Josephine Platner Shear

Josephine Platner Shear
Born(1901-07-03)July 3, 1901
DiedFebruary 11, 1967(1967-02-11) (aged 65)
EducationWellesley College; Columbia College
Occupation(s)Archaeologist; numismatist
Spouse
(m. 1931; died 1945)

Josephine Platner Shear (3 July 1901 - 11 February 1967) was an American classical archaeologist and numismatist, who was excavation and numismatic lead for the Agora excavations.

Biography

Josephine Platner was born on 3 July 1901 in Omaha, Nebraska. She studied at Wellesley College (1924) and Archaeology at Columbia University (1928).[1] From 1927 to 1929 and from 1931 to 1939 she was a member and 1939/40 Fellow of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.[2] From 1929 to 1931 she took part in the excavations in Corinth.[1][3] In 1930 she presented her work on geometric pottery from Corinth to the Archaeological Institute of America.[4]

On 12 February 1931 she married the archaeologist Theodore Leslie Shear (1880-1945),[5] who led the excavations in Corinth from 1925 to 1931 and in 1931 began the excavations on the Agora of Athens.[6] Although Shear was director of the Corinth excavations, Platner Shear supervised the excavation in 1931, which took place in a small cemetery near the city's theater.[6]: 150  The plans that Platner Shear created of the excavations are still referred to.[7] Whilst her husband was at Princeton, she worked alongside him, and also lectured - including to the Women's College Club in 1936.[8]

During the Agora excavation she led the study and conservation of numismatics from the site, as well as making the discovery of a new 2nd-century C.E. Athenian coin.[9] Platner Shear kept meticulous records of the numismatic material: in the 1937 season alone, 10,325 coins were excavated and catalogued in the field.[10]

After her husband's death in 1945, she continued to live in Princeton, and in 1955 her second marriage to Floyd C. Harwood took place. She died on 11 February 1967.[11] Objects excavated by Platner Shear are held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b "Local Express 10 December 1936 — Princeton Periodicals". theprince.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  2. ^ Meritt, Lucy Shoe (1984). History of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1939-1980. ASCSA. ISBN 978-0-87661-942-1.
  3. ^ Haspels, C. H. E. (1966). "Review of Corinth, Vol. XIII: The North Cemetery". Mnemosyne. 19 (4): 458–459. doi:10.1163/156852566X00880. ISSN 0026-7074. JSTOR 4429358.
  4. ^ "General Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America December 29-31, 1930". American Journal of Archaeology. 35 (1): 57–63. 1931. doi:10.2307/498877. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 498877.
  5. ^ "Trinity College, 'Trinity College Bulletin, 1945-1946 (Necrology)' (1946)". Trinity College Bulletins and Catalogues. 523.
  6. ^ a b Walbank, Mary E. Hoskins; Walbank, Michael B. (2015). "A Roman Corinthian Family Tomb and Its Afterlife". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. 84 (1): 149–206. doi:10.2972/hesperia.84.1.0149. ISSN 0018-098X. JSTOR 10.2972/hesperia.84.1.0149. S2CID 164451358.
  7. ^ Williams, Charles K.; Bookidis, Nancy (2003). Corinth, the Centenary, 1896-1996. ASCSA. ISBN 978-0-87661-020-6.
  8. ^ Armstrong *14, April C. (2017-12-11). "This Week in Princeton History for December 11–17". Mudd Manuscript Library Blog. Retrieved 2021-08-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Armstrong *14, April C. (2019-11-06). "Faculty Wives and the Push for Coeducation at Princeton University". Mudd Manuscript Library Blog. Retrieved 2021-08-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Shear, T. Leslie (1938). "The Campaign of 1937". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. 7 (3): 311–362. doi:10.2307/146578. ISSN 0018-098X. JSTOR 146578.
  11. ^ "Deaths". The New York Times. 1967-02-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  12. ^ "Skyphoi". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-08-26.

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