If you’re expecting in-depth, heavily referenced biographies, you will be disappointed. The author devotes a mere 20-30 pages to each woman so we are only given a brief glimpse into their lives and careers.
Ladies of the Field: Early Women Archaeologists and Their Search for Adventure by Amanda Adams
Dorothy Garrod – A British archaeologist who went on to become the first female professor at Cambridge and discovered a Neanderthal skull in Gibraltar, where yours truly is from. Agatha Christie – The renowned British crime writer who married an archaeologist, assisted in field expeditions in the Middle East and Egypt, and brought the past to life in her best-selling novels. Harriet Boyd Hawes – An American Classicist and archaeologist who discovered and excavated a Minoan settlement on Crete and had the honour of being the first woman to direct a major field project in Greece. Gertrude Bell – The English “Queen of the Desert” who played a central role in the creation of the modern state of Iraq, travelled extensively across the Arabian Peninsula, and helped establish the Baghdad Archaeological Museum (now the Iraqi Museum). Zelia Nuttall – An American archaeologist and anthropologist who was a talented linguist, single mother and an expert on the Pre-Columbian cultures of Mexico. Jane Dieulafoy – A French explorer, archaeologist and women’s rights activist who disguised herself as a man in order to explore and excavate sites in the Middle East and North Africa with her husband. Amelia Edwards – An English novelist who became one of the first female Egyptologists and co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund (now the Egypt Exploration Society) in order to promote the research and protection of Egypt’s ancient monuments. The seven women whose lives are explored in Adams’ book are, in order of appearance: All of them were inspirational, courageous, and determined women who made names for themselves in a male-dominated field and helped shape the world around them. 
Some were mothers, some never married, some were devoted wives who worked alongside their husbands.
Amanda Adams’ book Ladies of the Field: Early Women Archaeologists and Their Search for Adventure delves into the extraordinary lives of seven female archaeologists who, like Lara Croft, threw convention to the wind to travel to faraway lands in pursuit of knowledge and adventure.
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