A. Jennifer Price (1940 – 16 May 2019) was an archaeologist and academic, specialising in the study of

Roman glass Roman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman glass producti ...

. She was

professor emerita ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in the department of archaeology at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

Early life

Price was from a family of glassmakers in

Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...

. She initially attended evening classes in archaeology whilst at secondary school and excavated with Graham Webster in her free time.

Career

She briefly left archaeology, working for the civil service before qualifying as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in 1963. From 1963 to 1966 she worked on excavations in Italy and

Masada Masada ( ', 'fortress'; ) is a mountain-top fortress complex in the Judaean Desert, overlooking the western shore of the Dead Sea in southeastern Israel. The fort, built in the first century BCE, was constructed atop a natural plateau rising ov ...

, Israel. Whilst at Masada she learned how to reconstruct and study Roman glass vessels. She subsequently gained her bachelor's degree in archaeology from

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

in 1969. From 1969 to 1972, Price was in Spain undertaking her PhD research into Roman glass. She was awarded her PhD in 1982 from Cardiff University, with her thesis on 'Roman Glass in Spain'. Price worked in 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 ...

from 1972 to 1973 before returning to Cardiff to teach prehistory. In 1977 she became the Keeper of the

Salisbury Museum The Salisbury Museum (previously The Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum) is a museum in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It houses one of the best collections relating to Stonehenge and local archaeology. The museum is housed in The King's Hou ...

. In 1980 she became Lecturer in Archaeology at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. In 1990 she moved to Durham University where she taught provincial Roman archaeology, eventually earning a personal chair in the department of archaeology as well as serving as the head of the department for three years. Price was a longstanding member of the

Yorkshire Archaeological Society The Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society (YAHS), formerly known as the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, is a learned society and registered charity founded in 1863. It is dedicated to the study of the archaeology, history and people of ...

and served on its council and house & finance committee. She served as the Chair of Roman Archaeology Section of the society from 1991 to 2008, succeeding Herman Ramm in the post. In 1988, along with her partner Sue Hardman, and the other researcher Stephen Briggs and Peter Wilson, Price published a

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

for

Mary Kitson Clark Anna Mary Hawthorn Kitson Clark, (14 May 1905 – 1 February 2005), married name Mary Chitty, was an English archaeologist, curator, and independent scholar. She specialised in the archaeology of Romano-British Northern England but was also inv ...

, a leading female authority on Roman Yorkshire titled ''Recent Research in Roman Yorkshire: studies in honour of Mary Kitson Clark (Mrs Derwas Chitty)''. Price conclusively identified a Roman glass shard excavated at

Chedworth Roman villa Chedworth Roman Villa is located near Chedworth, Gloucestershire, England and is a scheduled monument. It is one of the largest and most elaborate Roman villas so far discovered in Britain and one with the latest occupation beyond the Roman Bri ...

in 2017, by matching the fragment to a restored fish-shaped bottle held by the

Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning (city), New York, Corning, New York, United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Incorporated, Corning Glass Works and currently has a ...

in New York. This showed that the bottle was made in the Black Sea area, and is the only vessel of its kind ever found in Britain, making it startlingly rare. Her discovery gives further insight into the wealth and status of the inhabitants of Chedworth.

Awards and honours

She was elected as a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

on 2 March 1978. In 2006, to mark her retirement, a two-day conference was held in her honour by the Association for the History of Glass. A 2015 collection of papers, titled ''Glass of the Roman World'' was also dedicated to Price.

Select publications

*Price, J, Wilson, P, Hardman, S., and Briggs, S. (eds) 1988. ''Recent Research in Roman Yorkshire: studies in honour of Mary Kitson Clark (Mrs Derwas Chitty)'' *Price, J. 1998. "The social context of glass production in Roman Britain". In McCray, P. ''The Prehistory and History of Glassmaking Technology''. 331–348. *Price, J. 2000. "Late Roman glass vessels in Britain, from AD350 to 410 and beyond". In Price, J. ''Glass in Britain and Ireland, AD350-1100''. London: The

. 127: 1-31. *Price, A., Cool, H. and Cottam, S. 2002. "The glass". In Wilson, P. R. ''

Cataractonium Cataractonium was a fort and settlement in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into Catterick, located in North Yorkshire, England. Name Cataractonium is likely to have taken its name from the Latin word (ultimately derived from Greek , ) ...

: Roman Catterick and its hinterland. Excavations and research 1958-1997''. York:

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. CBA Research Report 128: 207–259. *Price, J. 2003.
Broken bottles and quartz-sand: glass production in Yorkshire and the North in the Roman period
. In Wilson, P. R. and Price, J. ''Aspects of industry in Roman Yorkshire and the North''. Oxford: Oxbow. 81–93. *Price, J. 2004. "Romano-British and early post-Roman glass vessels". ''Trethurgy excavations at Trethurgy Round, St Austell community and status in Roman and post-Roman Cornwall''. H Quinnell Cornwall: Cornwall County Council. 85–92. *MacMahon, A. and Price, J. 2005.
Glass-working and Glassworkers in Cities and Towns
. In MacMahon, A. and Price, J., ''Roman Working Lives and Urban Living''. Oxford:

Oxbow Books Casemate Publishers is a publishing company based in the Philadelphia suburbs that specializes in producing printed military history books. They have published over 500 titles on military history. Many of their books are memoirs and historical o ...

. 167–190. *Price, J. 2012. "Urban and maritime glass assemblages in the western and eastern Mediterranean" (review article). ''Antiquity'' 84. 254–257. *Price, J. 2014. "Personal possessions or traded goods? Finds of decorated mould-blown glass vessels on Flavian sites in northern Britain" in Collins, R. and McIntosh, F. (eds) ''Life in the Limes: Studies of the Peoples and Objects of the Roman Frontiers'' Oxford, Oxbow. 140–151.

References

External links

Bibliography of Jennifer Price
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Jennifer 2019 deaths British women archaeologists Women classical scholars Academics of Durham University Academics of Cardiff University Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of the University of Leeds Employees of the British Museum Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London 20th-century British archaeologists 21st-century British archaeologists People from Stourbridge 21st-century British women writers 20th-century British women writers British women historians