Elizabeth Jane Wayland "E.J.W." Barber ( Wayland; born 1940) is an American scholar and expert on

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

textiles Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

, and

folk dance A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...

as well as professor emerita of archaeology and linguistics at

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is ...

Early life

Elizabeth Jane Wayland was born in 1940 in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

. She became interested in archaeology at a young age because of her love of interdisciplinary sciences. Her family moved to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during her childhood, where she learned French, beginning her interest in linguistics. She first developed expert sewing and weaving skills under her mother's tutelage.

Scholarly work

She earned a bachelor's degree from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

in Archaeology and Greek in 1962. Her chief mentor was Mabel Lang from whom she learned

Linear B Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...

and who advised her honors thesis on

Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 BC to 1450 BC. Linear A was the primary script used in Minoan palaces, palace and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It evolved into Linear B, ...

. In addition to Lang, Wayland wrote her thesis under Emmett L. Bennett Jr. Her thesis used computer indices of the Hagia Triada Linear A texts in an attempt to decipher its signs and symbols. The computer indices were made via

punched cards A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a stiff paper-based medium used to store digital information via the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Developed over the 18th to 20th centuries, punched cards were wide ...

, a method which was preceded by the work of Alice E. Kober on Linear B. She earned her PhD from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in linguistics in 1968. Her doctoral study at

was supervised by Sydney Lamb, under whom she wrote her dissertation, "The Computer Aided Analysis of Undeciphered Ancient Texts."

Books

Her books include ''Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean'' (1992), ''Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years; Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times'' (1995), ''The Mummies of Ürümchi'' (1999), ''When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth'' (2004; coauthored with husband Paul T. Barber), ''The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance'' (2013), ''Resplendent Dress from Southeastern Europe: A History in Layers'' (2013), and ''Two Thoughts with but a Single Mind: Crime and Punishment and the Writing of Fiction'' (2013; co-authored with husband P.T. Barber and Mary F. Zirin). Among other things, she has proposed that if 19th-century scientists had thought to name prehistorical periods with an eye on women's work and the things they invented, instead of focusing their naming only on men's more durable inventions (

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, etc.), that they might have acknowledged women's invention of string as what she has named “The String Revolution.”

Personal life

In addition to her academic work, as of 2009 she has directed and choreographed for her own folk and historical dance troupe for 38 years. In 2016 and 2017, Barber's dance troupe performed a
UCLA (See Video)Occidental College, and 2017 Sunshine Statewide Folk Dance Festival.

References

External links

Elizabeth Wayland Barber speaks on the Xinjiang Textiles: More Corridors in the Goldmine at the Silk Road Symposium held at the Penn Museum in March 2011.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Elizabeth Wayland Living people American women archaeologists Linguists from the United States Bryn Mawr College alumni Indo-Europeanists Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 20th-century American archaeologists 21st-century American archaeologists 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people) American women linguists Textile historians