Honored Leaders

Ms Honor  Frost

Biography:

Honor Frost was a pioneer in underwater archaeology. She studied at the Central School of Art in London, and the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford. In the 1940s, she began diving training South of France. She took part, in 1960, at the beginning stages of the excavations of a Bronze Age Phoenician ship, near Cape Gelidonya on the Turkish coast, with George Bass and Peter Throckmorton, which was the first excavation of a shipwreck that applied systematic excavation techniques. Honor contributed to the first season by her underwater recording of the site. These excavations played a crucial role in the development of underwater archaeology. In cooperation with Kamel Abou el-Saadat, she was involved in the UNESCO sponsored preliminary project to survey the Pharos site in the Port of Alexandria, in 1968, and identified that the submerged remains were those of the famous lighthouse of Alexandria; thus establishing the great historical and international importance of the ruins. In collaboration with the Sicilian authorities and the British School at Rome she directed the excavations and salvage of the Punic (Carthaginian) warship of Marsala discovered in 1971. Her team of international archaeologists worked on the site for a number of years publishing regularly. The Punic ship was restored for display in a local museum. In addition to her excavation work, she was instrumental in promoting marine archaeology as a discipline: she helped establish the Council for Nautical Archaeology; and was on the Council for the Society for Nautical Research for many years; and played a part in establishing the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology in 1972. She was made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1969. Honor Frost passed away in 2010 and left the bulk of her estate to establish the foundation to promote marine and maritime archaeology with a focus on the Eastern Mediterranean.