| Jennifer Price | |
| Death Date: | 16 May 2019 |
| Death Place: | York, England |
| Occupation: | Academic and archaeologist |
| Alma Mater: | Cardiff University |
| Thesis Title: | Roman Glass in Spain |
| Discipline: | Classics and archaeology |
| Sub Discipline: | Roman glass |
| Workplaces: | British Museum Salisbury Museum Cardiff University University of Leeds Durham University |
A. Jennifer Price (1940 – 16 May 2019)[1] was an archaeologist and academic, specialising in the study of Roman glass. She was professor emerita in the department of archaeology at Durham University.[2] [3] [4]
Price was from a family of glassmakers in Stourbridge.[5] She initially attended evening classes in archaeology whilst at secondary school and excavated with Graham Webster in her free time.[6]
She briefly left archaeology, working for the civil service before qualifying as a barrister in 1963. From 1963 to 1966 she worked on excavations in Italy and Masada, Israel. Whilst at Masada she learned how to reconstruct and study Roman glass vessels.
She subsequently gained her bachelor's degree in archaeology from Cardiff University in 1969. From 1969 to 1972, Price was in Spain undertaking her PhD research into Roman glass. She was awarded her PhD in 1982 from Cardiff University, with her thesis on 'Roman Glass in Spain'.[7] Price worked in the British Museum from 1972 to 1973 before returning to Cardiff to teach prehistory. In 1977 she became the Keeper of the Salisbury Museum. In 1980 she became Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Leeds. In 1990 she moved to Durham University where she taught provincial Roman archaeology, eventually earning a personal chair in the department of archaeology as well as serving as the head of the department for three years. Price was a longstanding member of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society and served on its council and house & finance committee. She served as the Chair of Roman Archaeology Section of the society from 1991 to 2008, succeeding Herman Ramm in the post.
In 1988, along with her partner Sue Hardman, and the other researcher Stephen Briggs and Peter Wilson, Price published a Festschrift for Mary Kitson Clark, a leading female authority on Roman Yorkshire titled Recent Research in Roman Yorkshire: studies in honour of Mary Kitson Clark (Mrs Derwas Chitty).
Price conclusively identified a Roman glass shard excavated at Chedworth Roman villa in 2017, by matching the fragment to a restored fish-shaped bottle held by the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.[8] This showed that the bottle was made in the Black Sea area, and is the only vessel of its kind ever found in Britain, making it startlingly rare. Her discovery gives further insight into the wealth and status of the inhabitants of Chedworth.
She was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 2 March 1978.[9]
In 2006, to mark her retirement, a two-day conference was held in her honour by the Association for the History of Glass. A 2015 collection of papers, titled Glass of the Roman World was also dedicated to Price.[10]