Swedish Archaeologist, Hanna Rydh and Her Contribution to Indian Archaeology

Hanna Rydh lived in a vital transitional period when new civil rights for women were being put into practice. She was the first woman to pass a doctoral degree in Swedish archaeology. Her contributions extend over archaeological fieldwork of various kinds, writing both scholarly and popular books, voluntary work to improve the conditions of womenand political work, among other things as a member of parliament. Her contributions extend over archaeological fieldwork of various kinds, writing both scholarly and popular books, voluntary work to improve the conditions of women, and political work. In 1916 she was attached to a project to investigate Adelsö, an island in Lake Mälaren, close to theisland of the ancient town of Birka. The Adelsö-project included investigations of both prehistoric and historic remains; Hanna was in charge of the prehistoric part. During four seasons, 1916, 1917, 1920 and 1926, she conducted fieldwork such as surveying, mapping and excavation at Adelsö. During these years about 100 graves were excavated. In 1936the result of the investigations was published (Rydh 1936) in the form of a monograph that was considered the most exhaustive settlement history at that time (Nerman 1964:143). In addition, Hanna Rydh was head of several other archaeological excavations during her studies (Rydh 1917a, 1918) and investigated strike-a-light stones (Rydh 1917b).InDecember 1945, When Hanna Rydh was vice president of the International Alliance of women; she was invited to take part in the annual meeting of the All India Women’s conference at Hydrabad, Sind and visited Mohenjo- Daro Harappa and Taxila. Her important contribution to the Indian Archaeology is the excavation at the site of the Rang Mahal, which is the so far only excavated site of Rang Mahal culture. Rang Mahal culture is an important culture of the Early Historic period of Rajasthan which is dated between 200 AD – 600 AD. It was established by Hannah Rydh after the excavation of Rang Mahal mound.

Keywords:

Hanna Rydh , Archaeology , Swedan , International alliance of women and Rang Mahal