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Barbara S. Ottaway

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Barbara S. Ottaway (born 1938, Dresden, Germany) is a British archaeologist. She was previously a Reader in Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, and Professor in Archaeology at the University of Exeter. Her research primarily focusses on early copper metallurgy and the prehistory of central and south-eastern Europe. Ottaway has also written on her experiences growing up in Nazi-era Germany.[1] She has been noted as an influential figure in the study of archaeometallurgy, metals analysis, and experimental archaeology.[2]

Early life and education

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Barbara was born in Dresden in 1938 and spent the war years in Saxony, East Germany,[3] before crossing over to West Germany in 1947 and later studying in West Berlin.[1]

Academic career

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After working in German research laboratories, Barbara moved to Edinburgh in the early 1960s for employment within the biochemistry research laboratories of the university.[1] While at Edinburgh, Ottaway's early research in archaeology focussed on radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology.[4][5][6] She became a Reader in Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield in the early 1990s and developed a greater focus on early metallurgy, and specifically copper metallurgy, in central and south-eastern Europe. While at Sheffield, Ottaway's developed field projects including excavations and surveys in southern Germany and Austria, and undertook extensive research in the application of experimental archaeology in archaeometallurgical research.[7]

After taking a position at the University of Exeter, she consolidated research on socketed axes [8] and sat on the Advisory Boards at the Mining Museum in Bochum, Germany and of HiMAT (History of Mining Activities in the Tyrol and Adjacent Areas) in Austria since its inception in 2005.[9] She retired in the early 2000s.[1]

Selected publications

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  • Ottaway, B.S. and Mehta, R. 2015. Memories Unlocked Befreite Erinnerungen.
  • Heeb, J. and Ottaway, B.S. 2014. Experimental Archaeometallurgy in B.W. Roberts & C. P. Thornton (eds), Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective. Methods and Syntheses. Springer, p. 161-192
  • Ottaway, B.S. 1999. A Changing Place: The Galgenberg in Lower Bavaria from the fifth to the first millennium BC, BAR International Series 752.
  • Ottaway, B.S. (ed.) 1983. Archaeology, dendrochronology and the radiocarbon calibration curve. Edinburgh: University Department of Archaeology Occasional Paper No. 9

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Exeter woman's memories of childhood in Nazi Germany". The Exeter Daily. 2015-11-05. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  2. ^ Metals and societies : studies in honour of Barbara S. Ottaway. Tobias L. Kienlin, Ben W. Roberts. Bonn: R. Habelt. 2009. ISBN 978-3-7749-3631-7. OCLC 429980331.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Memories unlocked : German children in World War II = Befreite Erinnerungen : Deutsche Kinder im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Barbara Ottaway, Renate Mehta. [London]. 2015. ISBN 978-1-326-35647-7. OCLC 934754408.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ Ottaway, B.S. (1983). Archaeology, dendrochronology and the radiocarbon calibration curve. University of Edinburgh.
  5. ^ Ottaway, B. S. (March 1987). "Radiocarbon: where we are and where we need to be". Antiquity. 61 (231): 135–136. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00072653. ISSN 0003-598X. S2CID 160986062.
  6. ^ Ottaway, Barbara; Ottaway, J. H. (October 1972). "The Suess Calibration Curve and Archaeological Dating". Nature. 239 (5374): 512–513. Bibcode:1972Natur.239..512O. doi:10.1038/239512a0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4146511.
  7. ^ Archaeometry 98 : proceedings of the 31st Symposium, Budapest, April 26 - May 3, 1998. Erzsébet Jerem, Katalin T. Biró, Edina Rudner. Oxford, England: Archaeopress. 2002. ISBN 1-84171-421-6. OCLC 52203412.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. ^ Roberts, Ben; Ottaway, Barbara S. (2003). "The Use and Significance of Socketed Axes During the Late Bronze Age". European Journal of Archaeology. 6 (2): 119–140. doi:10.1179/eja.2003.6.2.119. ISSN 1461-9571. S2CID 162604371.
  9. ^ "Professor Barbara Ottaway| Archaeology| University of Exeter". humanities.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-06-09.