Hawes, Harriet (Ann) Boyd (1871-1945)

US archaeologist, educator, and social activist. From 1901-05 Hawes led a large team that excavated the Minoan town of Gournia, thereby becoming the first woman to head a major archaeological dig. She also became the first woman to lecture to societies of the Archaeological Institute of America (1902). She married the English anthropologist Charles Henry Hawes in 1906 and in 1908 published her monumental work on Gournia. During World War I she went to Corfu in 1916 to help nurse the Serbians. In 1917 she organized a unit of Smith College graduates and directed their relief efforts in France, where she stayed until June 1918. From 1920-36 she was on the faculty of Wellesley College.

Hawes was born in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating from Smith College (1892), she went to Greece to continue her studies. In 1897 she worked as a nurse during the Greco-Turkish war. She went to Crete in 1900, and with the encouragement of Arthur Evans, began to excavate a Minoan site at Kavousi. She was involved in many political and social causes: she worked for women's suffrage; she protested the Sacco-Vanzetti executions; she was involved in labour and economic issues during the Depression; she personally protested the Germans' annexation of Czechoslovakia and called for the USA to go to Europe's defense in World War II; and she was a strong advocate of an international body to promote unity and peace.