Audrey Shore Henshall | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1927 Oldham, Lancashire, England |
| Died | (aged 94) Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Occupation | Archaeologist |
| Known for | Expert on Scottish chambered cairns |
Audrey Shore Henshall OBE FSA FSA Scot (1927 – 14 December 2021) was a British archaeologist known for her work on Scottish chambered cairns, prehistoric pottery and early textiles.
Henshall was born in Oldham, Lancashire, in 1927.[2] After leaving school, she moved to Scotland to study archaeology at University of Edinburgh under Stuart Piggott, graduating with an MA in 1949. She remained in Edinburgh for the rest of her life. In 1952, Audrey was appointed as an Assistant Curator at the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, now the National Museum of Scotland.[3] From 1960 to 1971 she was the Assistant Keeper of Archaeology at the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. She was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1970. Audrey underpinned the Society's efforts in establishing the Archaeological Field Survey Team, the Urban Excavation Unit, and the Aberdeen Archaeology Unit.[3] Following her retirement in 1986, she was awarded for her years of service by being elected an Honorary Fellow in 1987.[3] She was also a fellow of the London Society of Antiquaries. In 1992 a Festschrift was published in her honour[4] and in 1992 she received an OBE "for services to archaeology".[5] She has been called "a leading authority in a number of fields in early archaeology".[2] She was awarded the Dorothy Marshall Medal by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 2016 for her outstanding voluntary contribution to Scottish archaeological or related work.[6] Henshall died in Edinburgh on 14 December 2021, at the age of 94.[7]
Shortly after Henshall graduated with an MA from the University of Edinburgh, she returned to the Department of Archaeology, having been appointed a Research Fellow under the direction of Stuart Piggott.[3] He proposed she should study Neolithic burial monuments, and by 1951, she had begun work on her pioneering study of Scottish chambered cairns, titled The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, 1963 and 1972.[3] They were well received by reviewers with comments like "grand result... scholarly work of science and art",[8] and together regarded as a "classic work of reference for the subject".[2] These were followed by four co-authored books about chambered cairns in specific parts of northern Scotland. Between 1989 and 2001, Henshall produced four regional volumes revising her earlier works and adding numerous newly identified tombs to the ever-growing list of monuments.[3]
Henshall also published:
Henshall was knowledgeable about prehistoric pottery,[2] which was found amongst the grave goods in the tombs, and described in the books on chambered cairns. One writer considers her "major contributions" have been "in the fields of funerary and ceramic studies".[13] Some of her articles on pottery can be found in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, for example, articles on:
While working as Assistant Curator at the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Audrey developed an interest in prehistoric and later textiles. Much of her work on textiles was published in the 1950s and 1960s. In this she was encouraged by the expert Grace Crowfoot with whom she co-authored several articles.[18] Her work on the Gunnister Man's 300-year-old clothing found in a peat bog in Shetland attracted wide interest as did her identification of colours used in centuries-old textiles. The tartan pattern discovered at Dungiven led to the revival of "an authentic early 17th century tartan".[19] Descriptions of early textiles and clothing designs arising from her forensic examination have been said to be amongst her "most fascinating work".[2]
More of her articles on textiles can be found in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, for example:
