Isobel Smith


Isobel Smith was an archaeologist who is best known for her work at the site of Avebury, but she also excavated at several sites in the area, including Windmill Hill.

Education and Early Life

Smith spent her early life in Ontario, studying for a BA in English and French at the University of Toronto in 1935, followed by scholarships at the University of Grenoble and the Sorbonne. After the Second World War she moved to London where she enrolled for a part-time diploma at the Institute of Archaeology. She subsequently studied for a PhD on English Neolithic ceramics under the supervision of Gordon Childe.

Avebury

In 1956 Smith was approached by the widow of archaeologist Alexander Keiller who had died the previous year leaving 15 years of intensive excavation at Avebury unanalysed and unpublished. She asked Smith to write up his excavations from the 1920s and 1930s, a huge job that was eventually completed with the publication 1965 as Windmill Hill and Avebury.

Subsequent career

Smith took a permanent position at the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, where she remained as Senior Investigator until her retirement in 1978.