The École française d’Athènes and the British School at Athens are organizing a two-part event next week, the fourth workshop on “Women in Greek Archaeology, Women Archaeologists, and War.” Both days will be held in a hybrid format, and registration is required for the full-day workshop at the BSA Upper House on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.

For the 2026 event, the workshop focuses on the theme “Women Archaeologists and War.” It examines the activities of women archaeologists in Greece during the period from 1910 to 1950, a time marked by successive and interrelated conflicts across Europe, from the Balkan Wars to the First and Second World Wars. This period also includes the interwar years, the period after the end of the Second World War, and the Greek Civil War. How did women archaeologists in Greece participate in these war efforts? Can archaeological records help us identify the role of women in wartime?

Female archaeologists took on various roles during the war: as nurses, ambulance drivers, code breakers, and aid distributors. They worked in Greek hospitals, local war charities, and information offices based in Athens. One example is Mercy Money-Coutts, who worked with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in Crete after World War II. By examining in detail the roles of women in wartime, this workshop aims to explore the different ways in which women contributed to the war effort in the early twentieth century, as well as the different aspects of social and cultural history that their actions illuminate.

The conference pays particular attention to contested narratives concerning women in wartime, examining both the negative and positive effects of their actions on the European political landscape. It also highlights cross-cutting approaches that emphasize the interaction between social categories (such as gender, race, and class) and the broader structural conditions that influenced women’s work.