Elizabeth Wayland Barber facts for kids

Elizabeth Jane Wayland, also known as E.J.W. Barber, was born in 1940. She is an American expert in many fields. These include archaeology (studying old things), linguistics (the study of language), textiles (fabrics and weaving), and folk dance. She used to be a professor at Occidental College.

Growing Up and Early Interests

Elizabeth Jane Wayland was born in 1940 in Pasadena. She became interested in archaeology when she was young. This was because she loved how different sciences could work together. Her family moved to France when she was a child. There, she learned French. This started her interest in how languages work. She also learned how to sew and weave very well from her mother.

Studying and Research

E.J.W. Barber went to Bryn Mawr College. She earned a bachelor's degree in Archaeology and Greek in 1962. Her main teacher was Mabel Lang. From her, Barber learned about Linear B, an ancient writing system. She also wrote her honors thesis on Linear A, another ancient script.

She worked with Mabel Lang and Emmett L. Bennett Jr. on her thesis. She tried to understand the signs of the Linear A texts from Hagia Triada. She used computer records made with punched cards to do this. This method was similar to the work of Alice Kober on Linear B.

She later earned her PhD in linguistics from Yale University in 1968. Her studies at Yale were guided by Sydney Lamb. Her PhD paper was about using computers to study old, unread texts.

Her Amazing Books

E.J.W. Barber has written many important books. These books share her research and ideas.

• Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean (1992)
• Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years; Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times (1995)
• The Mummies of Ürümchi (1999)
• When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth (2004; written with her husband, Paul T. Barber)
• The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance (2013)
• Resplendent Dress from Southeastern Europe: A History in Layers (2013)
• Two Thoughts with but a Single Mind: Crime and Punishment and the Writing of Fiction (2013; written with her husband P.T. Barber and Mary F. Zirin)

One of her interesting ideas is about "The String Revolution." She suggests that if scientists in the 1800s had thought about women's inventions, they might have named ancient times differently. Instead of just Iron Age or Bronze Age, they might have recognized women's invention of string. She believes this was a huge step forward for humans.

Dance and Hobbies

Besides her academic work, E.J.W. Barber loves folk and historical dance. As of 2009, she had led and created dances for her own dance group for 38 years.

Her dance group has performed at different places. In 2016 and 2017, they performed at UCLA and Occidental College. They also performed at the 2017 Sunshine Statewide Folk Dance Festival.