Tessa Wheeler at Verulamium excavation site. Used with permission from St Albans Museum.
I’m so thrilled to finally complete this post for the Vintage Women in Science. When I came up with the idea of writing about these amazing women, dressing up like them and going to the places of significance I didn’t quite realise the amount of effort I had to put in into individual posts. I am proud to say that this post took a lot out of me but it’s now time to introduce you to the amazing archaeologist who pioneered the movement of this field in Britain. She was often credited second to her husband, but this time the highlight belongs to her and her only. It’s time to talk about Tessa Verney Wheeler.
Tessa Verney Wheeler was born in Johannesburg in 1893 and relocated to the United Kingdom as a child. She read history in University College London from 1911-1914. She met her husband Mortimer in 1912, and upon his appointment as a director of Keeper of Archaeology at the National Museum of Wales she relocated with him to pursue the excavation of various Roman forts all over the country. It is these works which ignited Tessa’s love for archaeology and gave her the recognition she deserved. It was, however, well known that Tessa was the hands-on half of this duo, often leading the excavation works and recording results while her husband stayed at home and performed the analysis.
Excavation at Verulamium. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Her main project that I want to talk about is the excavation of Verulamium, the ancient Roman city that was located in now St Albans, Hertsfordshire. The Roman city was abandoned in the 5th century, and the excavation between 1930-1934 revealed various ancient sites that are unique to the country. One of these sites is the Verulamium theatre, built around 140AD and a one-of-a-kind in Britain, where it includes a stage contrary to the more commonly seen ampitheatres. The theatre was used for performances, religious ceremonies and sports performances and the ruins currently stands in St Albans and is open to visitors. I was very fortunate to be able to visit the site of the Roman theatre and saw with my own eyes the ruins and imagined the glory of the theatre that was the centre of the town. The site was well-preserved and is definitely worth a visit. It is also open for performances during summer and I’m really keen to revisit it one day and see the Midsummer Night’s Dream performed there.
While Tessa was not formally educated in the field, she discovered a natural talent in practical work on site as well as teaching students and staff, and she was very well respected for her patience and kindness. She also acted as the press officer for these excavations sites, liaising with the newspapers to disseminate their scientific findings. Her achievement was unfortunately shadowed by her husband where he was often credited as the single author or scientist behind their work. It was also well known that her husband had multiple affairs with staff or students while still married to Tessa and she often had to deal with the brokenhearted females when Mortimer decided to end the affairs. Despite all the affairs it was reported that when Tessa died from a complication after a minor surgery, Mortimer was devastated and said to his friends that she was his one true love.
By Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany (Artist impression of the Forum of Verulamium) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
During their work they developed the Wheeler-Kenyon method, an archaeological excavation strategy using an organisational grid system. Tessa and her husband founded the Institute of Archaeology as a part of University College London in 1934 (officially opening in 1937). While Mortimer served as a director there, Tessa who passed away in 1936 never got to see how the institute developed to become one of the largest archaeology department in the world. In 1937, however, the institute recognised her contribution with a black marble plaque and today’s archeological world acknowledges that she was under-recognised during her lifetime. Mortimer went on to become one of the most well known British archaeologist for the next few decades.
Institute of Archaeology UCL [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
I visited the Roman theatre site wearing a suit I modeled from a 1960s pattern. I decided to keep the design simple and used a 1930s pattern for the skirt. I wish I had made the jacket slightly longer but oh well. I picked the colour purple as it is the colour I imagined Tessa wore in that first picture, but I guess I’d never know what colour it really was. I decided that to line the jacket with bronze fabric and this was the first time I actually made lining for a jacket so I’m pretty chuffed with the result! I did actually think about buying a 1920s/1930s suit for this post but I couldn’t find the right one and after a while I thought I would be better off making one. It was this project that reignited my love for sewing so I’m thankful for Tessa to inspiring me in so many ways.
Sources: Tessa Verney Wheeler - Women and Archaeology Before World War Two By Lydia C. Carr St Albans Museum (website)
