Margaret Elizabeth Ashley-Towle

Margaret Elizabeth Ashley-Towle ( Ashley; 1902 – November 2, 1985) was a pioneering female American archaeologist.

In July 1927, she began working on her master's thesis topic, "An Archaeological Survey of Georgia". One of the trustees of the Highlands Museum at the Highlands Biological Station invited Ashley to the Museum in summer of 1928. Accession records from the museum indicate that Ashley receive objects July 10-20, 1928. She also accessed objects from the Cleaveland Collection of the museum. She collaborated with Helen McCormack in cataloging materials.

While working for Emory, Ashley, along with Frank T. Schnell Sr., performed significant excavations at Lockett Mound, now known as the Neisler site (9Tr1), located near the Flint River. Ashley and Schnell spent three weeks at Neisler, performing major trench excavation atop the mound and surveying 250 test units. Two fire pits were uncovered on the mound and fourteen burials excavated in the outlying area. Ashley's analysis of ceramics from the site are in the official site publication, the Etowah Papers.

On February 18, 1930, Ashley married Gerald Towle, a Harvard graduate and Moorehead's top field assistant. Upon her marriage, Margaret abandoned archaeology for some fourteen years, never to resume field work in Georgia. Upon completing her studies at Columbia, Ashley-Towle worked for the Harvard Botanical Museum as an unpaid associate until her death on November 2, 1985.