In memoriam: Beatrice Eileen de Cardi OBE FSA FBA, 1914–2016

Abstract

Beatrice de Cardi, who died on 5 July 2016 aged 102, achieved the remarkable feat of filling in many of the gaps in our knowledge of the archaeological record over a vast area, which stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Khyber Pass. She was able to do this mainly by survey, and went on to establish the relative chronology of some of the new wares she identified by means of judicious excavation. In addition, she traced some of the connections between her new sites and other better-known ones, which provided absolute dates for the new material. She achieved all this without the benefit of permanent institutional backing and never held an academic post, although she was generally acknowledged to be a talented and professional archaeologist. Unusually, she had a second parallel life, until her official retirement, as an outstanding administrator. After retirement, she devoted herself solely to archaeology.