Joan Oates

Joan Louise Oates, FBA ( Lines; 6 May 1928 – 3 February 2023) was an American-British archaeologist and academic, specialising in the Ancient Near East. From 1971 to 1995 she was a Fellow and tutor of Girton College, Cambridge, and a lecturer at the University of Cambridge. From 1995 she was a Senior Research Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. From 2004 she was director of the excavations of Tell Brak, having been co-director, with her husband, David Oates, between 1988 and 2004.

Early life and education Oates was born in Watertown, New York, on 6 May 1928, to Harold Burdette Lines and Beatrice Naomi Lines. She studied chemistry and social anthropology at Syracuse University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1950.

Having won a Fulbright Scholarship, she went on to undertake postgraduate study at Girton College, Cambridge and the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, completing her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 1953. She returned to the USA after completing her PhD.

Academic career Oates began her career as an assistant curator in the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City between 1953 and 1956. The Choga Mami excavation was directed by Joan Oates.

Personal life While she was participating in the excavation of Nimrud, she met David Oates (1927–2004). They married in 1956 and had three children. They collaborated on a number of archaeological publications and excavations.

Joan Oates died on 3 February 2023, at the age of 94. Her funeral was held in Girton College Chapel on 23 February 2023. In 2014 she was awarded the Grahame Clark Medal for Prehistoric Archaeology by the British Academy.

Selected works David Oates and Joan Oates, The Rise of Civilization, Oxford: Elsevier 1976. . Joan Oates, Babylon, New York: Thames & Hudson, revised ed. 1986. . Joan Oates, Carolyn Postgate and David Oates, The Excavations at Tell al Rimah: The Pottery, Warminster: British School of Archaeology in Iraq 1997. . David Oates, Joan Oates and Helen McDonald, Excavations at Tell Brak, Volume 1, The Mitanni and Old Babylonian Periods, Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 1998. . David Oates, Joan Oates and Helen McDonald, Excavations at Tell Brak, Volume 2, Nagar in the Third Millennium BC, Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2001. . Joan Oates and David Oates, Nimrud: An Assyrian Imperial City Revealed, London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq 2001. .