Elisabeth Ettlinger

Elisabeth Ettlinger, FSA (née Lachmann; 14 July 1915 – 21 March 2012) was a German-born archaeologist and academic, who specialised in archaeology of the Roman provinces and Roman Switzerland.

Elisabeth Ettlinger
Born	(1915-07-14)14 July 1915
Died	21 March 2012(2012-03-21) (aged 96)
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Basel
Thesis	Die Keramik aus den Frauenthermen von Augst (1942)
Academic work
Discipline	Archaeology; Architecture
Institutions	University of Bern

Career

Ettlinger completed her doctorate in 1942 at the University of Basel,^[1] having immigrated to Switzerland in the 1930s to escape Nazi Germany:^[2] her thesis was published in 1949 as Die Keramik der Augster Thermen (Insula XVII). Ausgrabung 1937-38.^[3] From September 1963 to June 1964, she was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.^[4] From 1964 to 1980, Ettlinger taught at the University of Bern.^[2][5] Her research centred on Roman ceramics such as Terra Sigillata, and she co-founded Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores, a learned society dedicated to Roman pottery: she was its secretary, vice-president and then served as its president from 1971 to 1980.^[6] In 1972 she published Die römischen Fibeln in der Schweiz, which "still acts as an essential reference book for the study of Roman brooches."^[7] Ettlinger also worked prolifically on Vindonissa, the site of a Roman military camp, and served as president of the Gesellschaft Pro Vindonissa.^[8][3] Her archives are held at the University of Basel.^[9]

Honours

Ettlinger was elected to the German Archaeological Institute in 1968, and as a corresponding member of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in 1975.^[4] On 27 November 1975, she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).^[10]

Personal life

Ettlinger was born in 1915 in Breslau into a Jewish academic family: her parents were Richard Lachmann (geologist) [de] (1885–1916) and Hedwig Hopf (1893–1953); her maternal uncle was the mathematician Heinz Hopf (1894–1971). After her father's death, she and her mother moved to Berlin, and then in 1935 to Switzerland to escape Nazi Germany.^[3][2] In 1940, she married the Swiss microbiologist Leopold Ettlinger (microbiologist) [de], with whom she had two sons.^[2][9]

Selected works

• Ettlinger, Elisabeth (1951). Legionary Pottery from Vindonissa. The Journal of Roman Studies, 41, 105–111. https://doi.org/10.2307/298103
• Ettlinger, E., & Fellmann, R. (1955). Ein Sigillata-Depotfund aus dem Legionslager Vindonissa. Germania: Anzeiger der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 33(4), 364-373.
• Ettlinger, Elisabeth (1972). Die römischen Fibeln in der Schweiz. Bern: Francke
• Ettlinger, Elisabeth (1977). Aspects of amphora-typology,-seen from the North. Publications de l'École Française de Rome, 32(1), 9-16.
• Ettlinger, Elisabeth (1979). Helvetische Reliefsigillaten und die Rolle der Werkstatt Bern-Enge (in German). Bern: Stämpfli. ISBN 3-7272-0512-1.
• Ettlinger, Elisabeth (1983). Die Italische Sigillata von Novaesium (in German). Bonn: Rheinisches Landesmuseum. ISBN 3-7861-1369-6.
• Ettlinger, Elisabeth (1990). "Conspectus formarum terrae sigillatae Italico modo confectae". Journal of Roman Archaeology (in German). 6. Bonn: R. Habelt: 411–414. doi:10.1017/S1047759400011776. S2CID 250350622.