Uncrowned Queen of Iraq Gertrude Bell - Case Study Example

Archaeology Gertrude Bell Personal Background Gertrude Bell, the renowned ‘Uncrowned Queen of Iraq’, was an English archeologist. She was born on 14th July 1868 to a wealthy family; the daughter of Sir Hugh Bell and Mary Shield Bell. The younger Bell attended Queen’s College in London and later Lady Margaret Hall where she studied modern history as her area of specialization. She graduated from Lady Margaret Hall with a first class degree award in modern history. Bell was also an administrator, political officer, a writer, and a traveler. The great wealth in her family enabled her to make several travels throughout the world. Bell’s path of life was shaped by her thirst for adventure besides being energetic and intelligent (Wallach 116). Bell’s grandfather was a liberal member of parliament who had a role in the making of the British policy. This exposed her to international matters at a young age, an exposure that ignited her curiosity for the world. This exposure also influenced her participation in international politics later in life. It is through such visits that Bell collected information for her writings and practiced her archeological career like in Iraq. Bell produced her first writing ‘Persian Pictures’ after the journey she made to visit her uncle who was a British minister at Tehran, Persia in may 1892. Bell spent the 1980s traveling worldwide and building passion for archeology and languages. From these efforts she was able to speak French, German, Italia, Arabic, Turkish and Persian languages fluently. In 1899, she traveled to Middle East again where she visited Palestine and Syria. Over the next 12 years, she traveled widely across Arabia and published the observations of these journeys in a book entitled Syria: The Desert and the Sown which was published in 1907 (Wallach 6). In this book, she described and photographed her trip to towns in Greater Syria like Jerusalem, Beruit, Damascus and Alexandretta. Bell’s clear descriptions opened up the deserts of Arabian to the western world. In March 1907, she went to turkey to work with an archeologist called William Ramsey who was also a New Testament scholar. Their excavations were recorded in “A Thousand and one Churches”. Bell gained much honor and trust from British officials. She was granted a good amount power that a woman at that time could be given. She was chosen to represent His Majesty’s Government in foreign countries, something that encouraged her to travel a lot (OBrien 271). Societal Influence on Writings According to Howell (256), Bell was greatly influenced by the great traveling she made for the purposes of administration and politics. She was able to gain a unique perspective as a result of this much traveling and her relations with tribal leaders in Middle East. Through her great traveling to Great Syria, Asia, Mesopotamia and Arabia, she got to be influential in the imperial British policy-making. She also gained an influential position in shaping the policies of the British Imperial in the Middle East. Using this unique perspective, she helped to establish and administer the present state of Iraq. Bell was an integral part of the Iraq administration during the early 1920s. This gave her much insight into the Iraqi culture as noted by Lukitz (185). Bell involved herself in Anti-Suffrage league and served as an honorary secretary of the British Anti-Suffrage league (Bell 123). Her stand for participating in it was that women should be prepared to participate in deciding how the nation should be ruled. She was against the idea of women being locked up in the kitchen and bedroom domains because it blocked their political preparedness. Though she had a specific home, Bell was a great traveler. When Bell traveled to the Arab region, she greatly fell in love with its people who warmly welcomed her against her expectations. They returned her affection and fascination, giving her great interest in their tribes and customs. She was able to access the world of the Arabian women with a lot of ease and learnt a lot of things that she later expressed through her writings. She took extensive notes every time she made a journey into the deserts of Arabia (Kunitz 315). Her love for Arabia made her to learn its language in Jerusalem between1899-1900. During this time, she was able to investigate the Arab archeological sites. Bell was a confidante of Iraq’s King Faisal helping him to be able to easily take his role among other tribal rulers of Iraq when his reign started. King Faisal in turn helped her in founding of the archeological museum in Baghdad. Due to her compassion for Arabia, the Arabs named her ‘Queen of the Desert’ (Howell 234). Contributions to Archeology Bell made some notable impacts and contributions to archeology. For one, she is credited with the spread of new professional archeological standards in Mesopotamia. Initially, the German Method had been accepted for use by all European and American archeologists. However, through her insistence on professional standards, archeologists were forced to adopt rigorous professional standards previously not applied. This also included excavation permits which restricted the area of work of archeologist to a single location. This ensured that most of the findings remained in Iraq where they were retained in the national museum (Wallach 121). Bell was a driving force in the creation of the present day Iraq National Museum which is situated in Baghdad. Her goal for pushing for this archeological museum was to preserve the Iraqi culture and the history of Mesopotamian civilizations in their countries of origin. During her archeological endeavors in Arabia, Bell supervised excavations and examined different archeological artifacts and excavations. She was able to bring a large collection of archeological findings to the national Museum including some from linked to the Babylonian Empire. Conclusion Having traveled the world and participated in excavations and analyses of archeological items, Gertrude Bell advocated for the preservation of such items in their countries of origin. Furthermore, she contributed greatly to the establishment of a national museum in Iraq where the people’s cultural heritage is preserved to-date. As can be seen, Gertrude Bell’s contribution to archeology cannot be overemphasized today. Bells’ archeological activities and writings were much influenced by her background, interactions with other people and societies, work and interests in people and their culture. Works Cited Bell Gertrude. Gertrude Bell: From Her Personal Papers 1914-1926. London. Ernest Benn Ltd, 1961. Howell Georgina, Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations. New York. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Kunitz Stanley. British Authors of the Nineteenth Century. New York. H.W. Wilson CO, 1936. Lukitz Liora. A Quest in the Middle East: Gertrude Bell and the Making of Modern Iraq. New York. I.B. Tauris, 2006. OBrien Rosemary. Gertrude Bell: The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914. Syracuse, NY. Syracuse University Press, 2000. Wallach Janet. Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell. New York. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.1996. Read More