Ida von Boxberg

Ida Wilhelmina von Boxberg (18061893) was a German-born archaeologist, baroness and the first female archaeologist of Saxony, who lived and worked in France for many decades. She was known for facilitating the exchange of scholarly archaeological information among other researchers in France and Germany.

Biography

Von Boxberg was born in Jüterbog, the fifth of nine children of First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Infantry Regiment Karl Gottlob von Boxberg (1769–1825) and his wife Henriette Wilhelmine Sichart von Sichartshoff (1774–1851). When her father was transferred to Dresden, Ida spent her childhood and youth there. Thanks to her family's elevated social standing, she received an excellent education. She learned French at an early age and traveled to France several times. During the first decades of her life, she enjoyed art, watercolor painting and stained glass, but then became involved in archaeology and the study of prehistoric periods.

In 1880, she proved that Ice Age hunters had a resting place in a sandpit near the Grosswelka manor (near Bautzen). This estate had been owned by Ida's brother, Ottomar Robert von Boxberg (1811–1884), since 1875. She created a small exhibition of her finds in the manor's west wing.

Selected publications Ida von Boxberg, The well diggers of Troussepoil in the Département de la Vendée. Proceedings of the Natural Science Society ISIS in Dresden 7–9, 1871, 129–134. Ida von Boxberg, Continuation of the excavations in the Rochefort cave. Proceedings of the ISIS Natural Science Society in Dresden 1–3, 1874, 146–149. Ida von Boxberg, On settlements from the Rentier period in the Mayenne Department. Proceedings of the Natural Science Society ISIS in Dresden 1–3, 1877, 1–5.