Josephine Platner Shear | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | July 3, 1901 |
| Died | February 11, 1967 (aged 65) |
| Education | Wellesley College; Columbia College |
| Occupation(s) | Archaeologist; numismatist |
Josephine Platner Shear (3 July 1901 - 11 February 1967) was an American classical archaeologist and numismatist, who was excavation and numismatic lead for the Agora excavations.
Josephine Platner was born on 3 July 1901 in Omaha, Nebraska. She studied at Wellesley College (1924) and Archaeology at Columbia University (1928).[1] From 1927 to 1929 and from 1931 to 1939 she was a member and 1939/40 Fellow of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.[2] From 1929 to 1931 she took part in the excavations in Corinth.[1][3] In 1930 she presented her work on geometric pottery from Corinth to the Archaeological Institute of America.[4]
On 12 February 1931 she married the archaeologist Theodore Leslie Shear (1880-1945),[5] who led the excavations in Corinth from 1925 to 1931 and in 1931 began the excavations on the Agora of Athens.[6] Although Shear was nominally Director of the Corinth excavations, it was Platner Shear who supervised the digging.[6] The plans that Platner Shear created of the excavations are still referred to.[7] Whilst her husband was at Princeton, she worked alongside him, and also lectured - including to the Women's College Club in 1936.[8]
During the Agora excavation she led the study and conservation of numismatics from the site, as well as making the discovery of a new 2nd-century C.E. Athenian coin.[9] Platner Shear kept meticulous records of the numismatic material: in the 1937 season alone, 10,325 coins were excavated and catalogued in the field.[10]
After her husband's death in 1945, she continued to live in Princeton, and in 1955 her second marriage to Floyd C. Harwood took place. She died on 11 February 1967.[11] Objects excavated by Platner Shear are held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.[12]
