Helene J. Kantor
{{short description|American archaeologist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = Helene Kantor March 1989.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Kantor in 1989
| birth_date = July 15, 1919
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date|1993|01|13}} (aged 73)
| death_place = Mitchell Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| nationality =
| fields = Archeology, art history
| workplaces = University of Chicago Oriental Institute
| alma_mater = University of Chicago
| thesis_title =
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year = 1945
| awards = Percia Schimmel Archeological Prize
}}
Helene J. Kantor (July 15, 1919 – January 13, 1993) was a Near Eastern Archeologist and Art Historian in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, best known for her work at Chogha Mish from 1961 through 1978.{{cite journal|last=Williams|first=Bruce|title=Helene J. Kantor (1919-1993)|journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt|year=1993|volume=30|pages=ix–xi|jstor=40000222}}
Early life and education
Kantor was born in Chicago in 1919 with congenital myopathy, a rare muscular disease that limited her activity and eventually ended her career. Her father was psychologist Jacob Robert Kantor. She attended Indiana University Bloomington and received a B.A. in Zoology and Biology at the age of 19. She earned her Ph.D. in 1945 from the University of Chicago.
Research career
In 1944, while still a student at the University of Chicago, she published an article entitled "The Final Phase of Predynastic Culture, Gerzean or Semainean" in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Her most noted work, The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium B.C., was published in 1947.{{cite book|last=Kantor|first=Helene|title=The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium B.C.|year=1947|publisher=Principia Press|location=Bloomington, IN}}
Kantor retired as Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of Chicago.{{when|date=February 2024}} Aside from her primary work at Chogha Mish, she saved the site of nearby Chogha Bonut from destruction by modern development and conducted two seasons of investigation there in 1976/77 and 1977/78.Alizadeh, Abbas. [http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/nn/spr97_alizadeh.html Excavations at Choga Bonut: The Earliest Village in Susiana, Iran] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725195537/http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/nn/spr97_alizadeh.html |date=2013-07-25 }}, The Oriental Institute News and Notes, No. 153, Spring 1997.
Awards and honors
- In 1984, Kantor received the Israel Museum's Percia Schimmel Archeological Prize for her lifetime achievements.
- In 2004, the Archaeological Institute of America established the Helene J. Kantor Memorial Lecture.{{cite web|title=The Helene J Kantor Memorial Lecture|url=http://www.archaeological.org/giving/endowments/233|publisher=Archaeological Institute of America|accessdate=October 11, 2013}}
References
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External links
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Category:20th-century American women scientists
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:20th-century American archaeologists
Category:Indiana University Bloomington alumni
Category:University of Chicago alumni