographies of women from German-speaking countries are presented as examples. They worked in various fields of archaeology. Sibylle Mertens-Schaaffhausen (1797-1857) can be regarded as "Germany's first female archaeologist". She built up extensive collections of antique objects, art treasures and literature. The prehistorian Johanna Mestorf (1828-1909) was the first woman in Prussia to become the director of a museum. She was awarded the title "Professor" by Kaiser Wilhelm II for her services to the prehistory of northern Germany. Margarete Bieber (1879-1978) was the first female professor of classical archaeology in Germany. Barely established, she was expelled from the university by the National Socialists and emigrated to the USA. The first female director of a state museum in Germany was the prehistorian Gertrud Dorka (1893-1976). Dresden-born Maria Reiche (1903-98) was the first person ever to research the famous prehistoric Nazca Lines in Peru (South America) from the end of the 1940s.

At the Württemberg State Museum, the exhibition will be expanded to include the lives of early female archaeologists from the region such as Senta Rafalski-Giering (1911-1996) and Gerta Blaschka, née Schneider (1908-1999). Schneider (1908-1999), graduates of prehistory and early history at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, and Margret Honroth (1937-2020) and Rotraut Wolf (born 1936), the first two female archaeologists to be permanently employed at the Württemberg State Museum.

The traveling exhibition is part of the research and education project "AktArcha - Actresses of archaeological research between the humanities and natural sciences: in the field, in the laboratory, at the desk". It was presented for the first time at the Museum August Kestner in Hanover (19.5.2023 to 14.1.2024).