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Janet Davidson
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Janet Davidson
Janet Marjorie Davidson ONZM (born 1941) is a New Zealand museum curator and archaeologist who has carried out extensive field work in the Pacific Islands throughout Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. She has been the E. Earle Vaile archaeologist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and a senior curator at Te Papa Tongarewa.
Davidson was born in 1941 in Lower Hutt to John and Christine Davidson. Her father taught classics and mathematics at Hutt Valley High School and her brother John became a professor of classics at Victoria University of Wellington. She attended Hutt Valley High School. As a teenager she became interested in a career in museums and archaeology and commenced work at the Dominion Museum as a vacation assistant in 1958. She began studying for a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University of Wellington but subsequently switched to the University of Auckland, graduating in 1962. Early archaeology work included excavations of middens at Porirua, the site of the Paremata barracks and at Sarah's Gully on the Coromandel.
In 1964, Davidson graduated with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Auckland with a thesis that analysed shell middens from a range of archaeological sites. From 1964 to 1966 she was a Bernice P. Bishop Museum Field Associate in Anthropology. In 1966 she was appointed as the E. Earle Vaile archaeologist at the Auckland Institute and Museum (based in the Auckland War Memorial Museum). From 1974 to 1976 she was a Rhodes Visiting Fellow in Oxford; during this period her position at the museum was filled by the British archaeologist Aileen Fox. In 1980 she moved to Dunedin to join her husband, Foss Leach, continuing her association with the Museum as an honorary research associate in archaeology. She was an honorary lecturer at the University of Otago and later held the positions of ethnologist at the National Museum from 1991 to 1996 and Curator of Pacific Collections, at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa from 1996 to 2002.
Davidson began carrying out fieldwork in the Pacific with Roger Green in the early 1960s while she was still a student. She excavated sites at Moorea in French Polynesia (1961–1962), Upolu in Samoa (1964, 1965–1966), Tongatapu and Vava'u in Tonga (1964) and Nukuoro (1965). The Nukuoro excavation was the first on a coral atoll and Davidson's excavation techniques demonstrated that cultural transformation from pre-human times could be uncovered. Later with Foss Leach she excavated in the Federated States of Micronesia as well as Papua New Guinea and, in particular, the Namu burial ground on Taumako in the Solomon Islands. Davidson and Leach's report on Taumako was published in 2008.
Davidson and Green co-authored a two-volume report Archaeology in Western Samoa and laid the foundation for archaeology in Samoa and the study of settlement patterns in Samoa before 1840; her findings on settlement patterns challenged views current at the time. In 1969 Davidson participated in the Cook Bicentenary Expedition undertaking archaeological research at the Vava'u Group, Tonga.
In New Zealand Davidson did extensive fieldwork in Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel. From 1966 to 1978 she investigated settlement patterns on Motutapu Island. There she and Anne Leahy carried out excavations at Station Bay investigating undefended sites and pā. In 1971–1972 she carried out an archaeological survey of Te Paki in Northland for the Department of Lands and Survey after the land had been purchased by the government in 1966.
Davidson has had a public role giving talks promoting archaeology and educating the public. Throughout her career she has advocated for the preservation of archaeological sites, calling for legislative protection in the early 1970s. In 1972 she became the first woman president of the New Zealand Archaeological Association holding the office for two years. She had previously been the Association's secretary from 1966 to 1972. She also served on the council of the Polynesian Society and the Auckland Civic Trust. An advocate for archaeology in the Historic Places Trust she served on the council from 1968 to 1978; during her tenure the Historic Places Amendment Act 1976 was passed which gave protection to historic places.
While at the Dominion Museum and Te Papa Davidson undertook the reorganisation and rehousing of the collections of Māori artefacts and the curation and storage of the faunal remains collections. On her retirement from Te Papa in 2002 Davidson and Leach (with his research interests in the settlement of Palliser Bay) established a research project called 'Bridge and Barrier? Māori occupation on the shores of Cook Strait, New Zealand'. This involved working with Māori iwi Rangitāne ki Wairau and Ngati Hinewaka on experimental studies growing and storing kūmara (sweet potato) in Ngākuta Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.
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Janet Davidson
Janet Marjorie Davidson ONZM (born 1941) is a New Zealand museum curator and archaeologist who has carried out extensive field work in the Pacific Islands throughout Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. She has been the E. Earle Vaile archaeologist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and a senior curator at Te Papa Tongarewa.
Davidson was born in 1941 in Lower Hutt to John and Christine Davidson. Her father taught classics and mathematics at Hutt Valley High School and her brother John became a professor of classics at Victoria University of Wellington. She attended Hutt Valley High School. As a teenager she became interested in a career in museums and archaeology and commenced work at the Dominion Museum as a vacation assistant in 1958. She began studying for a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University of Wellington but subsequently switched to the University of Auckland, graduating in 1962. Early archaeology work included excavations of middens at Porirua, the site of the Paremata barracks and at Sarah's Gully on the Coromandel.
In 1964, Davidson graduated with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Auckland with a thesis that analysed shell middens from a range of archaeological sites. From 1964 to 1966 she was a Bernice P. Bishop Museum Field Associate in Anthropology. In 1966 she was appointed as the E. Earle Vaile archaeologist at the Auckland Institute and Museum (based in the Auckland War Memorial Museum). From 1974 to 1976 she was a Rhodes Visiting Fellow in Oxford; during this period her position at the museum was filled by the British archaeologist Aileen Fox. In 1980 she moved to Dunedin to join her husband, Foss Leach, continuing her association with the Museum as an honorary research associate in archaeology. She was an honorary lecturer at the University of Otago and later held the positions of ethnologist at the National Museum from 1991 to 1996 and Curator of Pacific Collections, at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa from 1996 to 2002.
Davidson began carrying out fieldwork in the Pacific with Roger Green in the early 1960s while she was still a student. She excavated sites at Moorea in French Polynesia (1961–1962), Upolu in Samoa (1964, 1965–1966), Tongatapu and Vava'u in Tonga (1964) and Nukuoro (1965). The Nukuoro excavation was the first on a coral atoll and Davidson's excavation techniques demonstrated that cultural transformation from pre-human times could be uncovered. Later with Foss Leach she excavated in the Federated States of Micronesia as well as Papua New Guinea and, in particular, the Namu burial ground on Taumako in the Solomon Islands. Davidson and Leach's report on Taumako was published in 2008.
Davidson and Green co-authored a two-volume report Archaeology in Western Samoa and laid the foundation for archaeology in Samoa and the study of settlement patterns in Samoa before 1840; her findings on settlement patterns challenged views current at the time. In 1969 Davidson participated in the Cook Bicentenary Expedition undertaking archaeological research at the Vava'u Group, Tonga.
In New Zealand Davidson did extensive fieldwork in Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel. From 1966 to 1978 she investigated settlement patterns on Motutapu Island. There she and Anne Leahy carried out excavations at Station Bay investigating undefended sites and pā. In 1971–1972 she carried out an archaeological survey of Te Paki in Northland for the Department of Lands and Survey after the land had been purchased by the government in 1966.
Davidson has had a public role giving talks promoting archaeology and educating the public. Throughout her career she has advocated for the preservation of archaeological sites, calling for legislative protection in the early 1970s. In 1972 she became the first woman president of the New Zealand Archaeological Association holding the office for two years. She had previously been the Association's secretary from 1966 to 1972. She also served on the council of the Polynesian Society and the Auckland Civic Trust. An advocate for archaeology in the Historic Places Trust she served on the council from 1968 to 1978; during her tenure the Historic Places Amendment Act 1976 was passed which gave protection to historic places.
While at the Dominion Museum and Te Papa Davidson undertook the reorganisation and rehousing of the collections of Māori artefacts and the curation and storage of the faunal remains collections. On her retirement from Te Papa in 2002 Davidson and Leach (with his research interests in the settlement of Palliser Bay) established a research project called 'Bridge and Barrier? Māori occupation on the shores of Cook Strait, New Zealand'. This involved working with Māori iwi Rangitāne ki Wairau and Ngati Hinewaka on experimental studies growing and storing kūmara (sweet potato) in Ngākuta Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.