Sonia Mary Cole (née Syers) (1918 – 1982) was an English

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

archaeologist 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, ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

and author.

Biography

Sonia Cole was born Sonya Syers in

Westminster, London Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, her mother marrying the 5th

Earl of Enniskillen Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The tit ...

as her second husband, and Sonia herself marrying his nephew, the 6th Earl. Cole worked for 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 ...

, and conducted extensive fieldwork in Africa. She was a close friend and colleague of

Mary Leakey Mary Douglas Leakey, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul (mammal), Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now ...

, who wrote her obituary. David Lowry Cole, 6th Earl of Enniskillen (1918–1989) was divorced from his first wife Sonia in 1955. By her, he had issue one son and one daughter. Cole is most remembered for her work ''Races of Man'', which drew heavily from Carleton Coon."Review: Races of Man", Stanley M. Garn, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 65, No. 6, Dec., 1963, pp. 1410-1411.

Works

*''An Outline of the Geology of Kenya'' (1950) *''The Prehistory of East Africa'' (1954, 2nd ed. 1958, rev. ed. 1964) *''Races of Man'' (1963, 2nd ed. 1965) *''The Neolithic Age'' (1970) *''Leakey's Luck'' (1975)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Sonia Mary 1910s births 1982 deaths Cole family (Anglo-Irish aristocracy) English anthropologists British women anthropologists 20th-century British geologists English women geologists 20th-century British women scientists 20th-century English writers British women archaeologists