Errenteria (Gipuzkoa), 1892. In the caves of Aizpitarte the first archaeological excavations of Gipuzkoa were carried out, at the hand of the group led by Count Lersundi. Eleven years later, in 1903, the king of Spain, Alfonso XIII, visited the site and with this excuse photographed the working group; in the photo we see that there were women in the group, although their names have not come to us.
This photograph starts the exhibition Women Archaeologists in Gipuzkoa, which can be visited at the Oiasso de Irun museum until the end of March next year.
The first name is Maria Luisa Aranzadi. Telesforo was familiar to Aranzadi and appears in a photograph made in Aralar in 1917. That same year Telesforo, José Miguel de Barandiarán and Enrique Eguren began one of the brightest stages of Gipuzkoan archaeology. And in the shadow of that brilliance there was also a woman.
The Society of Sciences Aranzadi was born 30 years later and was fundamental in its foundation Pilar Sansinenea (1905-1997), as well as in the works carried out by her husband Jesús Elosegi to find cromlechs and dolmens.
In the early 1960s, the archaeologist Dolores Echaide (1928-2018) worked on the excavations of Soria, Torralba and Ambrona. The work carried out by the multidisciplinary team was a milestone in European archeology, but Echaide’s work was not deserved recognition.
Also pioneered was the excavation of Lezetxiki (Arrasate), directed by Aita Barandiaran from 1956 to 1968, in which Ana María Muñoz Amilibia, the first archaeologist of the Spanish State, intervened.
After excavations, these shadow works outside the fields lack visibility of the excavation director's position, being often in the hands of women such as palinology, sedimentology, numismatics, osteoarcheology, etc.
Secondary archaeologists
The two excavations carried out in the 1970s show the reasons why the work of archaeologists was in the shadow. In 1972 the investigation began of the Roman necropolis of Nuestra Señora de Xantalén, in Irún. Women were the majority in this group, with Pilar Utrilla, Ana Cava and Teresa Andrés, among others.
But then, in archaeology, prehistoric excavations were considered of the first order and historical research, such as those of the Roman era, was considered of the second category, in which women acted mostly. In addition, the head of the excavation of Ama Xantalen was a man: Ignacio Barandiaran. In 1979 the excavation from the cave of Amalda in Zestoa was also directed by a man: Jesus Altuna.
The group included several women who were responsible for recording the Amelia Baldeon and Koro Mariezkurra materials. After excavations, these jobs in the shadow outside the fields do not have the spectacularity of the excavation director's position, and they have often been in the hands of women: palinology, sedimentology, numismatics, osteoarcheology… And this reality is not only limited to Gipuzkoa, but all these examples also reflect the situation outside Gipuzkoa.
In the case of Gipuzkoa, the change began 40 years ago. In 1983 the Society of Sciences Aranzadi launched the archeology department, in which several women participated. And the following year, in 1984, Mertxe Urteaga directed the excavations of the cave of Iruaxpe III; in Gipuzkoa a a woman first received authorization to lead an excavation.
From that moment on, the exhibition collects the names of dozens of women archaeologists. But this doesn't mean that they didn't dedicate themselves to archaeology before, but that their fundamental work began to be seen little by little from then on.