Sylvia Benton

Sylvia Benton (1887-1985)

Born in India, Sylvia studied at Cambridge and Oxford, and was a student of John Beazley. She was a member of the British School in Athens, and at one point was not allowed to continue in the program because she had (against orders) climbed Mt Taygetos alone. In the 1930s she excavated the (partially submerged) Polis Cave on Ithaca, finding 12 bronze tripods from the Geometric period, as well as inscribed sherds of pots dedicated to Odysseus and the Nymphs. She discovered new sites throughout Greece, including the Astakos Cave and the Minoan settlement on Kythera.

Benton and team excavating at Polis Cave, on Ithaka. Reproduced with the Permission of the British School at Athens

She also revolutionized conceptions of the Bronze Age in northern Europe with her work on the Sculptor’s Cave in NE Scotland. During WWII she worked for the Postal and Telegraph Censorship program by day, and fought fires by night. After the war, she helped restore the museums on Ithaca which had been devastated by earthquakes. At age 66, returning to the island on a minesweeper, she dove off the boat and swam to shore when the harbor came in view. She wrote articles about birds and monsters. She worked in Greece until she was 84 – her obituary states that “she delighted in eluding the surveillance of those detailed to accompany her.” In retirement in Lossiemouth, Scotland, she broke her arm fending off a burglar. She was an active academic and storyteller until her death at 98 in 1985.