BAUMGARTEL, ELISE J.

BAUMGARTEL, ELISE J. (1892–1975), Egyptologist. Elise Baumgartel, who was born in Berlin, became a leading figure in the field of Egyptian prehistory. She left Germany for England during the Hitler era, and from 1948 to 1950 was keeper of the department of Egyptian antiquities at Manchester University. In 1951 she went to Oxford, where she engaged in research at the Griffith Institute until 1955. She then went to live in the United States, and became a member of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. Elise Baumgartel's major publications are Culture of Prehistoric Egypt (2 vols., 1948–50) and the chapter on "Predynastic Egypt" in the Cambridge Ancient History (1963). (Penuel P. Kahane)