Martha Sharp Joukowsky

Martha Sharp Joukowsky (September 2, 1936 – January, 7, 2022) was an American archaeologist and a member of the faculty of Brown University known for her fieldwork at the ancient site of Petra in Jordan.

Early life and education Martha Sharp Joukowsky was the daughter of Waitstill Hastings Sharp and Martha Ingham Dickie, noted for aiding refugees, including Jews, escaping Nazi persecution in Czechoslovakia and France before and during World War II. Joukowsky was educated at Pembroke College (B.A. 1958), American University of Beirut (MA 1972), and Paris I-Sorbonne (Ph.D. 1982).

Academic career From 1982 to 2002, Joukowsky was Professor in the Center for Old World Archaeology and Art and the Department of Anthropology at Brown University. Her archaeological fieldwork has included work in Lebanon (1967-1972), Hong Kong (1972-1973), Turkey (1975-1986), Italy (1982-1985), and Greece (1987-1990). Joukowsky conducted archaeological fieldwork at Petra for more than ten years, beginning in 1992. Her work, and that of Brown University, focused on Petra's so-called "Great Temple" during that time.

Martha Sharp Joukowsky was also elected as President (1989-1993) of the Archaeological Institute of America and was Trustee for the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She also served as Trustee Emerita of Brown University.

Personal life Artemis A. W. Joukowsky, her husband, was chancellor of Brown University (1997–98) and together they created the Artemis A.W. and Martha Sharp Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University in 2004; the institute was first directed by Susan Alcock, who was succeeded in the post by Peter van Dommelen.

Joukowsky died on January 7, 2022, at the age of 85.

Honours In 1993, Joukowsky endowed an annual lecture series in her own name for the Archaeological Institute of America.

She accepted the Yad Vashem award on behalf of her parents in 2006.

Selected publications