Theresa Bathsheba Goell (July 17, 1901 – December 18, 1985) was an American

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, ...

, best known for directing excavations at Nemrud Dagh in south-eastern Turkey. Born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, she earned a BA at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

, then graduated from

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, and later studied at

and Columbia Universities in New York. Goell travelled to the Middle East in the 1930s, working with archaeologists in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and

Gerasa Jerash (; , , ) is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city Amman. The earliest evidence of settl ...

, before returning to New York. She returned to the Middle East after the Second World War, and in 1947 visited Nemrud Dagh for the first time; excavations there would become her life's work. Goell was involved in excavations at a number of other Middle Eastern sites over the course of her career, including at Tarsus and

Early life and education

Theresa Goell was born in New York, on 17 July 1901. Her parents, Jacob and Mary Samowitz Goell, were middle-class Jews who had emigrated to the US from Russia. Goell was the second of three children; her sister, Eva, would with her husband Philip Godfrey financially support Goell's career, while her brother, Kermit, would go on to work on digs with her. Goell was raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and studied at Erasmus High School; after graduation, she studied for two years at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

before moving to

, where she earned a B.A.,

majoring An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conce ...

in philosophy and social ethics. While at Radcliffe, Goell met and married Cyrus Levinthal. Levinthal was the brother of the Goell family's rabbi and the match had been encouraged by Goell's father. While still studying at Radcliffe, Goell had a son, Jay. Also during her studies she began to lose her hearing due to

otosclerosis Otosclerosis is a condition of the middle ear, middle and inner ear where portions of the dense enchondral layer of the bony labyrinth Tissue remodeling, remodel into one or more lesions of irregularly-laid spongy bone. As the lesions reach the s ...

and learned to lip-read in compensation. In 1926, Goell and her husband both moved to England and enrolled at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

; Goell studied art history, architecture, and archaeology at

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, and achieved the equivalent of a B.A. in architecture (it was not until 1948 that women were permitted to become full members of the university and be granted degrees).

Early work

By 1932, Goell and Levinthal had divorced. In the spring of 1933, Goell went to Jerusalem and began to work for the

American Schools of Oriental Research The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), founded in 1900 as the American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, which supports the research and teaching of ...

(ASOR), drawing pottery for

William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars ...

and Aage Schmidt, and doing general drawing for William Stinespring. She continued to work under ASOR in Jerusalem in 1934, taking on more work from the expedition at

, including working on the reconstruction of finds from the dig. Goell's work in Palestine also included contemporary architecture, and she was involved in the design of more than 200 buildings in cities such as Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. Goell's designs featured modernist styles resembling mansions in Brooklyn. In 1935, Goell returned to New York, and began to study at the New York University School of Fine and Applied Arts, believing that improving her drawing skills was necessary for her continued career in archaeology. For two years she was unable to obtain any further work in the field, and worked as an architectural and window display designer for a department store in New York and New Jersey. In 1938 she enrolled at the Institute of Fine Arts in New York University, studying for a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

with Karl Leo Heinrich Lehmann as her advisor. Her thesis was to be on the relationship between Palmyrene sculpture and the sculpture of the Roman near east. It was while studying there that Lehmann first suggested to Goell that she should explore Nemrud Dagh, the excavations of which were to become her life's work. Goell continued to study at the Institute for Fine Arts and at Columbia until 1945. During the Second World War, she also worked to contribute to the American war effort, working as a draftswoman for various engineering firms under contract to the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, which interrupted her studies.

Nemrud Dagh

After the war, Goell travelled to Tarsus in southern Turkey, having been invited by

Hetty Goldman Hetty Goldman (December 19, 1881 – May 4, 1972) was an American archaeologist. She was the first woman faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study and one of the first female archaeologists to undertake excavations in Greece and the Middl ...

; she spent the next few months working on the excavations there. She continued to work on the excavations at Tarsus until 1953, and due to Goldman's illness, ended up supervising the dig and overseeing the writing up of the results. In the summer of 1947, when the excavations at Tarsus broke for the summer, Goell visited Nemrud Dagh for the first time. She described the state of the site on her first visit as "a complete shambles". In 1951, Goell returned to Nemrud Dagh, and began to arrange for an expedition there, hoping to be able to find and excavate the tomb of

Antiochus I of Commagene Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellen (, meaning "Antiochos, the just, eminent god, friend of Romans and friend of Greeks", ) was king of the Greco-Iranian kingdom of Commagene and the most famous king of that kingdom. Th ...

. She discovered that

Friedrich Karl Dörner Friedrich Karl Dörner (born 28 February 1911 in Gelsenkirchen; died 10 March 1992) was a German classicist, classics, epigrapher and archeology, Classical Archeologist. Born in 1911 as son of the mining office Karl Dörner and his wife Klara in G ...

was also planning an expedition there, and agreed to collaborate with him. In 1952, she began to raise funds and organise a team for an expedition; the American Philosophical Society agreed to sponsor the dig, and the

Bollingen Foundation The Bollingen Foundation was an educational foundation set up along the lines of a university press in 1945. It was named after Bollingen Tower, Carl Jung's country home in Bollingen, Switzerland. Funding was provided by Paul Mellon and his ...

made a grant of $2,000. Dörner and Goell agreed that she would lead the excavation at the top of Nemrud Dagh, with his assistance as an epigrapher; Dörner would excavate the settlement of Arsameia-on-the-Nymphaios at the foot of the mountain, and Goell would assist. 1954 was the first full season of Goell's excavations at Nemrud Dagh. Though the excavations were planned to conclude in 1955, a $10,000 grant from the Bollingen Foundation, and the prospect of more work to be done, persuaded Goell to plan a 1956 season at the site. After a year away from the site, Goell returned and excavations resumed in 1958, though the work was hampered by the poor weather. Goell's excavations uncovered the colossal stone heads for which Nemrud Dagh is now famed. In July 1960, Goell delivered a paper on the excavations at Nemrud Dagh to the Congress for Orientalists in Moscow, and the following year, a survey of her work was published in the ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

''. She went on to lecture on her work at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, and was elected a corresponding member of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office, Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Status, tasks and ...

in Berlin. Goell returned to Nemrud Dagh in 1963 and began two years of geophysical probing of the site, hoping to find the tomb of Antiochus I of Commagene; these attempts were unsuccessful. Goell's work at Nemrud Dagh shed new light on religious trends during the reign of Antiochus I (70 BC – 38 BC). At this period, the region's culture was affected by various traditions including Babylonian, Hellenistic and Anatolian cultures. Goell's excavations documented the influence of "salvation" mystery cults during this transitional period between paganism and Christianity.

Samosata

In 1964, Goell turned her attention to the ancient city of

Samosata Samsat (, Ottoman Turkish صمصاد ''Semisat''), formerly Samosata () is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

of the

mound A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded ...

at the site, with 40 meters of archaeological deposits from thousands of years of occupation of the site; this was to be the first of three seasons she spent there. In 1965, she narrated a film about Nemrud Dagh for the

National Geographical Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

, and spent much of the rest of the year trying to finish the Nemrud Dagh expedition report. She remained in New York in 1966, working on material from Samosata as well as the Nemrud Dagh expedition report. In 1968, though William Albright encouraged Goell to publish the first volume of the Nemrud Dagh report, she did not, feeling that the contributions from Dörner and John Young (who was working on the sculpture from the site) were incomplete. In the same year, she traveled to Iran to work on comparative material for the Samosata excavations and to visit

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

Later life

In February 1970, Goell was told that ASOR had set a one-year time limit for completing the Nemrud Dagh publication. Goell spent much of the next five years working on the manuscript of the report, though little progress was made. She did, however, manage to arrange with the Turkish Department of Antiquities for restoration works at Nemrud Dagh to begin. In 1973, Goell visited Nemrud Dagh for the final time. In 1976, Goell's legs became paralysed while she was in Germany; she was found to have a tumour on her spine which required immediate surgery. She recovered first in the hospital in Münster, and then at her sister's house in Florida, before returning to New York. There, she prepared a report on the excavations at Samosata for the National Geographical Society, and planned new expeditions to Nemrud Dagh. In April 1978, doctors pronounced Goell well enough to return to Turkey, where she spent the second half of the year working. Goell continued to work on the report on the excavations at Nemrud Dagh until she had a stroke in 1983. She did not complete the report in her lifetime, nor did she discover the tomb of King Antiochus. She died in New York City on 18 December 1985, after a long period of illness. Her papers were given to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

by her brother Kermit, and are housed there in the

Schlesinger Library The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at Harvard Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, it is "the ...

and

Semitic Museum The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, previously the Harvard Semitic Museum) is a museum founded in 1889. It moved into its present location at 6 Divinity Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1903. History Architectural firm A. ...

. In 1990, Goell was posthumously awarded a master's degree in recognition of her work on Commagenian history. A two-volume excavation report on Nemrud Dagh, based on Goell's notes and drafts, was published in 1996, completed by Donald Sanders under the supervision of Kermit Goell and financed by Goell's sister Eva. A documentary about Goell's life, '' Queen of the Mountain'', was produced in 2006.

Notes

References

Works cited

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External links

Papers, 1906–2005.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Goell, Theresa 1901 births 1985 deaths American women archaeologists Radcliffe College alumni Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Scientists from New York City 20th-century American archaeologists 20th-century American women Historians from New York (state)