Female Archaeologists

British paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey had exhibited her interest in drawing and archaeology as a kid. Most of her career was spent working alongside her husband, Louis Leakey. She was in charge of many excavation projects in Kenya. Her discoveries include the first Proconsul skull fossil and 15 new animal species.

British Egyptologist and anthropologist Margaret Murray was also a scholar of witchcraft. Her best-known work is her 1921 book The Witch Cult in Western Europe, which inspired later witchcraft scholars such as Gerald B. Gardner. The University College London professor had worked in places such as Egypt, Malta, and Petra.

Fred Vargas is a French archaeologist, historian, and novelist. She is best known for her work on the bubonic plague, the Black Death. In 2009, she became the first author to win three International Dagger Awards for three consecutive novels, having won the award in 2006 and 2008. In 2018, she was honored with the prestigious Princess of Asturias Prize.

Celebrated German-born Peruvian mathematician, archaeologist, linguist, and astronomer Maria Reiche is remembered for her pioneering research on the Nazca lines. Nicknamed the Lady of the Lines, she was initially a governess and teacher in Peru. She later also became a founding-member of the non-profit organization South American Explorers.

British paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey discovered a new branch of the human species, the Kenyanthropus platyops, or the flat-faced man of Kenya. Initially a zoologist in Nairobi, she studied modern monkeys as part of her doctoral research. She is the first Kenyan to be a National Academy of Sciences member.

Turkish archaeologist and Assyriologist Muazzez İlmiye Çığ specializes in Sumerology, or the study of the Sumerian civilization. She has had a long association with the Museum of the Ancient Orient and has also penned several books, including a children’s educational book and her memoir, Çivi çiviyi söker.

While she initially studied engineering, Claire Barratt later gained fame as an industrial archaeologist. She has a degree in conservation of industrial heritage. She also has a parallel career as a TV presenter and has been part of shows such as Salvage Squad and Britain's Secret Treasures.

Harriet Boyd Hawes was an American nurse, archaeologist, professor, and relief worker. She is best remembered for discovering Gournia, one of the earliest archaeological excavations to discover a Minoan settlement. Harriet Boyd Hawes' work paved the way for today's modern excavation at Gournia.

Intisar el-Zein Soughayroun, who took part in the Sudanese Revolution, is the incumbent Minister of Higher Education of Sudan. She assumed office in September 2019 in the Transitional Cabinet of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in the ongoing democratic transition in Sudan that started in July that year. She also serves as a professor of archeology at the University of Khartoum.