Archaeologist · Scholar · Cataloguer
Jack L. Benson
fl. 1934–1982 · United States
American scholar who inventoried and published the University Museum's Kourion excavations, producing Bamboula at Kourion (1972) and The Necropolis of Kaloriziki (1973).
Biography
Jack L. Benson published the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Kourion excavations after their excavators had died. John Franklin Daniel died in 1948 before analysing Bamboula, and George H. McFadden, whose money had funded the Kourion digs, died in the spring of 1953. G. Roger Edwards went to Cyprus in September 1953 for a year to settle McFadden's affairs, and Benson went with him and undertook to publish Bamboula, except the architecture, and the Kaloriziki necropolis1. His main task was inventorying Daniel's material, especially sherds, and he made a brief exploratory excavation; Megaw's report for 1954 records supplementary work by him in the Bamboula settlement8.
His work was supported by a Curium Fund fellowship from the University Museum in 1954/55, a membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in autumn 1955, and a University of Mississippi research grant in 1958/591. In 1960 he published the Cypro-Minoan inscriptions from Bamboula in the American Journal of Archaeology9, and in 1961 he published "The White Slip Sequence at Bamboula, Kourion"7.
Bamboula at Kourion: The Necropolis and the Finds appeared in 1972 with contributions by Edith Porada on the seals and J. Lawrence Angel on the skeletal remains. The finds had been divided among Curium House, the Cyprus Museum and the University Museum, and the stratification report went into the Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus for 1969-70 through Vassos Karageorghis1. The Necropolis of Kaloriziki followed in 1973 in Paul Åström's Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology series, signed from Amherst, with McFadden's sisters and the University of Massachusetts Research Council helping with costs2. In 1975 he contributed a paper on birds on Cypro-Geometric pottery, using vases in the Cyprus Museum7.
Life and work
- September 1953Went to Cyprus for a year with G. R. Edwards, who represented the University Museum in settling George McFadden's affairs after McFadden's death; Benson undertook to publish all phases of Bamboula except the architecture, and the Kaloriziki necropolis. His main task was inventorying and studying Daniel's material, especially sherds; he also made a brief exploratory excavation.
KourionBenson 1972Megaw 1954
- 1954Megaw's 1954 report: Benson carried out supplementary work for the Pennsylvania University Museum in the Bamboula settlement and studied the material from Daniel's earlier excavations and from the neighbouring tombs and Kaloriziki.
KourionMegaw 1954
- 1956–1958J. L. Angel studied the Bamboula skeletal remains in Philadelphia; Porada's glyptics contribution; later brought up to date in 1966-67.
- 1960Published 'Cypro-Minoan Inscriptions' from Bamboula, Kourion (AJA 64, 1960, 145ff.) with Masson, as a forerunner of the final publication; further articles on finds classes in Kypriakai Spoudai 24 (1960) and 25 (1961). Dikaios's report notes this.
- 1961'The White Slip Sequence at Bamboula, Kourion' in PEQ 1961, pp. 61-69.
- 1972Bamboula at Kourion: The Necropolis and the Finds (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, Haney Foundation Series 12), publishing Daniel's excavations. The stratification report was published separately in the RDAC 1969-1970 through Karageorghis, and architecture was left to a separate volume. Finds were divided between Curium House, the Cyprus Museum and the University Museum.
- 1973The Necropolis of Kaloriziki, excavated by J. F. Daniel and G. H. McFadden for the University Museum (SIMA 36, Göteborg), printed with the hospitality of Paul Åström's series and funded in part by McFadden's sisters and UMass; practically all skeletal remains had vanished.
- 1975Paper 'Birds on Cypro-Geometric Pottery' in Robertson (ed.), The Archaeology of Cyprus: Recent Developments (pp. 129-150), using vases in the Cyprus Museum (permission thanked to V. Karageorghis; Åström also thanked), and vases in the Michaelides Collection among others.
Connections
23 peopleFieldwork & employment
- Held a permit from Vassos Karageorghis
Scholarship
- Published material of George H. McFadden1953–1973
- Published material of John Franklin Daniel1953–1973
- Material published by John Franklin Daniel1953–1973
- Wrote with John Lawrence Angel1956–1972
- Material published by John Lawrence Angel1956–1972
- Wrote with Olivier Masson1960
- Corresponded with Vassos Karageorghis1969–1975
- Material published by Noel Robertsonprobably1971–1975
- Wrote with Edith Porada1972
- Material published by Edith Porada1972–1973
- Material published by Paul Åström
Colleagues & contacts
- Worked with G. Roger Edwards1953–1954
- Worked with John Lawrence Angel1956–1967
- Worked with Reuben Goldberg1960
- Connected with Vassos Karageorghis1969–1970
- Connected with Terence Bruce Mitford1971
- Worked with Allen Reischstein1972
- Worked with Christofis Polykarpouprobably1972
- Worked with Edith Porada1972
- Worked with Ellen Kohler1972
- Worked with Leonard Woodworth1972
- Worked with Linda Benson1972
- Worked with Sara Immerwahr1972
- Connected with Paul Åström1973–1975
- Connected with Robert Stuart Merrillees1974
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- Worked with George Roy Haslam Wright
- Worked with Grace Muscarella
- Connected with Hector Catling
- Connected with Marion Welker
- Connected with Porphyrios Dikaios
On Ancient Cyprus
7 pages- Ancient Cypriot Pottery: A Course from the First Pots to the Classical KingdomsArticle
- Cypriot Free-Field Art: One Bird on an Empty JugArticle
- Birds in Ancient CyprusCompendium
- Dishes and PlatesCompendium
- Free-Field Style: Birds, Bulls and Lotus on Cypro-Archaic JugsCompendium
- Proto-White Painted WareCompendium
- Black-on-Red Deep Bowl with Concentric Circles below the RimObject
Sources
- 1.J. L. Benson (1972). Bamboula at Kourion: The Necropolis and the Finds Excavated by J. F. Daniel. Philadelphia, University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.
- 2.J. L. Benson (1973). The Necropolis of Kaloriziki, excavated by J. F. Daniel and G. H. McFadden for the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.
- 3.J. L. Benson (1961). “The White Slip Sequence at Bamboula, Kourion”. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 61-69.
- 4.J. L. Benson (1970). Horse, Bird and Man, the Origins of Greek Painting. Amherst.
- 5.J. L. Benson (1975). “Birds on Cypro-Geometric Pottery”. The Archaeology of Cyprus: Recent Developments, 129-150.
- 6.J. L. Benson (1982). “Review of Karageorghis and des Gagniers 1979 supplement”. American Journal of Archaeology 86, 454-455.
- 7.N. Robertson (ed.) (1975). The Archaeology of Cyprus: Recent Developments. Park Ridge, N.J., Noyes Press.
- 8.A. H. S. Megaw (1954). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1954”. Archaeological Reports 1, 28-34. Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies.
- 9.P. Dikaios (1962). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1959-61”. Archaeological Reports 8, 32-46. Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. Online
- 10.T. B. Mitford (1971). The Inscriptions of Kourion. Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society.