Kaiser Alan. Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal: The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman's Discoveries and the Man Who Stole Credit for Them

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014. — 272 p.The 1931 excavation season at Olynthus, Greece, ushered a sea change in how archaeologists study material culture - and was the nexus of one of the most egregious (and underreported) cases of plagiarism in the history of classical archaeology. Alan Kaiser draws on the private scrapbook that budding archaeologist Mary Ross Ellingson compiled during that dig, as well as her personal correspondence and materials from major university archives, to paint a fascinating picture of gender, power, and archaeology in the early twentieth century.Using Ellingson’s photographs and letters as a guide, Kaiser brings alive the excavations led by David Robinson and recounts how the unearthing of private homes - rather than public spaces - emerged as a means to examine the day-to-day of ancient life in Greece. But as Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal clearly demonstrates, a darker story lurks beneath the smiling faces and humorous tales: one where Robinson stole Ellingson’s words and insights for his own, and where fellow academics were complicit in the theft.Alan Kaiser is professor of archaeology at the University of Evansville. He earned his Ph.D. in archaeology from Boston University and has worked on archaeological projects in Greece, Spain, Italy, Britain, Israel, Rhode Island, Indiana, and on the Caribbean island of Nevis. Kaiser's published works include scholarly and popular articles as well as two books aimed at a scholarly audience, The Urban Dialogue: An Analysis of the Use of Space in the Roman City of Empúries, Spain (2000) and Roman Urban Street Networks (2011).